Saying Something Nice: Miley Cyrus

See the previous post on Train for an explanation of this series.

Tempting Snarky Dismissal: We're talking about a revenue stream on a Disney executive's ledger more than we are music.

Hey, Say Something Nice: I'm guessing it wasn't Miley herself, but someone made a clever musical decision at the end of "Party in the USA."

The final minute of the song (starting right at 2:30) repeats the chorus twice. The standard approach in radio pop with this structure is to modulate the key a half-step (or maybe a whole-step) upward on the second chorus, which makes everything sound just a little bit higher and, as the link notes, "very uplifting." I'm sure you've heard what I'm talking about even if that description wasn't helpful- for an example, start at 2:36 below, then listen to the change at 2:55.

Thing is, this modulation is such a cliché that Marshall Crenshaw was ironically calling it out thirty years ago (at about 1:20 below- he does it at the bridge rather than the final chorus, but it's the same modulation for the same musical purpose). For me, any unironic use of the modulation at this point is a pretty blatant violation of the Saturation Principle. It's the audio equivalent of tired lyrical clichés like flying away into the sky- it's so obvious it just sounds lazy.

Whomever arranged "Party in the USA" found an impressively simple way to get the musical power and momentum the modulation (is supposed to) provide without succumbing to the cliché. The first ending chorus sounds just like it did earlier in the song. But instead of modulating that same arrangement for the second chorus (at about 2:55), the arrangement adds two tones on top of the existing instrumentation: a low, piano-type sound close to pitch to the existing bass line, and a higher-pitched bell sound.

What these two additions do is thicken the chord used in the original chorus. Stated another way, it takes the harmonies established by the instrumental track and makes them sound fuller and richer. Which, at least to my ears, adds a lot to the arrangement in a way I haven't heard much before. As far as I'm concerned, pop arrangers should start raiding this good idea. It could become saturated itself at some point, but for me, at least, there's a long way to go to reach that point.

Why That Isn't Enough: I still think there's more than a grain of truth in that snarky dismissal, and her vocal tracks are the clearest proof.

Miley has a nasal honk of a voice. There's nothing inherently wrong with that; I like a number of singers with similarly nasal voices, chief among them Freedy Johnston and John Darnielle. Part of their appeal is that both are strong lyricists. I'm willing to forgive more in the way of vocal shortcomings to someone who has a lot to say. But both also find musical ways to make their vocals fit well within their songs, despite their lack of a traditionally "good" voice.

Freedy Johnston, for example, commonly uses two strategies. The first is to write songs that rely on minor, dissonant, or otherwise "different"-sounding chords and tones. The guitar riffs in "On the Way Out" all sound a bit sharp and abrasive, and that makes his voice sound like a fairly natural fit. This is the reason I think "Party in the USA" works better than the most of the other Cyrus songs I've heard- her voice doesn't seem out of place with the gnarled chords of the guitar riff.

Second, Johnston successfully performs slow, spare, traditionally "pretty" songs through careful vocal control. He sings low in his range throughout the verses of "The Mortician's Daughter," so that the nasal inflection doesn't overwhelm the sometimes-minimal guitar accompaniment. He also undersings the more dramatic runs of the chorus; listen to the way he gets vocal power out of cracking and softening his singing (for example, around the 1:00 mark) under the swelling instrumentation. I suspect that if Johnston tried to keep up by singing louder, it would sound to most listeners like an exposure of his vocal shortcomings.

But keeping up is exactly what Miley does on many of her slow songs. She's trying to sing it the same way a more "traditional" singer would, and it just makes her nasality sound more obvious. Listen to the build at about 2:40 of "The Climb." She starts by undersinging the quiet first lines, but her vocal dynamics proceed to follow the music, and sound reedy and thin for the comparison.

That doesn't appear to be an exception either, based on pretty much the whole of this song:

Both songs have arrangements and structures that sound pretty standard for female pop singers, and it's clear that someone like Kelly Clarkson would sound more natural singing them. It's possible they're just honestly trying and failing, but it seems more likely that this indicates her handlers are often just giving her the same songs and arrangements they'd be giving any pop starlet, rather than trying to tailor her work to her strengths (and weaknesses). To me that's a pretty strong suggestion that her career's being managed more as a revenue stream than an effort at musical accomplishment.