5 Underrated Tracks from Miley Cyrus' BANGERZ

Miley Cyrus has become one of the biggest names in music today. Unfortunately, she hasn’t been successful due to her musical talents. She’s become most famous – infamous in some circles – for her antics. Of course, her past as Hannah Montana helped her star rise, but she has gotten away from that persona perhaps as far as you possibly can.

BANGERZ was a bit of a mixed bag as an album. It had the smash #1 hit “Wrecking Ball,” a song that I actually believe deserved its fame. But despite my less-than-impressed feelings about “We Can’t Stop” and a few other tracks on the album that I feel quite skip-worthy, there are some songs here that I personally really like.

That’s right, Miley has underrated tracks. I’m no Smiley (what Miley calls her fans), but I’ve always believed that Miley does actually have some good amount of talent in her. She displays it on a few tracks from BANGERZ.

So here are the Top 5 Underrated Tracks from BANGERZ!

5) Drive

When I first heard this song, as the song started and I heard the background track, I was convinced I wouldn’t like this song. However, Miley's singing on this track is fantastic. Were it not so over-produced, as are many tracks on this record, I’d like this one a lot more. The lyrics are solid, and with real instruments, this could have probably been a big hit. This song is definitely one of the better tracks on BANGERZ and all that's held it back is a few choices in production – for example, the somewhat annoying backing tracks.

4) Adore You

The opening track on BANGERZ, "Adore You" is a very sweet love song. Compared to the rest of the album, it does seem a bit out of place. Miley is at her best in this one. It was selected as the third, and final, single from BANGERZ. It received fairly positive critical reception, as I feel it deserved. The music video, which featured night vision shots of scenes resembling a leaked sex tape, probably didn’t help its cause however. It peaked around #24 on the Hot 100. It’s a shame that this song didn’t do better, and the controversial music video probably hurt this one. The controversy worked for “Wrecking Ball” – but the same trick didn’t work twice. 

3) F.U. (feat. French Montana)

“F.U.” is definitely one of the more unique songs on the record. This is very likely the first time that I’ve ever heard “LOL” used in song lyrics. But it’s not done in an incredibly stupid way. Honestly, by the track title alone, I expected "F.U." would be a lame track, but it turned out to be really clever. Her collaboration with French Montana, who I wasn't familiar with before this track, works well here. It's a different style for Miley, and again, the over-production irks me a bit. However, I can forgive that, due to its cleverness. While it has its share of corny lines like "go give yourself the flu," overall, it's a great song.

2) Maybe You're Right

“Maybe You’re Right” is a culmination of great beat, great lyrics, and great performance - what every pop song should aspire to be. This is a track in which the production actually complements the song rather than distracts from its true potential. I suggested in my track-by-track review of BANGERZ last year that "Maybe You're Right" could be a solid follow-up single to "Wrecking Ball," which sadly it did’t – although Miley didn’t help her cause with “Adore You.”

This song is a bit reminiscent of Miley's older work in the best possible way. It's honest and relatable, unlike a lot of the rest of the record where Miley is so desperate to make herself a “bad girl” and attempting to be stupidly controversial just for the sake of controversy. This is one of the best songs on the record and one not to overlook.

And the #1 underrated track on the record is:

1) Someone Else

Fittingly, “Someone Else” closes out the non-deluxe version of BANGERZ, and she goes out with a proverbial BANG in my opinion. I apologize for the horrible pun, but this one works. Miley was going for a dance-inspired tune with this one, and the production is really good. It's actually a very enjoyable listen and a pretty heart-breaking track. 

The line "He left with my heart / They both walked through that door without me" really got me. What really sets this song apart for me from the rest of BANGERZ is how blatantly honest it is about what happens when the one you love betrays you: the pain causes you to turn into someone else. This was a perfect way to close out this album. It left me with hope that Miley might make more music like this. Perhaps that’s a bit much to ask, but this song exists, and I’m glad that it does.

BANGERZ is certainly not the shining magnum opus that Miley might have been going for, but it certainly brought her into a new stage of her career. Obviously, “Wrecking Ball” was a bigger hit than she could have ever imagined. “We Can’t Stop” was a huge hit as a promo single, and while I despise that song, you have to admit that it did what it was intended to do – be an insidious earworm. I was really thankful that Miley did grace this album with at least 6 decent tracks – these 5 and “Wrecking Ball” – which is not any sort of underrated. 

I wish only the best for you, Miley. Just stop trying to be controversial and just be Miley for a change. Or are those two the same thing?

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons