July 31, 2010

Miley Cyrus recently admitted in her Billboard cover story that she listens to "zero pop music" and insists that with her own material she's "not just sitting here trying to sell glitz and glamour." Cyrus proves her point on "Can't Be Tamed," the full-length follow-up to last year's "The Time of Our Lives" EP. Compared with that set's irresistible title track, these 12 new tunes sound like the work of someone who can't wait to move into her stripped-down singer/songwriter phase. The music arrives buffed to an immaculate studio sheen, of course, with production by Mouse House regulars John Shanks and Rock Mafia. The track "Who Owns My Heart" is as synth-heavy as recent singles by the Black Eyed Peas, while "Permanent December" sports a killer electro-disco bridge. But throughout "Can't Be Tamed" Cyrus seems checked out of her vocal performances, singing with neither the tween-queen enthusiasm of her "Hannah Montana" material nor the confrontational energy of 2008's "Breakout." The lone exception is a delightfully campy robo-country cover of Poison's "Every Rose Has Its Thorn."—Mikael Wood

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