Album Review | ‘The Hardest Part’ by Noah Cyrus
Noah’s sophomore release exorcises the demons of addiction in the melancholically earthy release.
Unlike sister Miley, Noah had more control over the sound and image she wanted to craft in her fledgling career. Her beginning singles displayed an affinity for R&B-tinged pop music, which slowly melted into her experimental indie-pop sound, which she confidently commands today.
During these formative years, Cyrus struggled with an ever-deepening addiction to benzodiazepines that began to worry the artists seriously. After checking herself into rehab, she began to take an introspective look at her life.
Noah admits to Rolling Stone that her demons began to flood out in the music she was writing as a healing process:
“I was being helped by everybody that I needed help from, and it took some time to get on my own two feet… [Noah’s Manager Mookie Singerman] brought so much hope into my world, and so much care and compassion for me and my situation… It was coming out in my lyrics. So, it’s like, ‘I’m not going to hide my truth.’ I think it was evident that I was going through something the past couple years — I think my fans saw it. I think the public could see it.” — Noah Cyrus via Rolling Stone (2022)
