Miley Cyrus Posts Topless Photo Amid ‘Dead Petz’ Album Critique: Review Revue
It’s the gift that keeps on giving! Unofficial Queen of Nudity, a.k.a. Miley Cyrus, has blessed social media once again with a topless post-MTV VMAs photo today (September 3).
The rebel pop star looks at ease in the semi-NSFW flick, as she is bare-faced and without a bra while rocking those controversial dreadlocks that she wore during her awards show hosting gig. The Instagram post comes just two days after Miley’s very naked Interview magazine FaceTime photo shoot was released.
But throughout the haze of #freethenipple posts, the singer is continuing her musical trek and released a free album — Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz — straight after the VMAs.
So how do music industry critics feel about Miley Cyrus’ follow-up to 2013’s Bangerz? Read what they had to say (and view her Instagram post in its full nude glory) down below!
:: Billboard gave the album 3 out of 5 stars: “There’s a semblance of a flow to the record’s sprawling track list, but too many songs sound hastily written, and too often Cyrus acts as if her drug trip is more poignant than the average freakout. It’s hard to fault Cyrus for throwing her most unhinged ideas into a deliberately bizarre, free album, but those thoughts are often uneasy to digest.”
:: NY Daily News had the same score: “Amid the stoned-out lyrics and meandering asides on ‘Dead Petz,’ there’s actually a lot of creativity going on. While getting stoned may have served as the project’s muse, some sober choices clearly came into play.”
:: New York Times was a little more critical: “It’s cheap, clashing, blunt, a kind of psychedelic outsider-cabaret act full of non sequiturs. At its worst — and its worst takes up a lot of space — it uses rudimentary digital beats, knowingly corny synthesizer sounds, out-of-tune acoustic guitar, a lot of reverb, and terrible lyrics about rainbows and the moon and missing people and weird dreams.”
:: Vulture also shared their thoughts: “But on the whole, Dead Petz is a difficult record to enjoy — or even endure. This is not so much because of its willfully amateurish sound (which, on songs like the scrappy pop ‘I Forgive Yiew,’ has a certain charm) but because of a strange conservatism it projects onto the listener, whom Cyrus presumes to be offended by her ‘adversarial’ identity of weed-smoking, acid-dropping, sexually active ‘fweak.’ (Her spelling.) But, unintentionally, this conservatism reflects back onto her.”
:: Los Angeles Times said this: “A sprawling, self-indulgent collection of experimental music posted on SoundCloud, this record essentially ratifies Cyrus’ creative independence. Its mere existence means she won her battle to define herself. And that’s an encouraging development for any artist, let alone one locked at such an early age into an established system of restrictive expectations. But maybe struggle, as it is for many artists, is Cyrus’ most productive mode; maybe having something to push against is what allowed her to build the unique muscles that seem so unengaged here.”
:: While A.V. Club graded it with a C: “Still, it’s almost unfair to measure the record by the same standards used to judge Cyrus’ previous work, simply because this album has a different vibe and intent. It’s not meant to be used for a prolonged Top 40 radio campaign, as Grammys bait, or to provide fresh fodder for a tour. Instead, the album represents a brain dump of a discrete time in Cyrus’ life, an unfiltered collection of musical explorations and personal reflections. It’s an expression of pure creativity and yet another aspect of her progression into an artist committed to living her life in public, warts and all.”
:: The Guardian said this: “You may not have the patience to set aside an hour and a half for Cyrus singing about her past hook-ups, clingy lovers, and dead pet dog and blowfish – especially when this psychpop mish-mash slips close to lyrical self-parody during its most frank moments. But there’s a sweetness to her naivety. After a childhood lived in the spotlight, Dead Petz feels like the first time Cyrus has truly let her guard down in song, Wrecking Ball and all. She’s mastering her voice, belting it out on closer Twinkle Song or letting it crack with emotion on Pablow the Blowfish, and doing so on her own terms. In her corner of the industry, that’s saying something.”
: Entertainment Weekly made reference to another pop album: “At 92 minutes, Dead Petz could have used some judicious editing and the drug and sex references in many of the songs occasionally sound like Cryus is trying too hard to prove she can hang. (Her constant reminders that she’s a pot smoker have stopped sounding rebellious and now come across as strident—which, I suppose, is definitive proof that she is a pot smoker). But otherwise, Dead Petz is a remarkable accomplishment because Cyrus appears to have grasped all of her potential at once: there are Hot 100-ready sugar bombs, psychedelic departures, rugged rock, and throbbing alt-pop that immediately makes the year’s other best pop record (Carly Rae Jepsen’s excellent EMOTION) sound alarmingly obsolete.”
:: Lastly, NME gave an 8/10 score: “Though the production ranges from trippy to scuzzy and some tracks can sound like Miley Cyrus fronting The Flaming Lips, this doesn’t feel like a contrived bid for credibility. Because there are moments that recall Cyrus’s earlier work – ‘1 Sun’ showcases her eco credentials like 2008’s ‘Wake Up America’; ‘I Get So Scared’ is a bluesy flipside to ‘Bangerz’ standout ‘Adore You’ – it simply feels like a wonderfully unexpected progression. ‘Miley Cyrus And Her Dead Petz’ is surely the weirdest album made by a massive pop star in recent memory, but more impressively, it’s also an essential listen.”
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