Miley Cyrus - Breakout

Breakout (2008, Disney) Miley Cyrus' first studio album. ***

It's a little bit of a surprise that Miley Cyrus' first album outside of the "Hannah Montana" persona isn't awful. In fact, it's pretty good. And that's saying a lot, as teen pop has proven to be one of the worst factions of the pop and rock world, second only to Christian rock. The genre only received another blow with Katy Perry's horrific One of the Boys, a confused and contrived ordeal that was exactly what the intended audience didn't need to hear; getting wasted, sleeping with guys, and kissing chicks and liking it. Hey, experimentation is great, I understand, but the target market is middle-school girls, and there are enough poor role models for them as it is (Paris, Britney, and Lindsay, to name a few). Thankfully, Miley's album is nothing more than harmless, albeit mindless, pop sensibilities.

Every song shows one of two sides of Miley; her spunky side displayed on tunes such as the parent-defying title track or the Avril Lavigne-esque "7 Things I Hate About You," and her solemn side on cuts like "The Driveway," "Bottom of the Ocean," and "Goodbye." And while almost every track is predictable, the quality of the music itself is sometimes surprising. "The Driveway," for instance, portrays a doomed couple riding in a silent car, the awkward ride home we all know. And it's tracks like that, along with "Bottom of the Ocean," (reminiscent of Michelle Branch) that really wouldn't be half-bad if the excess was all shed in favor of an acoustic guitar or piano. It's arguably quality stuff, but since this isn't an attempt to make art, it didn't come out the way it should have. But beyond the decent material, there's plenty that's cheesy. Her cover of "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" may not be great, but it certainly fits the mood and in no way separates itself from the rest of the tracks. The worst moment is "Wake Up America," a call to arms against global warming, something Miley admits to not having any knowledge about. Considering the material on the album (breakups and girls nights out) it's completely out of place. "Simple Song" features an eye-rolling "La la la la laa" part preceded by "Sing along, now!" So while Breakout is a step forward for Miley, it's still only the second step in a line of many. It's impressive that she helped pen most of these, and when she comes of age, she could be a very respected singer-songwriter. That is, of course, if she stops writing hilariously bad lines like "My parents say that I'm lazy/Gettin' up at 8AM's crazy."