Miley Cyrus breakouts successfully

I absolutely disliked Hannah Montana from the start of her "career." Whenever I see a Disney Channel star become a real star over childish, kiddy music, it pi*ses me off for some odd reason. Maybe I'm just a hater but to me, Disney is a horrible way to start a music career. It's great to break out as an artist but when you think about it, teen singers from Disney have not been successful trying to break out of that child-friendly environment (Raven Symone, Ashley Tisdale, Vanessa Hudgens, Corbin Bleu, etc). But things are beginning to change nowadays, as Disney stars such as The Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus aka Hannah Montana, Aly & Aj, and more are breaking out in a slow manner. While still appealing to the kids, the music is actually very mature. When I heard Miley Cyrus was going to break out of Hannah Montana and create an album of her own material, I started laughing. What is this girl thinking? Is she trying to ruin her so-called music career? She's going down... But soon enough, I hear the first single, "7 Things," and I'm impressed. Instead of being a cheesy, pop-rock creation of having dreams or being happy, the song is all about heartbreak, about Nick Jonas. I decided to buy the album afterwards and what I found actually shocked me.

The album starts off on a high note, with a hard pop-rock version of a Sonic video game soundtrack called "Breakout," with Miley singing tales of hating school and having fun. It's an enjoyable, catchy and fun rock tune that ironically was written by Katy Perry, which is getting highly annoying by now but that's besides the point...
As I said before, "7 things" really is impressive. The lyrics in this song have Taylor Swift antics and the most impressive about this song is the change in rhythm. The song actually starts on a soft beginning, with only kick drums and a groovy yet soft acoustic guitar but as soon as the chorus starts, the pace is picked up 20x faster and "7 Things" turns into a rock singalong that easily fits with any teen angst song out there.

On Breakout, Miley Cyrus even covers songs, two to be exact. Her version of "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" is, of course, more pop-rock than the original and has more of a groovy, head banging beat but no cover could surpass the original. "These Four Walls," originally sung and written by Cheyenne Kimball, begins as an acoustic, simple ballad but soon turns into a power rock ballad, with Miley channeling P!nk in her raspy yelps. "Simple Song" isn't a cover, it's just no co-written by Ms. Cyrus, but it's a beautiful ballad that switches from acoustic piano to a headbanging, heartbreaking performance from Miley.

The rest of Breakout is just forgettable, as I suspected from a Disney Channel star but each song is catchy in its own way. The remix to "See You Again" is mixed into a eurodance epic but fails to groove me like the original and "Wake Up America" may have a message all of us needs to be hearing but it becomes cliche and ends up trying to hard, with lyrics like "Stand up, I'll try if you will / Wake up, it's not a fire drill." These two songs are the filler in the album but for some reason, they work more than they should. "See You Again (Rock Mafia Remix)" may be less enjoyable than the original but it's still a decent dance song while "Wake Up America" still speaks its message loud and clear, even if it turns out to be cliche.
The best of Breakout comes from the mid-tempo, burning ballad "Goodbye" and the edgier rock/pop jam of "Fly On The Wall," which are easily both Miley's best performances in her career so far. With "Fly On The Wall," Miley's voice sounds best when around static-y guitars and a hard clap, letting her voice run rampant, which is more of a cross between P!nk and Avril Lavigne. And when Miley sings her softest on "Goodbye," she also sounds at her best. So what's better for Miley? She better decide soon.

Bold Tracks Are Best Tracks.

1. Breakout
2. 7 Things
3. The Driveway
4. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
5. Full Circle
6. Fly On The Wall
7. Bottom Of My Ocean
8. Wake Up America
9. These Four Walls
10. Simple Song
11. Goodbye
12. See You Again (Rock Mafia Mix)

RATING: 3/5