Review Summary: Celebrities - They're just like us?
It is so tempting to try to ignore Noah Cyrus’s personal life and background when talking about
The Hardest Part, her stunning debut album. I first listened to this album wanting to be able to judge it entirely by the music and talent on display, not thinking about her sister or father or bad past relationships or substance abuse or tabloid news. I don’t want to have to acknowledge the fact that she made her acting debut two decades ago, that her musical career has spanned the past six years, that she was nominated for a Grammy for Best New Artist in 2021, and that, despite those numbers, she is only 22. I didn’t want to Google to try and find specific context behind lyrics that I was curious about, something I wouldn’t be able to do with an artist of lesser stature. However, how can you ignore the personal terms of an album that starts off with a track named specifically after the artist themselves? Noah Cyrus has made an incredibly personal album, and while the details about what inspired it are out there if you really want to find them,
The Hardest Part can (and should) be fully appreciated without understanding her celebrity because of how beautifully crafted it is.
It was immediately clear from the opening lines of
The Hardest Part that this was not just a celebrity sibling cashing in on fame - In fact, I immediately felt guilt upon even assuming that pretext could be true as soon as I heard the opening lines of “Noah (Stand Still)”. “
When I turned 20, I was overcome/With the feeling that I might not turn 21”. I automatically pictured Billy Ray the first time I heard Noah start the second verse referencing advice her father gave her, the second time I noticed the beauty of the line, and then I pictured my own late father on each subsequent listen. Enter the banjos, the layered harmonies, the harmonica, all paired with Noah’s powerful alto, and it didn’t take long to realize that Noah Cyrus had created a perfect pop-tinged country song with the opening track of her debut. While the rest of the album doesn’t quite hit the same highs of “Noah (Stand Still)”, it comes pretty damn close.
Cyrus has chosen to occupy a world of melancholic pop infused with country elements. The best comparison is what would seem like the perfect stepping stone between Kacey Musgraves
Golden Hour and
star-crossed eras, with some songs leaning more into the country side of things and some leaning more into pop and some going into a new direction all together. The opening duo of “Noah” and “Ready To Go” seem to imply that she’ll be leaning fully into the country world, but then “Mr. Percocet” comes in as a certified pop hit, and just as you’re processing that, here comes Ben Gibbard with an acoustic ballad duet, which itself is followed up by a song that seems to be coming from Bon Iver’s self-titled/
22, A Million period, just a whole lot poppier. However, this genre hopping doesn’t come across as the sound of a young artist attempting to find their sound, but instead as an artist confident in their voice and applying it to different styles. While I believe there is still a place for her to find where her style is strongest (the two most forward country songs “I Burned LA Down” and Loretta’s song” are great in their own right, but don’t cause the excitement the rest of the album does) there isn’t a weak song to be found on the album.
Cyrus relies on blunt lyricism, a more mature version of the Olivia Rodrigo style literal storytelling that seems to entering the Gen Z pop world. “Mr. Percocet” addresses both her own substance abuse issues and a toxic past relationship without the use of any metaphors - Cyrus has no illusions of trying to hide what she’s singing about and while lines like “
But I wish you'd still love me when your drugs wear off in the morning” may seem juvenile and occasionally distracting, they’re also powerful in that Cyrus is not trying to change the narrative or hide the dirty parts of her life, taking cues from some of the best of country music. The deeply personal songs are about Cyrus’s experiences from the past few years and that raw, unfiltered storytelling sets Cyrus apart from her contemporaries, both in age, genre, or status. You could be shocked at times to believe she’s just 22 from the way that she writes, but, for better or worse, she has also not shied away from her age either, making the album that much more real and engaging to listen to. Cyrus sometimes lets us into moments that are so personal, so intimate, that it almost feels as though we are intruding. Piano based ballad “Wrong Side of the Bed” is the best example of this, with the basic storytelling painting a clear picture of a relationship gone wrong, all punctuated with Cyrus’s strongest vocal performance on the album.
Yes, much of
The Hardest Part is based around Noah Cyrus’s proximity to celebrity, her ability to access privileges that many of us could never dream of, and the potential fall from grace that we see from many young people exposed to those sorts of environments and privileges. However, it can be true that she is able to experience those things and also make incredibly good music out of them. I almost envy those who go into this album with no knowledge of who Cyrus is, as
The Hardest Part contains some of the most genuine sounding country/pop that has been released in quite some time. To enter that world only and experience it mainly in how you’re able to relate to it would be a special feeling. Regardless, with the wonderful album Cyrus has created, it is likely only a matter of time before you get there anyway.
