After Miley Cyrus’s iHeart performance of Blondie’s iconic song “Heart of Glass”, people began to freak out about how successful she could be if she started making classic rock music. Her potential to be the modern Madonna-esque is riling up the world of music, and she has even announced the release of a new album. With a few songs out, listeners expect classic alternative and rock covers along with other miscellaneous work. Miley’s raspy and grunge voice pulls from earlier decades, but her evolving style also seems to reach to the past. Her “Heart of Glass” performance began the trend of the new and improved (or maybe not improved) mullet trend. With her red lipstick sparkly eye look, and black body suit, the performance screamed 70’s rock star.
Her previewed songs on Plastic Hearts shows just how diverse and talented she is. Miley was able to perform songs by Stevie Nicks, The Cranberries, and Blondie outstandingly; what other artist would have the talent and confidence to successfully cover such legendary performers? In this day and age, musical covers tend to not be successful, for example, the Teal Album by Weezer. For Miley, she took a different approach. She didn’t simply recite the song, she made it her own. Instead of sticking with Blondie’s groovy and dainty theme, Miley incorporated a rock and punk aspect. Her unapologetic voice made for a recreation of a timeless classic.
Miley has tried so many genres of music, and for the most part, has been very successful in all of them (excluding her racially insensitive take on R&B/Rap). This phase, though, might be her best take yet. She doesn’t have to reach for a trend that doesn’t fully encapsulate her talent, but instead, she can be the beginning of a rock revival. I feel like this would pull a different variety of crowds as well, and will end up making her even more successful.