It looks like Miley Cyrus is officially ditching her pop and country roots for her new full-on rock album Plastic Hearts.
On Friday, the former Disney star unveiled the cover art for the forthcoming LP that arrives on Nov. 27.
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Over the past year or so, Cyrus has become more in tune with rock music. In January 2019, she performed the Temple of the Dog classic “Say Hello 2 Heaven” at Chris Cornell’s tribute concert. The performance “stunned” Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich who gave Cyrus a shout out on Instagram.
Later that year, Cyrus performed at Glastonbury, one of the world’s largest music festivals. During her performance, she played hits including “Party In The USA” and even “Old Town Road” with Lil Nas X and her father Billy Ray Cyrus. As well, she threw in an unexpected cover of Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters.” The song appears on the band’s self-titled 1991 LP.
She also recently unveiled covers of both Blondie‘s “Heart Of Glass” and the Cranberries‘ “Zombie.” The latter cover caught the attention of the band who praised the vocalist on social media.
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When it came time to make her next release, Cyrus was originally going to put out another pop album. However, after a conversation with her team, she decided that she wanted to go in a more rock direction.
“I actually used making this record as a threat to my team at one point,” she shared on the Zach Sang Show. “Like, after the last record, I was like, ‘Listen, I’m gonna try pop one more time. If I feel like I just can’t sleep at night with it, I’m gonna make a rock record.’ And they were like, ‘Well, then why are you waiting, you never wait, just do it,’ and so I was like, ‘You’re right. I don’t know, I don’t know why I’m, like, threatening you with a record that feels like the right next step to me.’”
Now, Cyrus has finally unveiled all of the details for her new album Plastic Hearts. The cover was photographed by iconic rock photographer Mick Rock. As well, the album has been over two years in the making.
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“If you’re reading this… know that I fucking love and appreciate you on the deepest level,” she says. “I began this album over 2 years ago. Thought I had it all figured out. Not just the record with its songs and sounds but my whole fucking life. But no one checks an ego like life itself. Just when I thought the body of work was finished… it was ALL erased. Including most of the music’s relevance. Because EVERYTHING had changed.”
She goes on to share that the California wildfires not only took her home in Malibu, but also the majority of the work she had created for her next releases.
“Nature did what I now see as a favor and destroyed what I couldn’t let go of for myself,” she continues. “I lost my house in a fire but found myself in its ashes.”
Although some of the work was recovered, Cyrus scrapped all of her release plans and completely started over.
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“Luckily my collaborators still had most of the music that was burned up in journals and computers filled with songs for the EP series I was working on at the time,” she says. “But it never felt right to release my ‘story’ (each record being a continual autobiography) with a huge chapter missing.”
For Cyrus, Plastic Hearts is truly the start of a new chapter in her career.
“If it were a chapter in my book I guess I would call it ‘The Beginning’ which usually when something is over we call it ‘The End,’” she says. “But it was far from that.”
Cyrus previously revealed that Metallica are one of the artists that have heavily inspired Plastic Hearts.
“In my sets, I cover Britney Spears to Metallica,” she says. “So my record will be reflective of who I am, which is just kind of all different pieces of inspiration and influence.”
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In fact, Cyrus is so inspired by the band that she is actually working on a Metallica covers album. During an interview with Interview Magazine, she revealed that she is currently in the studio working on the record.
“We’ve been working on a Metallica covers album and I’m here working on that,” she says.
At this time, it is unknown if her Metalica covers will be included on Plastic Hearts or if they will be a completely separate release.
Although Plastic Hearts is rock-inspired, Cyrus has already confirmed that Billy Idol and Dua Lipa are appearing on the new album.
“Midnight Sky,” the lead single off of Plastic Hearts, is available to stream below.
What are your thoughts on Miley Cyrus releasing a rock album? Let us know in the comments below.