Review: Noah Cyrus Tackles “The Hardest Part” Of Getting Older
The debut album from the youngest of the Cyrus music dynasty shows maturity well beyond her years.
As the youngest daughter of country star Billy Ray Cyrus, and little sister to pop phenomenon Miley Cyrus, no one would fault Noah Cyrus for not putting in a lot of effort. She could very easily go about making generic music, and get millions of streams on the back of her last name. What interests me about Noah is that’s not the road she chooses.
With much anticipation building around her, and delays getting the project to the public, Cyrus finally put out her debut studio album, The Hardest Part. A collaboration between her and producer Mike Crossey, she also worked heavily with writer PJ Harding on this album. I previously reviewed Harding and Cyrus’ EP People Don’t Change (check my full thoughts out here). Spoiler: I thought it was an incredible piece of modern country, so I had high hopes for their work together here.
At just 22, the topics she chooses to address on this record are often heady, huge, and dark: addiction, suicidal ideation, death, the realization of how fleeting childhood (and, by extension, life itself) truly is. And the truly amazing part is how honest and lived these songs feel coming from someone so young.
