Miley Cyrus

[DouglasReese 500]

Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz is an annoying album. The more you listen to it, the more it gets bothersome before it all self-destructs and places the listener at a loss for how exactly to react to the entire thing. The best way to put it, at 92 minutes in length, is some kind of self-indulgent battlefield of a multitude of inconsistent emotional plateaus. The album doesn’t draw onto the idea of concept – embracing a more pop sensibility of the songs existing as individual entities, and yet it still remains stuck on some kind of warn-down, repetitive cycle from track-to-track. So while something like “Slab of Butter” (an actual title) shares the same production as “I Forgive Yiew” (also, an actual title) two tracks later, its still with an interlude between the tracks that is a 40-second piece called “I’m So Drunk” (again, an actual title). They are conceptually realized, with the same story told, but they are jolted in the middle by something that feels more akin to other tracks on the album as opposed to these two specific similar ones that are played for us.

 

This is, in summation, exactly what we’ve come to expect of the Dead Petz experience upon first listen – songs repeating and repeating – to the point where it actually leaves behind the prospect of concept, and actually sort of reinvents it in some kind of warped way. Again, this is psychedelia, and its done with pop sensibility – but, and here’s the kicker, that doesn’t make it any less annoying than it already has been. The album is annoying. Did I tell you it’s annoying? Because I feel the need to express overtime how annoying this project actually is. It’s deeply annoying.

 

Annoying.

 

But this all sounds like that’s such a bad thing, when in actuality its exactly where Cyrus’ demented, hedonistic vision has its strengths. For an artist who has shaded herself under her studio-controlled image by desecrating it with an overtly sexualized version of herself – there’s never an opportunity to actually explore some kind of uncharted territory within that aesthetic she has plastered on live TV. Yes, “We Can’t Stop” is a track that embraces the same kind of hedonistic ideals that Dead Petz does over and over – but when Cyrus laments on that track that it’s “[her] mouth and [she’ll] say what [she] wants to”, you also think that its true, but she probably would have preferred to say “it’s my mouth and I can blow who I want to”.

 

Cyrus is ready to up the transition from sugar-sweet popstar into sexualized hellion – but what makes her so damn good at this is how she does it with such conviction. Like a hyperactive, animated version of this very premise. Dead Petz’ first line is “yeah, I smoke pot, and yeah I love peace”. It feels genuine in her delivery – like she really believes it – but it’s also a line that is purely ridiculous on any and all levels – much like 80% of the album’s lyrical content.

 

It calls to attention whether honesty is something that can be laughable – but if it laughable, does Cyrus also find herself in on the laughing. Are we laughing with her, or at her? I think the former, and I think she encapsulates that more than anything when she, later, spews out songs about her dead pets – which, yes, includes a blowfish.

 

So conceptually, the album is conceptual – even if it acts like its one-track minded. In fact, you could cut down every other track on the album and have a sturdy little piece with about fifteen tracks on it. However, that’s not what we have, and that’s not what Cyrus is going for.

 

We have Cyrus taking one song, and repeating it consecutively on the album by means of garnering some kind of meaning out of the very same story they all share. Is it more about running out of ideas? Is it because it’s an unedited version of a basement demo piece? Or is it something a lot more viable and humanistic? The theme of the album seems to be about feeling “aimless” and “lost” in such hedonistic excess, but how genuine does that actually make it? If Cyrus begins the album claiming “I don’t give a ” then how can she end it 23 tracks later with “what does it all mean?” There’s a consistency through all the chaos.  

 

So basically, is it fair to judge an album for being a big mess when the entire concept sits on an emotional mindset that is completely messy? It helps that the production of the album – done by everybody from Mike Will Made It, to Ariel Pink, to Phantogram, and onto The Flaming Lips – seems to reach for some kind of messiness, as well. Songs don’t always bow down to the typical structure of a pop single, and instead aim at something a lot less polished. In fact, it’s possible that if this album had been a polished release, and not something released for free on Soundcloud, it may completely lose its sensibility as something coming from a personal place. It sounds like it was made in Cyrus’ basement.

 

On “Tiger Dreams”, Cyrus goes on and on in a dreary voice about dreaming about tigers, about people wanting to be her friend to garner something, and the overall emptiness she feels when she’s doing anything but dreaming; something that is an immediate conception of her obsession with getting high. What exactly does that all mean? Well, she doesn’t have the answer, either, so don’t even bother searching for such a resolution. This is a shamelessly self-indulgent piece of work consists of an A-list popstar from the Top 40 – crying out about how she’s never satisfied. It’s inevitable that it would receive immediate based on that principle alone – not unlike the beginning stages of a career like Lana Del Rey’s.

 

 It’s a stark contrast compared to some of her studio-based tracks that sensationalize – or even sentimentalize – those very same concepts. It’s important for Cyrus to be this raw – this open – awful lyrics and all, because it shades her as somebody who hasn’t found the satisfaction in her own existential crises. She’s financially fit, and she’s getting high, and she’s – and she’s dreaming about surrealism – but, again, what does it all mean for her personally? And why can’t she seem to garner some kind of consistency in the things she both criticizes and praises in her lyrics? Does everything – no matter what that may be – equally sadden her and make her happy? It’s the question. All we know, though, is that she really, really, really loved her deceased dog, blowfish, and cat. But she also doesn’t process the grief-stricken status of losing a loved one – and this isn’t just some kind of “humans only” type of crisis she’s working herself through.

 

Then you have the track called “Karen Don’t Be Sad” – which she speaks toward the title’s third person, but doesn’t really give us any insight – or any kind of paparazzo-created explanation, for who Karen even is. Possibly because Karen isn’t some kind of individual that is real, at all. It could be that she is . Either way, with the subjects of the succeeding tracks, it shows through that its less about who Karen is, and the fact that her and Karen are in desperate need of the same kind of solace in order to confront the darkness in their lives. Her mistreatment, and her empathetic reactions, are confronted with lyrics that refer to them as fools, and basically announce that its best to just follow-through with something else entirely. Not a rebuttal of hate, but of something a bit more reserved and, yes, still progressive. “Karen” doesn’t sound too much unlike “caring” – and that is possibly very intentional. But then again, it’s possibly not.

 

“Space Boots” is a masochistic love song that likens a dude she’s screwing to a “space dude” – and yet, the lyrics animate him with sci-fi imagery while also opening up wounds for something a lot more devastating. He’s never there, she says – or she’s overthinking and feel bored, or feeling alienated by even herself. This list of issues that conflict her are endless, but are never announced as anything but a footnote to what she actually finds peaceful: a space dude. He’s not a bad guy, because she seems him as some kind of unattainable figure of beauty beyond just a simple individual. Again, what does it all mean?

 

“Slab of Butter” is the album’s greatest track – and it doesn’t shy away from its ridiculous pot-influenced descriptions. “I feel like a slab of butter”, Cyrus says. “That is melting in the sun”. This is after talking about getting “ up”, and making herself ignore the influences of depression that come in waves from relationships (or just one) that was simply toxic. It’s also illuminating on the track “BB Talk”, that Cyrus has gotten to a point where some level of toxicity is necessary to find actual comfort. Like, being treated well means that you’re not feeling anything at all – because the feeling of darkness completely trumps any kind of feeling of bliss and comfort.

 

Which begs the question: does Cyrus actually enjoy this? Paralleling the emotional turmoil with literal sex on tracks like “Fweaky” and “Bang Me Box” cause this to be even more emphasized. Those songs are meant to be erotic, but they come off more distressed than anything actually sexy or romantic. The result is a feeling of masochism, rather than anything to be taken blissfully. It’s almost like compensation for something else entirely.

        

So, because of the lack of editing or holding back on Dead Petz, Miley Cyrus has shown thought processes of her that we might have otherwise never known. Her id is on full display, and she doesn’t seem to care. But it’s probably because she feels compensated by the fact that other listeners could hear it, take it as a cry for help, or simply accept the grey areas of love, lust, and that euphoric feeling of forgetting the world’s cruelties for the sake of something more peaceful. It makes that opening line feel all the more euphoric itself. “But I don’t give a , I ain’t no hippie”. So does she love peace or not? Or is that moreso on her own empathy than on her own self? And to think that these weren’t intended on behalf of Cyrus herself is to ignore that consistency through each track.

 

One of the more fascinating, unhinged pop albums in years. It's powerful because of it.

[WaitForLife 5,241]

I don't know if you love it or hate it but originally it should've been an EP with The Flamming Lips and nothing more and she wrote and recorded this after her dog died and she was really really sad.

I think it was the best way to go on after Bangerz. I wonder what her next one will sound like.

[Say Yes to Heaven 27,600]

Uhm Dead Petz is an amazing album, there's not a boring moment on it 

[Tammy 2,291]

Tbh, I stopped reading his comment after sentence #1.

 

 

 

 

 

Miley's music is ingenious!

[surfnoirswing 2,483]

TBH Dead Petz isn't a poetic masterpiece. The lyrics are repetitive and often even just stupid but as a whole i think it's a great album. I love almost every track and it is very cohesive. I love the mix of the pop/hip-hop production of Mike Will Made It, etc. and the psychedelic feel of her lyrics and voice

 

It was a very bold move and I love Miley for it. She really proved she's the only one between there "ex-acts" to deserve longevity and who will be somehow remembered

[DouglasReese 500]

Tbh, I stopped reading his comment after sentence #1.

 

 

 

 

 

Miley's music is ingenious!

Well, to be fair, I praised it for its flaws. I think its one of the best albums of the decade.

[PARADIXO 32,976]

Dead Petz is my second favorite album of all time.

[Florida 490]

Dead Petz has been released finally to iTunes/Spotify. I also got lossless from 7digital and oh my... it's heavenly. 

Though Twinkle Song is 128kpbs still for some reason, but the other songs are real lossless! a 24bit was released too but I don't have it, I only have the 16-bit  The album is truly a different experience in lossless, I'd 100% recommend it. 

[DouglasReese 500]

 

Dead Petz has been released finally to iTunes/Spotify. I also got lossless from 7digital and oh my... it's heavenly. 

Though Twinkle Song is 128kpbs still for some reason, but the other songs are real lossless! a 24bit was released too but I don't have it, I only have the 16-bit  The album is truly a different experience in lossless, I'd 100% recommend it. 

 

 

[Say Yes to Heaven 27,600]

 

Dead Petz has been released finally to iTunes/Spotify. I also got lossless from 7digital and oh my... it's heavenly. 

Though Twinkle Song is 128kpbs still for some reason, but the other songs are real lossless! a 24bit was released too but I don't have it, I only have the 16-bit  The album is truly a different experience in lossless, I'd 100% recommend it. 

 

After almost 2 years FUCK YES!!!!!!!

[glitch diva 2,915]

obv her best album is bangerz

[320kbps 3,649]

oh my GOD it was released in HQ on itunes and i had no idea i'm so happy

[320kbps 3,649]

Dead Petz is my second favorite album of all time.

 

I want to know your thoughts now that it's in HQ

[Trash Magic 28,435]

OMG

[renaissance 8,330]

Can someone send me the iTunes version omg

[PARADIXO 32,976]

I want to know your thoughts now that it's in HQ

 

still my second fav ever <3

[Florida 490]

If anyone would like lossless, I can send it to them, just message me. 

OMG

I can't message you, but if you haven't found it (or want lossless), you can message me 

[Belladonna 2,406]

NEW MUSIC

http://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/35795/1/were-about-to-get-new-miley-cyrus-music

[Melania 2,386]

NEW MUSIC

http://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/35795/1/were-about-to-get-new-miley-cyrus-music

SHOOK

[Say Yes to Heaven 27,600]

HOLY SHIT IM NOT READDDY