Album review: Miley Cyrus, Younger Now

Miley Cyrus has gone back to her country roots on Younger Now. Photo / Supplied

After years of wearing grills, strapping on sex toys, twerking and sing-rapping about being high on purp, Miley Cyrus has done a total backflip and switched back to country.

She hasn't even gone back to that middle-ground, pop/country sound that bore hits like The Climb, she's gone full, old-school country and it's actually pretty good.

The motivations are incredibly dodgy; Miley has been slammed for using black culture to make a statement and discarding it when it stopped working.

Songwriter Timothy Thomas has even said Miley specifically asked for music which "feels black", so listening to her sing about living in a Rainbowland is hard to swallow now, especially when Younger Now opens with a song about change; an apparent effort to pre-emptively defend the sharp U-turn.

That all said, the music itself is pretty great. Everything is low-key, the lyrics are thoughtful - if at times, cheesy - and for once, Miley gets a chance to show off her vocal skills without all the flash and fuss, and it's brilliant.

Miley opens up about her feelings, insecurities, hopes and dreams and regrets. It's a real story-telling album and it's an incredibly welcome change.

She's Not Him is a standout in that respect. It seems to be an ode to Miley's ex, Stella Maxwell, and is a beautiful, thoughtful insight into Miley's pansexuality, the likes of which has never been heard in mainstream music.

It's not a gimmick, it's not hyper-sexualised, it's not about changing minds or choosing a gender, it's just about loving a man and a woman as she sings, "There's no other girl that looks like you, darling...even though we've gone to outer space/still no way you can take his place."

Great as the songs may be, it is a little hard to see how Younger Now fits into the current musical landscape and in particular, how accessible it is to her young, pop-loving fan base.

Miley's gone out of her way to strip everything back, slow things down and tone down the production which could either work against her or totally in her favour. Either way, it's nice to see this side of her.

Miley Cyrus, Younger Now

Artist: Miley Cyrus
Album: Younger Now
Label: Sony Music
Verdict: Stripped-back storytelling but a risky departure from Miley's usual genre.