REVIEW: Miley Cyrus - Can't Be Tamed

Hannah Montana star Miley Cyrus approaches her 18th birthday this year. Having already released two very successful pop albums to her obedient tween audience and achieved worldwide success with the chilled, cool Party In The USA as well as keeping up a striving movie career, one poses the question, how does the Queen of Tween make her transition to bonafide pop princess. With this record, Miley snarls back, 'watch and learn...'

The album kicks off with the fiesty and ferocious declaration of freedom Liberty Walk. Miley snaps about those who have 'tied her up' across zooming synths and makes it clear this is a new Miley Cyrus - the rebellion has begun and if you don't like it you're out of luck. Who Owns My Heart follows, a eurotrance club tune with whispered vocals asking who owns our teen sensation's heart - love or art? One would judging by this record so far - cash, truly posses Miley's heart.


Things flow nicely on to the album's lead single Can't Be Tamed, a Piece of Me-esque electropop stomper with similar themes of being uncontrollable and free. The little girl who skipped around a stage singing the Best of Both Worlds is now fully sexed up and rebelling against society's expectations. Not exactly an original concept for an album given those who came before her's almost identical defiance. Miley begs those around her in the album's bridge 'don't change me', yet on the contrary, it seems to be Miley herself who is making the changes here.

Miley takes the autotune down a notch on the record's first ballad. Every Rose Has It's Thorn is a clichéd, unoriginal dribbled shmaltz-fest. Luckily, things don't get stuck in the mud as she swiftly picks things back up again with the peppy, guitar ridden Two More Lonely People. Miley once again shows that she can bash out a typical bouncy pop affair with the best of them. Having already lived through three public relationships, Miley sings with more emotion and sincerity than ever before.

Forgiveness and Love confirms what was becoming more apparent. While Miley has never been so experience and genuine in her entire career, she seems to have totally lost her knack for belting out a decent ballad like we saw on The Climb and Simple Song. From what was definite low point, the record swiftly moves on to one of Miley's best ever pop songs. Permanent December is a Ke$ha like, autotuned flirtatious electro romp complete with a chanting sing along chorus and childish lyrics that make you want to forget your troubles and dance.

Stay is probably the strongest ballad of the record. She manages to wail with an ounce more conviction than before over a generic dramatic instrumental. Following this, Scars is cute little song but ultimately, filler material, with no apparent purpose other than to make up numbers. The pianos kick in once again on Take Me Along an optimistic, mid tempo power anthem that's totally pleasant and enjoyable, if a little forgettable.

The album closes how it began with it's final couplet comprising of Robot and My Heart Beats For Love. The former is an edgy, loud demonstration of liberation demanding those around her to stop treating her as a machine, claiming she's just 'me'. The latter, she claims to have penned for the gay community - if the girl can do nothing else, she can hedge her bets. It works well as a closing farewell and what could be Miley's last ever pop song as the singer recently revealed her plans to retire from pop music altogether.

Miley accomplishes quite a bit with this record. By the third track alone she's shed her Hannah Montana image and you forget that this seductive, brazen pop vixen was once a tween sensation. Whilst you won't find a single morsel of originality here, what Miley does provide is a thoroughly enjoyable, consistently well produced fluffy pop record. She sings with more vocal prowess and conviction than ever before and really makes you hope that her plans to bow out from music for the foreseeable future fall through. However should her plans remain intact, Can't Be Tamed serves it's purpose as a very worthy farewell to pop.

Strongest Tracks: Can't Be Tamed, Permanent December, My Heart Beats for Love, Liberty Walk.
Weakest Tracks: To be quite honest none of the ballads did much for me, but I'll definitely by skipped Forgiveness and Love further more.

NEW: Kate Nash shows off her new beau in new video

Kate Nash has released her brand new video for the second single from her sophomore LP Kiss That Grrl. The video features Nash's long term boyfriend, Ryan Jarman of indie band The Cribs and also Wesley Goode, a friend of Nash who was previously appeared in her videos for Pumpkin Soup and Do-Wah-Doo, the latter the lead single from Kate's current album, 'My Best Friend Is You'.

Eminem reignites Mariah feud on new track

It appears Eminem has attempted to revive his public spat with Mariah Carey on new track from his upcoming album 'Recovery'.

The rapper can be heard on the opening track to his seventh studio album, which also name checks Elton John, blasting the 90's songstress right before the chorus. '...just take a look at Mariah, next time I inspire you to write a song' referring to Carey's 2009 top ten hit Obsessed in which she speaks of a male admirer, thought by many to Eminem. In the video for the song, Mariah can be seen dressed up as a male, similar to the rapper.

Eminem, real name Marshall Mathers, responded to the track with a new song The Warning, insulting her relationship with Nick Cannon and also included voice mail clips he claimed were left by Carey.

Eminem's seventh studio album 'Recovery' is released June 18th internationally. It includes the #1 lead single Not Afraid as well as duets with P!nk, Lil Wayne and Rihanna.

Madonna to collaborate with David Guetta on new LP

It has been announced Madonna will work with superstar DJ, David Guetta for her new album next year.

The pop icon will begin work on her twelfth studio album next year and is set to collaborate with the DJ responsible for such hits as 'When Loves Takes Over' with Kelly Rowland and 'Sexy Bitch' with Akon.

Canadian DJ A-Trak will also help on her follow up to 2008's 'Hard Candy'. A-Trak, the former personal DJ to Kanye West, has reportedly already began work producing the record.

The singer, who turned 50 earlier this year, is set to be going all out to get the best set of producers money can buy after her previous album was panned by critics and her 2009 Greatest Hits collection stalled at number 7 on the Billboard 200.

Ke$ha puts Britney work down to being broke

Electro party girl Ke$ha who recently hit the top of the Billboard Hot 100 with her smash hit single 'TiK ToK' claimed she did backup vocals for Britney because she was 'so broke'.

The singer sang background vocals on the track 'Lace and Leather' on Spears' 2008 album 'Circus'. She revealed to MTV recently she did it to pay her rent and said she never got to meet the troubled star.

Prior to her rise to fame the singer previously co-wrote a song called 'This Love' which was eventually recorded by Aussie pop duo The Veronicas. She also appeared in the music video to Katy Perry's breakthrough hit 'I Kissed A Girl', after becoming great friends with Perry. She also sang backup vocals on 'Nothing In This World', the second single off of Paris Hilton's debut album.

Ke$ha releases her debut album, 'Animal' early next year.

Britney addresses 'bullshit' stories about her

Britney Spears has addressed stories the press have written about her this year on her website, labeling them 'bullshit'.

75 stories written about Spears in 2009, out of the 13,000 they claim was written about the pop star, were ranked on her blog.

"We ranked the ones we believe were the most ridiculous. Either because they were factually inaccurate, because they reported the patently absurd, or because we believe they are simply offensive to the sensibilities."

They crowned a report that Britney was in a relationship with Indian choreographer, Sandip Soparrkar, which was originally published by British tabloid, The Mirror. The blog post also addresses rumours that fans walked out of her shows in Australia after being disappointed to find she was not singing live.

A number of the stories came from breatheheavy.com, a fansite, run by superfan Jordan Miller, who faced legal troubles from Spears' people earlier this year after writing a number of false stories about Spears' father and management.

Ou Est Le Swimming Pool link NME snub to Little Boots

Electropop trio Ou Est Le Swimming Pool have claimed they were snubbed by NME Magazine's festival review as a result of annoying the boyfriend of electrpop starlet, Little Boots.

The band, who supported La Roux on their tour last year, revealed in an interview with Digital Spy, that the singer's boyfriend, who writes for the magazine, over heard them telling her to 'fuck off' after she apparently ignored them.

"I do hate Little Boots though. We met her in Manchester at a festival and she ignored us completely. After she left, I was like, 'F**k off!', but unfortunately her boyfriend accidently overheard us."

They continued, "He works for NME and every single band at the festival got reviewed except for us. You've got to wonder why..."

The band, who release their next single, 'The Feeling', in February, also claim they called her a 'twat' in front of him.

Dido clocks up two spots on the best selling albums of the decade

Two of Dido's albums have appeared in the Top 10 best selling albums of the last decade it was revealed.

The British songstress' 1999 album 'No Angel' which was the highest selling album of 2001, was declared as the second best selling album of the decade, behind James Blunt's 'Back To Bedlam'. Her third album 'Life For Rent' which spawned the hit single 'White Flag' took the number six spot on the chart.

Elsewhere, X Factor success story Leona Lewis' debut album 'Spirit', released in 2007 placed fourth on the countdown, just behind Amy Winehouse's critically acclaimed sophmore album 'Back To Black'. Perhaps most impressively was Susan Boyle's debut album 'I Dreamed A Dream' which managed to place at #56, despite only being released a mere 5 weeks ago.

The Top 10, in full:

1. James Blunt - Back To Bedlam (2004)
2. Dido - No Angel (1999)
3. Amy Winehouse - Back To Black (2006)
4. Leona Lewis - Spirit (2007)
5. David Gray - White Ladder (1998)
6. Beatles - 1 (2000)
7. Dido - Life For Rent (2003)
8. Coldplay - A Rush Of Blood To The Head (2002)
9. Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters (2004)
10. Take That - Beautiful World (2006)

Keep an Eye On: Daisy Dares You

It's hard to believe Brit starlet Daisy Coburn is a mere 16 years of age. Coburn, who uses the stage name Daisy Dares You, was snatched up by Empire Records - home to thecocknbullkid and Natasha Bedingfield - and is set to set 2010 alight with her quirky electro indie pop tunes.

Nine of Daisy's songs have leaked onto the internet, giving us all a taste of what is to come. Lead single 'Number One Enemy' features Chipmunk, whom she is filling a support slot for next year and she says is written about her relationship with her sister. It's a fun, cutesy romp with a chorus that builds up and a chanting hook. It's hard not to become smitten Daisy's cheeky personality and delicate voice after hearing this song. Chipmunk also works surprisingly well amidst the cool, fresh summer synths.

Another track circulating the net is self-titled buzz single, 'Daisy Dares You'. Daisy also filmed a video to accompany the track which perfectly depicts her bouncy, relaxed take on indiepop. The track is available on iTunes, if you should feel like supporting her.

Having heard this teasing taste of what this girl has to offer, Daisy Dares You is one the new girls on 2010 that I am most looking forward to hearing more from. She's also been longlisted for BBC's Sound of 2010 who have predicted success from the likes of Little Boots, Mika and Keane. If you like Pixie Lott, Alex Roots or The Ting Tings, you'll most likely enjoy Daisy.

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Head on over to Daisy's MySpace if you fancy having a listen to some of the tracks mentioned here: http://www.myspace.com/daisydaresyoumusic

Diana Vickers confirms single details

Diana Vickers has revealed on her blog that her debut single will be called 'Once' and is set for release April 19, of next year.

The track has been co-penned by Eg White, who was behind the Will Young smash hit 'Leave Right Now' as well as Adele's 'Chasing Pavements' and Cathy Dennis who is responsible for Kylie Minogue's worldwide number one 'Can't Get You Out Of My Head'. Her people confirmed the song's hook is: 'I'm only going to let you kill me once.'

The track's been described as a 'quirky, synth based single' and will be followed by Vickers' debut album which will feature collaborations from Patrick Wolf and Ellie Goulding.

Diana signed to RCA Records early this year after coming fourth on the 2008 series of X Factor, which also helped launch the careers of Alexandra Burke and JLS.