Is Miley Cyrus Revisiting Her ‘Bangerz’ Sound For Her Next Album?
Miley Cyrus and Mark Ronson might be promoting their hit country-meets-disco collaboration "Nothing Breaks Like a Heart" now, but fans are already excited about what Miley's got in store for her next album.
During interviews for her Ronson collaboration this week, Miley confirmed her next album will drop in 2019. Miley also confirmed in another radio interview that she's already been hard at work on music for the project.
In addition to some rock-inspired songs with Mark Ronson, Miley says, "We've got songs with Mike WiLL that lean more hip-hop, and songs with Andrew Wyatt that lean more pop-alternative... and then some straight-down-the-middle pop records,” Miley told a radio station on Monday.
While it seems the album will contain all different types of genres and sounds, what stood out to many people was Miley revealing she and producer Mike WiLL Made-It had reunited. Mike WiLL played a big part in her hit 2013 album Bangerz. The reactions to the news have ranged from excited to skeptical to downright upset.
Back in 2017 Miley received heavy backlash when she spoke out against misogynistic hip-hop songs and lyrics in a much-debated interview with Billboard:
I also love that new Kendrick [Lamar] song [“Humble”]: “Show me somethin’ natural like ass with some stretch marks.” I love that because it’s not “Come sit on my dick, suck on my cock.” I can’t listen to that anymore. That’s what pushed me out of the hip-hop scene a little. It was too much “Lamborghini, got my Rolex, got a girl on my cock” -- I am so not that.
The backlash at the time was so unavoidable that Miley even issued an apology. Fans have argued that Miley was simply referencing particular hip-hop lyrics and themes she doesn't agree with, while critics speculated it was more of a calculated move. Some wondered if she was attempting to distance herself from hip-hop ahead of the release of 2017's Younger Now album, which was more folk and country-inspired in its sound.
Considering Younger Now didn't quite live up to the commercial success of Bangerz, some listeners are now speculating her musical reunion with Mike WiLL is an effort to return to a sound she knows works for her, on a commercial level.
While it seems clear that Miley's album will likely contain many different sounds and genres, that hasn't stopped people from going off on social media.
Check out some of the various fan reactions to the Miley/Mike WiLL news, and then let us know what you think of the situation. Are you excited about the new Miley music?