Last night, Miley Cyrus streamed her latest album, "Bangerz," her first project outside of Disney's Hollywood Records, complete with an 80s-themed cover and slapped with a Parental Advisory label. What do the critics think so far?
A New York Daily News reviewer calls the star's latest project "a disjointed mess," accusing the project of being "nearly as forced as that MTV performance looked." They're referring, of course, to Cyrus's controversial VMAs duet with Robin Thicke, in which she memorably gyrated onstage with the star and made love to a giant foam finger.
The standard version of the album features 13 tracks, including features with Big Sean, Future, French Montana and Britney Spears. The highly anticipated duet with Cyrus and Spears, however, has drawn mixed reviews from critics.
"Miley meets her match on that score in the by-the-numbers duet track with Britney Spears, "SMS/Bangerz." They both sound bionic," writes the New York Daily News reviewer, while a reviewer from USA Today accuses Cyrus of "talking dirty with another former child star" on the upbeat club track, "playing the good-girl-turned-wild child" while calling her latest project "calculatedly provocative."
"[Its] a collection of competent, mostly generic tunes that juggle self-conscious sass with glimmers of earnestness," writes the USA Today critic, though they do recommend several tracks, including the Pharrell-penned "#GETITRIGHT" and album's opening ballad "Adore You."
"Overall, 'Bangerz' has Miley serving up some great material on what is surely one of the better pop albums of the year," writes Flop of the Pops reviewer, who gives the album 9 out of 10 stars. "She’s been on a quest to establish herself as a major pop player as opposed to parlaying her Disney cutter image into a successful career the way Selena and Demi have attempted in recent years."
"Bangerz" and its deluxe version, which features 16 tracks, will be available for download on Oct. 8.
