Your Independent Journal from the Heartland
Press releases are ballyhooing Miley Cyrus’ “Something Beautiful” as a “pop opera fueled by fantasy, featuring 13 original new songs from the visual album” of the same name, which dropped May 30. As a veteran opera reviewer, I wasn’t able to discern a story and plot per se, but Miley’s “popera” does have a thematic throughline. It may not be “Rigoletto” or “La Boheme” or “La Traviata,” but “Something Beautiful” does contain similar obsessions found in operas by Verdi, Puccini, and company. Throughout the 53-ish minute, mind-boggling and eye-ogling production, Cyrus and her “Something Beautiful” co-directors Jacob Bixenman and Brendan Walter strive to graphically evoke the essence of her new numbers in the chanteuse’s ninth studio album, which seems to be fixated on sensuality.
In the past, the former teen star of the Disney sitcom “Hannah Montana” accepted and celebrated sexuality in a delighted, playful way. A joie de vivre sensibility emanated from Miley, as someone who reveled in her fame, fortune, talent, looks and celebrityhood, who perhaps blithely relished living in a world that was her oyster. She was a liberated woman who openly took pleasure in sex and what life has to offer.
But in “Something Beautiful” the playfulness of the younger Cyrus – who is now in her early 30s and a divorcee – has been replaced by a passionate intensity that verges on the angsty. The characters Miley portrays throughout the 13 vignettes that visualize each of her album’s songs are filled with sexual desire and yearning. Only occasionally does she appear to express vulnerability – in the sole scene where she’s joined by a male lover. In “Golden Burning Sun,” which has orgasmic iconography, she repeatedly asks – implores? – “Can I have you, if I never let you down?” Elsewhere she croons about being “Reborn,” “Haunted” and asks “If heaven exists?” Sexual fulfillment may elude Miley, but the versatile songwriter/performer is always in vocal command, with her husky, enticing voice.
Cyrus is strikingly garbed (often barely) in outrageous, revealing outfits, whether she is writhing on the star-studded sidewalk of Hollywood’s world-famous Walk of Fame (which is also the name of that track) in an Alexander McQueen dress with a high slit designed by Seán McGirr or strutting her stuff wearing fringy blue chaps in a Tinseltown studio or vocalizing and faux riding atop a motorcycle in a black leather outfit. According to Vogue, stylist Bradley Kenneth drew upon “vintage designs from labels such as Thierry Mugler, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Bob Mackie to play up the album’s ethereal and otherworldly feel.” Some of Miley’s costumes, with a mask or veil and spider look have a mysterious, perhaps even S&M ambiance.
The eye-popping, dazzling cinematography is stunning, shot by Belgium-born Benoît Debie, who has won accolades from the Sundance Film Festival to the Spirit Awards. “Something Beautiful” has an experimental, artsy, even avant-garde aesthetic and abstract vibe. The titles of and some lyrics from the various lively songs suffused with longing appear onscreen as words, reminiscent of a Jean-Luc Godard French New Wave film.
Speaking of Godard, in the third track, which I believe is entitled “Easy Lover,” Miley appears to be made-up and coiffed to resemble one of the stars of Godard’s 1963 classic “Contempt,” which raises an issue. In terms of conventional appeal, many female celebrity sex symbols, from Bardot to Raquel Welch to J.Lo, are quite curvaceous, whereas Cyrus, while a traditionally pretty blonde, is quite slim in comparison. Something Beautiful’s fourth track, “Every Girl You’ve Ever Loved,” co-features superstar model Naomi Campbell, performing a spoken word monologue, sometimes focusing on her lips in extreme closeup, with she and Cyrus wearing net stocking lingerie-type apparel revealing their derrieres. With her risque outfits and gyrations, Miley radiates a sexual allure, even if she doesn’t have Raquel’s bust or Jennifer’s butt.
According to press notes, Cyrus says: “‘Something Beautiful’ is my dream project come true–fashion, film, and original music coexisting in harmony. My co-creators are all geniuses in their own right: from the masters of sound, Shawn Everett and Alan Meyerson, to one of cinema’s most unique directors, Panos Cosmatos serving as a producer. Each collaborator has used their expertise to make this fantasy a reality.”
Cyrus’ visualization and sonic expression of what she calls “earthly delights” premiered June 6 at the Tribeca Film Festival. “Something Beautiful” was available for one night in June in North America and will be streaming on Hulu and Disney+ after July 16. See www.mileycyrussomethingbeautiful.com.
Ed Rampell is a film historian and critic based in Los Angeles. Rampell is the author of “Progressive Hollywood, A People’s Film History of the United States” and he co-authored “The Hawaii Movie and Television Book,” now in its third edition. His new novel is “The Disinherited: Blood Blalahs.
