Tag: Miley Cyrus

Miley Cyrus, Please Cover These Songs


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m really digging Miley Cyrus’ latest album. Even though absolutely no one listens to me, here are songs for her to cover for her next hopefully even-more-rock album.

The above song is duh. I keep suggesting different modern female vocalists cover it and nothing happens. Anyway, this song is perfect for Ms. Cyrus because she could scream at the top of her lungs and it would make total sense. It would make a lot of sense for this cover’s rock guitar to come from St. Vincent’s Annie Clark.

This is another great song for Ms. Cyrus because she could scream all she wanted to and it would work with the song, something that can not be said for her cover of Blondie’s “Heart of Glass” which simply made no sense for it.

The above is another great scream-at-the-top-of-your-lungs song that Ms. Cyrus might do a good-to-great job with.

Given how — apparently? — Ms. Cyrus is a big old mo as they say, it might be fun for her to sing the Meatloaf side of the above duet. The more I think about it, that would be pretty great. Maybe get Ariana Grande to sing the traditionally female part?

Anyway. No one listens to me.

‘Rona Rock:’ Miley Cyrus Is Making The Best Pop-Rock Music Out Today


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m shocked how great the music Miley Cyrus is producing right now is. It blows my mind. It’s actual…gasp…pop rock! She seems to have finally figured out how to use her particular vocal style in the pop rock genre. I call this New Sound, “Rona Rock” but that’s just me.

In particular, I really like her duet with Dua Lipa “Prisoner.” That’s what I’m talking about. That’s a pretty traditional pop rock banger. It’s got a beat and you can dance to it, as they say. Keep doing that! Go that direction!

I could do without the allusion to period cunnilingus in the video. Jesus Christ, ladies. But the song itself is great. I love it. I’m probably going to listen to it a zillian times over the next few weeks.

The question, of course, is this just a blip or a trend? I continue to be astonished by the cultural ignorance younger people. It’s like they barely know any music outside of The Beatles that’s older than 30 years old. It makes you wonder what happens if they suddenly discover the entirety of The British Invasion. Or punk. Or whatever. Good music.

Anyway. Keep up the good work Miley!

Miley Cyrus & Her Quest For ‘The New Sound’


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

One thing I never thought I would say is, “Miley Cyrus is making the best music out there right now.”

But here I am.

Now, let me qualify that statement. She keeps doing all these Rock and New Wave covers as if she’s trying to figure out what the New Sound should be. Several of her latest songs, “Midnight Sky” and her cover of “Zombie” are really, really good. The latter is great because it’s an angry song that she can scream at the top of her longs and not sound ridiculous. She screams “Heart of Glass” and it falls flat. If you listen to the Blondie version of the song, it’s sung in a much more subdued manner.

I mean, if she really wants to scream a cover, might I suggest Sinead O’Connor’s “Troy?” Now, that’s a song that’s meant to be screamed. As is the Eurythmics, “Would I Lie To You.” Or, she might cover The Rolling Stones’ “Bitch.”

But the point is, it’s obvious that Cyrus wants to strike out on her own, and start a New Sound for the 20s. She claims she’s doing an album of all-Metallica covers for some reason, but that seems misguided to me. Find a pop-rock producer like Butch Vig or Timbaland and drop her own interpretation of what she’s obviously interested in doing — bringing back pop-rock as a viable commercial art form.

I feel like I’m speaking into the void. No one listens to me. It seem so obvious to me that we’re in something of a musical vacuum right now.

Miley Cyrus Should Work With Timbaland


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I loved Nelly Furtado’s “Loose” album. In fact, that’s probably one of the last albums I thought was “good.” In fact, what’s notable about Miley Cyrus’ latest work is how much it sounds like that album. Sorta.

So it seems as though Ms. Cyrus is kind of looking for a “new sound.” It would be cool to bookend the rise (and fall?) of Adult Contemporary as “pop” with Timbaland producing an album.

I continue to wonder if I’m just old and all this talk of a “New Sound” is just me feeling nostalgic for my lost youth. It definitely seems as though rock is dead, never to return. Tastes have a changed, moved on and there’s no going back. It definitely seems as though that’s what’s going on.

The reason why I say this is Adult Contemporary’s tyranny is based on the cold, hard metrics of the music industry. With the rise of steaming services, it’s a lot more difficult for a “new sound” to pop out because how are they going to make any money? As such, you have to find and established act to take a risk with a “new sound.”

They have a vested interest in no doing so, so, it never happens.

Anyway. I hate Adult Contemporary.

Save Us, Miley Cyrus, From Adult Contemporary’s Tyranny


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I don’t know what what’s going on with Miley Cyrus. Even though she wants to scream her songs for some reason, she is obviously searching around for a “new sound.” What’s so weird is she wants to do this within the context of the dreaded Adult Contemporary.

Why can’t we have nice things in music anymore, like regular old pop rock? You can update it anyway you want to, but give me a rock sound that’s got a beat and you can dance to. Here are a few songs that I think, if you modernized them, would serve as a great source for the “New Sound.”

Now, let me point something out. There is plenty of rock music out there, I know, but it’s not pop rock and it’s not Top 40. I want that vibe we used to have of a pop rock Top 40 hit. It makes you wonder if the death of rock is existential or if it’s just that our new Lennon is only 13 and hasn’t gotten his heart broken yet.

Or, it could be that I’m just old and all this talk of a “New Sound” is really just my way of telling Zoomers to get off my musical yard. But I will note that it is…odd…that we’ve suffered under the jackboot of Adult Contemporary for so very fucking long.

I wish Miley Cyrus — of all people — would hook up with Butch Vig and come out with a Garbage-like sound. That would be sooooo cool.

Advice To Miley Cyrus


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Ok. Here’s the thing. I noticed that Ms. Cyrus covered the New Wave classic “Heart of Glass” recently. Which is great. But here’s what I would have done if I was, say, the producer involved.

First — New Wave is simply Punk for straight edges.

I would suggest she go to something a big more punkish like Romeo Void’s “Never Say Never.” Then, I would tell her not to belt out the song at the top of her lungs. She’s missing the point. She has a uniquely textured voice. No need to scream.

Once she was singing Never Say Never, I would figure out a way to fuse what people know — Adult Contemporary — with something that sounds like Neo-Pop Rock (Rona Rock.) Or, put another way, it needs a little bit of edge to it. It needs some bite.

To get that bite, you need a backbeat. A strong guitar. A strong “wall of sound” provided by someone thrashing around on the drums. Anyway, absolutely no one listens to me.

But the novel seems to be going well, which makes me happy.

‘Rona Rock’ — The New Sound


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

We’re overdue for a “new sound” in pop music. The history of pop right now goes something like this:

1955 – 1959 “American Pop Rock”
1959-1963 “Waiting”
1964 – 1970 “The British Invasion”
1970-1979 “Punk, Prog and Disco”
1980 – 1983 “New Wave”
1984 – 1989 “Big Hair & Rock”
1989-2000 “Grunge & Britpop”
2001-2008 “Dance Pop Rock”
2008-Now “Adult Contemporary”

The above is not exactly perfect, but it gives you a rough back-of-the-envelope assessment of things. As you can tell, we’re overdue for a new era in pop rock. In short, we need a New Sound.

The thing is, I can hear faint element of a New Sound in this song by, of all people, Miley Cyrus. The production gives the song just a tinge of mid-80s pop rock to it. And, yet, it sounds rather modern.

I find a similar proto-New Sound in some of the more recent stuff done by Dua Lipa. In a sea of Adult Contemporary crap, anything that sounds different is noteworthy.

But there’s something missing. It needs a bit more rock to it to qualify as a “good” song to my old fart ears. All you would need to do is add a bit of THIS song.

I guess what I’m saying is, I would add a strong rock guitar and drums to this New Sound. It wouldn’t really have to be all that much, just enough for people who grew up on pop rock to sit up and take notice. I even know the producer who could do it — Butch Vig.

If he could somehow manage to rustle up a super girl group, then, well, that would rock. Or, put another way, if pop music is ever-so-subtly drifting towards a New Sound, why not give it a push and bring back the rock sensibilities of guitar and drums?