Review: Miley Cyrus Finds Power in Her Voice on ‘Endless Summer Vacation’
Miley Cyrus continues to be unpredictable with her music on her latest album, “Endless Summer Vacation.”
With the grand success and critical acclaim of her chart-topping single, “Flowers,” many people were anticipating what music sensation Miley Cyrus would do on her new album, “Endless Summer Vacation.” In true Cyrus fashion, she did not give an album that was predictable as it varied in genres and topics.
With a title like “Endless Summer Vacation,” it seemed that the album would have a very upbeat yet serene sound. Throughout the project, Cyrus exuded power and freedom as she embraced her newfound confidence.
Cyrus made many interesting choices on this album. One of them included having the lead single, “Flowers,” be the opening and closing track. The original served as the opener while the demo version was the last song on “Endless Summer Vacation.”
Having “Flowers” be the first single from the album and the first track on the album was ingenious because it set the stage for what this album entailed, a new Cyrus who could finally speak up for herself and embrace herself.
“Jaded” was a powerful follow-up to “Flowers,” being somewhat reminiscent of some of Cyrus’ previous songs like “Wrecking Ball.” It had a pop-rock sound while still being fresh. Cyrus’ tone in this song was beautiful as she passionately showcased her vocal range.
Her vulnerability within “Jaded” also contributed to the song’s stunning nature. She openly confessed that she was remorseful about how a past relationship ended.
“Oh, isn’t it a shame that it ended like that? / Said goodbye forever, but you never unpacked,” Cyrus sings.
Cyrus kept the features to a minimum, only including two on the album. The intriguing thing about both features was that the added artists served as background vocals on the songs and did not have actual verses.
The first track with a feature was “Thousand Miles,” where Cyrus got help from Brandi Carlile to create this country ballad. This sweet song showed Cyrus reverting to a past love.
Carlile singing with Cyrus on this song was a nice touch as she complimented Cyrus without overshadowing her.
The next song, “You,” was a pretty and simplistic ballad. This song showed Cyrus expressing how it felt to be hopelessly in love. Cyrus shines when she sings in her higher register. The runs toward the end showed her range off beautifully.
The album took a major dip with “Handstand.” The high-quality production stuck out the most on “Handstand,” being spacy and experimental. However, the tone of Cyrus’ voice in this song threw it off.
This song would have been better if it was simply an instrumental interlude that transitioned the listener from the beginning half of the album to the second half of it.
Despite the lackluster delivery on “Handstand,” “Violet Chemistry” brought the album back to life. The production gave the song a dance-pop feel. Also, the chorus was very catchy and pleasing to the ear.
On “Violet Chemistry,” Cyrus was still on a high from the new romance she was involved in. She wanted to hold onto the love and convince the person to hold on to her.
“Stay awhile, stay awhile with me / Stay awhile, don’t deny the violet chemistry,” Cyrus sings.
The best aspect of this song was the amount of vocal layering, especially toward the end. Even though the song was quite lengthy, being over four minutes long, the vocal layering and shifts in Cyrus’ tone and pitch made it enjoyable.
“Muddy Feet” was the other featured track, with Sia doing background vocals. This song was a change from the rest and was the most lyrically cut-throat piece from the album.
Cyrus did not hold back any of her emotions on this song as she demanded her cheating partner to get out of her life.
“Island” fit the summer theme the most as it had a tropical, Hawaiian luau feel. The instrumentation and lyrics were soothing and simplistic.
This song served as a breather from the more intense emotions evident in a song like “Muddy Feet.” Although the more relaxed sound made it an enjoyable listen, adding more lyrical content could have enhanced the song.
The last couple of songs on the album, “Wonder Woman” and “Flowers (Demo),” created a soft ambiance. Both tracks had strong lyrics meant to empower women.
Regarding “Wonder Woman,” the lyrics were stunning, but the song’s pacing was quite slow, making it a weaker one on the album sonically.
The narrative throughout “Endless Summer Vacation” was very cohesive, but sonically it had its high points and low ones. There were some songs like “Flowers” and “Violet Chemistry” that had immense replay value, while others could have been tweaked to become stronger.
