Review Summary: Miley Cyrus apologist, reporting.
Miley Cyrus apologist here. Or should I say, Miley Cyrus
garbage apologist? Like an overzealous raccoon, I lovingly root through the trashiest side of Miley.
Bangerz? Yeah that was fun. The Dead Petz? Get ready for that to be on my best of the decade list. Because when Miley is peddling her most bottom-feeding self, it’s revelatory in its manufactured sincerity. Like
Dead Petz,
SHE IS COMING is an exercise in what an established pop artist
shouldn’t do—it’s indulgent and messy and nonsensical. BUT, hidden underneath the bizarre RuPaul guest spot and references to molly (in 2019) is a surprisingly nuanced and pretty EP. Okay sure there’s a line about her finger in a butt, and she has no business rapping on the delirious “Cattitude” (remember when she said she was done with rap because it was “too much Lamborghini, got my Rolex, got a girl on my cock”??), but when “D.R.E.A.M.” really gets to swirling—preposterous lyrics and all— it doesn’t matter because it feels really
good.
The album is bookended by the radio-friendly “Mother’s Daughter” and “The Most,” seemingly ripped from
Bangerz and
Younger Now respectively. The remaining four songs are like a stream-of-conscious diatribe of pop-fulsomeness; RuPaul raps about utter
nastiness and Wiz Khalifa blusters about drugs or something. With such excess, it’s the undulating “Party Up The Street” that carries the most weight. It’s a surprisingly beautiful slab of lush beats and vocal harmonies. As an an anchor, it brings some much-needed nuance and thoughtfulness to a tempest of bewildering exuberance.
For all of this mindlessness,
SHE IS COMING, is (objectively probably) not very good. It’s an obvious walk-back from the disastrous
Younger Now with Miley reminding everyone how craaazy she is. It’s an audible reminder of “hey remember when I licked a sledgehammer?” This sentiment is echoed in a
Billboard article, where she states “People stare at me anyway, but people stare at me a lot when I’m dressed as a ****ing cat.” In that sense,
SHE IS COMING is almost snarky. With references ripped from her 2013 heyday, the EP sees Miley’s tongue firmly planted in cheek (instead of out).
Regardless of its intention, whether vapid or passive-aggresively referrential,
SHE IS COMING is really, really
fun. It bounces from eye-roll-inducing to warmly dazzling without asking whether or not it should.
