After a bit of controversy to the nerve racking movements at the Video Music Awards last month, the Disney star has come of age and has finally released her long anticipated fourth album Bangerz. A pure pop album with shades of hip hop and synthpop, Cyrus has made her songs connecting her relationship with boyfriend Hemsworth and rightly so it begins on a soft note with Adore you, a well grooved pop ballad. It has subdued lyrics addressed to a lover which goes “……We were meant to be / in holy matrimony…’

Down the line of the thirteen songs, we have guest artists and we also have a bit of cover styles too. A well used sample in My Darlin is a clever ploy using Ben E. Kings’s Stand by Me, probably the only artist to try the sample around after Sean Kingston first raked it up with his tune Beautiful Girls. The second track We Can’t Stop is a mid tempo pop R & B dance track that lyrically discusses a house party. On SMS something that everyone is doing nowadays, she takes on Britney Spears who appears as guest vocalist on the second verse of the song.  On 4 X 4 we have Nelly bailing Cyrus with some pushy lyrics. Wrecking Ball which is high on the charts is a super pop ballad, neat grooves packaged well with turbulent lyrics addressed to Hemsworth. Moving a few places we go for Love Money Party features a house beat all through with break beats.  FU has a bit of dub step and a slow trot on the dance floor.

At 20, Cyrus has been in the industry for nearly a decade, and she doesn’t seem afraid of growing up at all. What you have here is a grown up Miley, a new sound, mature to take on her rivals. Her music is more likeable than before, nothing banging like before.

With no lyrics to the songs, what we get is some saucy shots of Cyrus in all forms of undress, honey for the eyes.

n     Reviewed by Verus Ferreira