Miley Cyrus ‘Plastic Hearts’ Rock Influences Guide [LISTEN]

Miley Cyrus has long wore her influences on her sleeve, from the duet with everyone, from Joan Jett to her godmother, Dolly Parton, to covering musicians of all genres under the sun. She has long revered the greats of rock, from the giants of the 60s like the Beatles and the Velvet Underground to the punk and glam rockers of the 70s and 80s. This year, we have finally been able to hear her appropriating these influences more clearly – first on the covers of Blondie’s “Heart of Glass” and Hall & Oates “Maneater”, then on her indebted Stevie Nicks single, “Midnight Sky”. and now on his long awaited rock album, Plastic hearts. After a decade of flirting with everything from country to rap to dance, her seventh album carries the potential of a awesome Cyrus’ rock album in the near future, if she’s committed to it. In the meantime, if Plastic hearts is in the mood for more flashbacks, here are 11 more albums you might like, from the 1970s to 2020s.

Cyrus set the stage for this new era of his career with a boisterous and brash cover of Blondie’s hit, “Heart of Glass.” This song changed the music by delicately merging rock sounds with a disco-inspired dance, the same balance Cyrus seeks on Plastic hearts. His parent album – which also features simpler rates like “One Way or Another” – looms large on Cyrus as a model for the New Wave sound that would explode in the 1980s.

Overall, Stevie Nicks ‘style is more in tune with one of Cyrus’ past sounds: pop music with great vocals adjacent to country. But on Plastic hearts ” On debut single, “Midnight Sky,” Cyrus sampled the iconic hook from Nicks’ solo hit, “Edge of Seventeen,” showing how serious she was about delving into the past. A pretty womanNicks’ solo debut also represented a break from her own singing background in Fleetwood Mac. And, as Cyrus would on his album decades later, Nicks also called on other rock icons for assists, from Tom Petty to the Eagles’ Don Henley.

Cyrus’ glam-rock tribute wasn’t the only blast from the past surpassing pop music and the charts this year. In stark contrast to the genre, the divas yearned for the dance floors of the 70s – and neither did Dua Lipa, whose second album, Nostalgia for the future, became the first major statement of the disco revival of 2020. The New Wave music that Cyrus drew from Plastic hearts built on disco too, making a Lipa tie-up to the inevitable sexy second single, “Prisoner”.

Plastic hearts is far from Cyrus’ first rodeo with Joan Jett, who participated in his “Backyard Sessions” in 2015. Jett paved the way for women who make hard rock, starting with his first group, the Runaways (for more of them, discover their limits- pushing Queens of noise), to his solo career with the Blackhearts. “Bad Karma”, the Plastic hearts song featuring Jett, rests on the shoulders of Jett’s confident solo ad, “Bad Reputation,” just like Plastic hearts is based on Jett’s album of the same name. They’re both fearless feminist kisses – the old master passing the torch to the new.

Cyrus recently told Zane Lowe that Billy Idol’s synth-rock ballad, “Eyes Without a Face,” had haunted her by making Plastic hearts, inspired producer Andrew Watt to involve him in his song “Night Crawling”. You will find “Eyes” on Idol’s successful second album, Rebel cry, But Plastic hearts is even more reminiscent of the title song: synth-rock that sounds best in dimly lit rooms, built around dancing guitar lines and sexy growls.

There was hardly a musical development of the 70s and 80s that David Bowie didn’t touch, from glam rock to Ziggy Stardust punk on Diamond dogs to R&B on Young Americans. He arrived a bit late in 70s dance and disco, but when he did he came in full force, tapping guitarist Chic Nile Rodgers to work on Let’s dance and transforms the title song into his second and final US number 1. Let’s dance, Bowie retained his glamorous sparkle and punk confidence, making the album a totally original document. Cyrus not only attempts a similar blend of aesthetics on Plastic hearts – his recent style of glam-rock performance is also indebted to Bowie.

A 2019 vocal cord procedure made the Cyrus brand rasp even more prominent on Plastic hearts, his first recorded music since the operation. Janis Joplin brought gruff vocals (with a good dose of twang, like Cyrus too) to rock music over 50 years ago, making her her signature as she became one of the stars of the most popular rock of the 60s. Listen to it in full, captivating force on his masterpiece pearl, the posthumous album on which she displays all her capacity as an interpreter.

Plastic hearts doesn’t live up to the Metallica influence Cyrus alluded to during the album’s rollout, with not enough guitar highlights to come close to metal. That said, he does have his best power ballad moments on songs like “Angels Like You” and “High”, and if there’s anyone like Cyrus who can make their bitch a power ballad, that is Metallica. You’ll find the most satisfying ones on the band’s eponymous fifth album (known as The black album fans), from “The Unforgiven” to “Nothing Else Matters”, which Cyrus has covered herself.

Cyrus and the Wilson sisters share an influence in Led Zeppelin, but Cyrus couldn’t have reached his pop-rock brand without Heart’s stepping stone. Little Queen This is where the band’s vision came into being: hard rock refused just enough to make a splash in the pop world, but still with a rude grain. Monstrous past first “Barracuda” match, Little Queen is as dynamic as Plastic hearts, from power ballads to guitar rippers to pop songs.

Canadian pop-rocker Fefe Dobson crossed paths with Cyrus when the then Disney star first dived into rock in 2008, co-writing her Meet Miley Cyrus song “Start All Over”. Dobson’s self-titled debut album, dating back five years, is perfect teen rock from the 2000s, with more edge than you’ll find on Cyrus’ music of the day – or even much of it. Plastic hearts, moreover.

Cyrus was far from the first (former) child star to rock. It’s not hard to imagine Cyrus, 11, in front of her Hannah montana days, enjoying Ashlee Simpson’s debut album in 2004, hard-rock by the standards of teenage pop music. This influenced Cyrus’ music from his solo debut in 2008, To burst (not to mention that Cyrus covered “Kicking and Screaming”, following Simpson’s follow-up, I am me, around the same time), and returns as a nuance in the pop-rock of Plastic hearts.