When Miley Cyrus took to the iHeart Festival stage with a refreshing cover of Blondie’s “Heart of Glass,” fans begged her to pursue a rock album. Cyrus is one of the few notable young female artists whose genre is never set in stone. And now, just as we’ve seen Taylor Swift draw back to her indie country roots with “folklore,” Cyrus’ new rock album “Plastic Hearts” naturally suits her passionate spirit and low register voice. In “Plastic Hearts,” Cyrus collaborates with some of rock and roll’s most memorable punk influencers, including Joan Jett, Billy Idol and Stevie Nicks to honor the retro rock genre that has escaped mainstream radio. 

Miley Cyrus began the creation of her seventh album over two years ago in Los Angeles, before her home and written lyrics were destroyed in the California fires. A lot has changed since then, and her new album expresses all she has experienced in the last couple of years. Capturing the pain of her divorce from Liam Hemsworth, the simple beauty that arose from fleeting short-term relationships and an overall revelation on the importance of freedom and confidence, Miley’s album is a small snapshot into a dismantled life that is slowly being rebuilt. 

The album begins with the track “WTF Do I Know,” and establishes Miley’s rock and roll attitude in the context of a mended heart. “Thought that it’d be you until I die / But I let go” seems to articulate the peace Miley has found from leaving a relationship she held onto so deeply. This track, along with others on the album, is clearly directed at Cyrus’ ex-husband Liam Hemsworth — with lyrics paralleling and negating her older song “I Would Die For You,” which she wrote for Hemsworth in 2017. This album is not one for apologies, but one for acceptance of recovery and revelation. There is no denying that raw emotions fill the tracks of “Plastic Hearts,” but with an electrified pop execution, the production fails to liven her rage. 

“Midnight Sky” is another notable track on the album. Released in August of this year, it gives fans a snippet of Miley’s fearless and carefree attitude, exemplified through lyrics such as, “I was born to run / I don’t belong to anyone.” When mashed with “Edge of Seventeen” by Stevie Nicks, the track “Edge of Midnight (Midnight Sky Remix)” curiously blends rock and roll in both its retro and modernized forms. Cyrus also collaborates with Joan Jett, a pioneer for women in rock, to create the track “Bad Karma,” which takes on a Dolly Parton-esque feel by adding a country twist to Joan Jett’s rock style. The power that these two female rock and pop icons bring to this track is remarkable, but the strange suggestive moans that creep in during instrumentals seem to infiltrate the song and distract from the rawness of the lyrics and vocals. 

Cyrus drew inspiration from Billy Idol’s London punk rock style in the track “Night Crawling.”  Here, Idol’s vocals are reminiscent of “White Wedding,” which, though it succeeded in an earlier time, lacks originality and catchiness in this era. Cyrus’ country roots are better defined in “Golden G String,” though the track also reminds me of a younger Miley — the one who would double as pop star Hannah Montana. However, her pop sound is best seen through “Prisoner,” a track Miley created with Spotify’s most streamed female artist, Dua Lipa. “Prisoner” is a little too similar in style to Olivia Newton-John’s “Physical,” though executed with a mix of auto-tune and repetition that clearly places it in this generation. While the performance between the two leading female artists has promising potential, “Prisoner” doesn’t quite reach the level of originality and power that the two are capable of. 

Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendricks, Marilyn Mansen and KISS taught us what true rock and roll was all about. The rock culture challenged attitudes on sexuality, gender and fashion, creating space for a more carefree attitude in society. Miley’s “Plastic Hearts” pays homage to the rock movement that liberated many individuals in their path to feeling alive and accepted. While her album’s undertones of pop and outdated rock fall short of the legends that brought us rock and roll, her vocals and spirit are promising. In a time when women are increasingly trying to break down stigmas of fragility and weakness, Cyrus’ lyrics and powerful rage prove our strength and fearlessness, and for that, Miley Cyrus has succeeded in her rock debut.