Something Beautiful by Miley Cyrus

Miley Cyrus Something Beautiful

71
ChoruScore
13 reviews
May 30, 2025
Release Date
Columbia
Label

Miley Cyrus's Something Beautiful opens as a theatrical, genre-hopping statement that aims for spectacle and intimacy in equal measure. Across 13 professional reviews the record earned a 70.77/100 consensus score, and critics consistently point to a handful of songs as the album's emotional and sonic anchors. For anyone searching "Something Beautiful review" or wondering "is Something Beautiful good," the quick verdict is that its highs are thrilling even when the whole occasionally fragments.

Reviewers agree that the album's strongest moments marry Cyrus' weathered vocal grit with ambitious, cinematic production. The title track “Something Beautiful” repeatedly emerges as a miniature epic, shifting from lounge-y torch to brass-and-distortion catharsis. Balladry finds power in “More to Lose”, while exuberant, dance-forward cuts like “End of the World” and “Walk of Fame (feat. Brittany Howard)” register as some of the best songs on Something Beautiful. Critics praised collaborative flourishes on “Every Girl You’ve Ever Loved (feat. Naomi Campbell)” and flagged the record's hi-NRG, disco and Eighties pop influences as both a strength and a stylistic choice that sometimes prioritizes aesthetics over lyricic clarity.

The critical consensus frames the album as a daring, uneven experiment: many reviews celebrate Miley's reinvention, theatrical ambition and moments of genuine emotional heft, while several note inconsistent songwriting and occasional excess. For readers asking "what do critics say about Something Beautiful" the takeaway is clear - the record is worth listening to for its standout tracks and bold risks, even if its maximalist impulses mean rewards come in concentrated bursts. Below, the full reviews unpack where those bursts land and where the project loses traction.

Critics' Top Tracks

The standout songs that made critics take notice

1

Walk of Fame (feat. Brittany Howard)

9 mentions

"the album’s centerpiece "Walk of Fame" is a Brittany Howard-assisted rallying cry"
Sputnikmusic
2

End of the World

10 mentions

"the stratospheric "End of the World""
Sputnikmusic
3

Every Girl You've Ever Loved (feat. Naomi Campbell)

9 mentions

""Every Girl You’ve Ever Loved" is an acrobatic act caked in gold"
Sputnikmusic
the album’s centerpiece "Walk of Fame" is a Brittany Howard-assisted rallying cry
S
Sputnikmusic
about "Walk of Fame (feat. Brittany Howard)"
Read full review
9 mentions
83% sentiment

Track Ratings

How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.

View:
1

Prelude

9 mentions
75
02:35
2

Something Beautiful

11 mentions
100
04:31
3

End of the World

10 mentions
100
04:10
4

More to Lose

11 mentions
100
04:35
5

Interlude 1

5 mentions
40
01:14
6

Easy Lover

9 mentions
99
03:06
7

Interlude 2

4 mentions
01:30
8

Golden Burning Sun

6 mentions
85
04:54
9

Walk of Fame (feat. Brittany Howard)

9 mentions
100
06:00
10

Pretend You're God

6 mentions
47
04:39
11

Every Girl You've Ever Loved (feat. Naomi Campbell)

9 mentions
100
05:18
12

Reborn

9 mentions
86
05:42
13

Give Me Love

6 mentions
46
03:51

What Critics Are Saying

Deep insights from 16 critics who reviewed this album

Critic's Take

Miley Cyrus's Something Beautiful is presented as a delicately crafted feast of melodic intricacy, and the reviewer's ear keeps returning to songs like “Something Beautiful” and “More To Lose” as the album's clearest rewards. The title track begins as a gorgeous slo-mo ballad before erupting into crunchy digital distortion, and “More To Lose” emerges as a zero gravity hymn held by Miley's intent, which is precisely why listeners asking "best tracks on Something Beautiful" should start there. Equally notable are the engrossing, pop-adjacent moments of “Walk Of Fame” and the lucid transgression of “Golden Burning Sun”, even if the record as a whole sometimes lets its ideas overtake its songs. This is a fascinating, occasionally uneven one-off that adds another layer to her story, rewarding close listens rather than instant streaming hits.

Key Points

  • The best song is the title track “Something Beautiful” for its gorgeous slow build and explosive distortion.
  • The album's core strengths are melodic intricacy and fearless experimentation that reward attentive listening.

Themes

experimentation melodic intricacy psychedelic/psychotropic elements conceptual unity vs fragmentation pop and rock hybridization

Critic's Take

Miley Cyrus's Something Beautiful is at its best in the opening pair: “Prelude” and “Something Beautiful”. The reviewer revels in the dizzying production and unusual instrumentation of “Prelude” while praising how “Something Beautiful” finally lets Cyrus' smoldering alto cut through, complete with a squall of saxophone and muscular guitar. Yet the praise is tempered - after that high point the record drifts into generic, dated pop-rock and lyrical incoherence, making those two songs the clear best tracks on Something Beautiful. The narrative voice stays skeptical but admiring, glad that Cyrus can still mount an interesting experiment even when the rest of the album falters.

Key Points

  • The best song is "Something Beautiful" because it pairs Cyrus' vocal texture with adventurous production that justifies the collaborators.
  • The album's core strengths are its bold production ambitions and Cyrus' smoldering alto, but these are undermined by uneven songwriting and dated pop-rock detours.

Themes

art-rock vs pop tension collaboration with indie rock luminaries uneven songwriting and production vocal performance and texture

Critic's Take

In his vivid, slightly breathless voice Matt Mitchell argues that Miley Cyrus's Something Beautiful finds its best songs in the extremes - the epic ballad “More to Lose” and the sugary romp “Golden Burning Sun”. Mitchell keeps returning to Cyrus' revelatory vocal grit and theatricality, praising how a rasp born of Reinke's edema adds texture while production swings from operatic to disco. He names “More to Lose” the greatest thing she has ever worked on, and frames the album's strongest tracks as proof that her chameleonic flair finally coheres into something worth calling her best.

Key Points

  • The best song is "More to Lose" because of its dramatic vocal peak, multi-instrumental arrangement, and chilling delivery.
  • The album's core strengths are Cyrus' gritty, improved vocal texture and fearless genre-hopping anchored by strong production and collaborations.

Themes

vocal grit and texture genre-hopping eclecticism dramatic production pop hooks vs experimentation collaboration
Consequence logo

Consequence

Unknown
Jun 2, 2025
83

Critic's Take

Miley Cyrus's Something Beautiful stakes its claim as a vocal showcase, and the review keeps returning to the album's bravest moments like “Something Beautiful” and “More to Lose”. The writer admires how the rasp and damaged instrument create unpredictable textures, praising the sonically daring flips of “Something Beautiful” while singling out “More to Lose” for its powerhouse balladry. The narrative frames those best tracks as proof that imperfect, lived-in vocals can make the album more compelling than a polished run of crowd-pleasers. Overall the tone is admiring but measured, noting flaws while celebrating the record's willingness to risk.

Key Points

  • The best song, "Something Beautiful," is best for its mood-flipping, sonically daring production that foregrounds Cyrus's damaged voice.
  • The album's core strength is its commitment to letting Cyrus's altered, lived-in vocals carry both pop bops and riskier avant moments.

Themes

vocal damage and identity beauty vs ugliness transition and loss risk-taking in pop
Sputnikmusic logo

Sputnikmusic

Unknown
May 30, 2025
86

Critic's Take

In a thrilling reinvention, Miley Cyrus's Something Beautiful stakes a convincing claim as one of 2025's best pop records, led by standouts like “Walk of Fame” and “End of the World”. The reviewer's voice revels in the album's sprawling, joyful, psychedelic adventure, praising the brass-apocalypse title track and the Brittany Howard-assisted centerpiece “Walk of Fame” for their ambition and emotional payoff. With moments like the stratospheric “End of the World” and the acrobatic, sax-soaked “Every Girl You’ve Ever Loved”, the critic argues these are the best songs on Something Beautiful because they crystallize Miley's renewed vision and sequencing. Even the few reservations, notably about “Give Me Love”, only sharpen the sense that this is Miley at her most accomplished.

Key Points

  • The best song is "Walk of Fame" because it functions as the album's rallying centerpiece and emotional high point.
  • The album's core strengths are its ambitious reinvention, coherent sequencing, and adventurous yet disciplined collaborations.

Critic's Take

Miley Cyrus keeps reinventing herself on Something Beautiful, and the best songs on Something Beautiful - like “Walk of Fame” and “Every Girl You’ve Ever Loved” - show her at her most glitzy and consoling. Rob Sheffield leans into the album's Eighties pop and disco sparkle, praising the electro pep talk of “Walk of Fame” and the playful, redemptive disco twirl of “Every Girl You’ve Ever Loved”. He also singles out “End of the World” and the title track for adventurous production flips, arguing these best tracks underscore Miley's ambition and searching for beauty in darkness. The result reads as another bold, unpredictable swerve in a career defined by dramatic left turns, and those looking for the best tracks on Something Beautiful will find them in these theatrical, healing moments.

Key Points

  • The best song is "Walk of Fame" for its electro pep talk, disco glitz, and Brittany Howard cameo.
  • The album's core strengths are its reinvention, Eighties/disco influences, and theme of healing and redemption.

Themes

reinvention healing nostalgia Eighties influence pop-glamour

Critic's Take

Nick Levine leans into Miley Cyrus’s post-genre adventurousness, arguing that Miley Cyrus makes a convincingly cinematic record with Something Beautiful. He highlights “Golden Burning Sun” as sounding like a Fleetwood Mac-written blockbuster song, and praises “End of the World” for its drivetime glide and Beatles-referencing lyric. Levine also singles out “Walk of Fame” and “Every Girl You’ve Ever Loved” for their high-camp, '80s-flavoured theatrics, concluding that the album is sprawling, fully realised and a pretty big swing for Cyrus.

Key Points

  • The best song, "Golden Burning Sun", is the album’s most cinematic and vividly realised track, evoking Fleetwood Mac for an '80s blockbuster.
  • The album’s core strengths are its genre-fluidity, cinematic production and confident, theatrical collaborations.

Themes

genre fluidity cinematic production 80s influences collaboration

Critic's Take

In his measured, contextual voice Steven J. Horowitz frames Miley Cyrus's Something Beautiful as an "elevated experiment" that prizes scope over immediate hits. He names “More to Lose” and “Walk of Fame” as exemplars - the former a truest-to-form heartbreak ballad, the latter a glamorous, Donna Summer-meets-New Order triumph featuring Brittany Howard. Horowitz insists the record is thrilling and challenging, and that its best tracks linger precisely because Cyrus stretches pop into unfamiliar textures. For listeners asking "best songs on Something Beautiful," he points to the album's strongest, more conventional moments as entry points amid its dazzling genre studies.

Key Points

  • The best song, "More to Lose," is best because it is the record's most immediate, heartfelt, conventionally structured heartbreak ballad.
  • The album's core strengths are ambitious experimentation and convincing genre pastiche that keep Cyrus central despite fewer obvious hits.

Critic's Take

Miley Cyrus’s Something Beautiful finds its best moments in collaborations and outright theatricality, the review pointing particularly to “Every Girl You’ve Ever Loved” and “More to Lose”. The reviewer praises “Every Girl You’ve Ever Loved” as a "solid gold banger", citing Naomi Campbell’s bonkers cameo and euphoric production as the album high point. They single out “More to Lose” for Cyrus’s "extraordinary emotional heft", even while criticizing some Eighties brass noodling. Overall the tone is admiring of the record's adventurous spirit, while noting it is inconsistent and not quite as groundbreaking as Cyrus claims.

Key Points

  • Naomi Campbell-featured "Every Girl You’ve Ever Loved" is the album highlight due to its euphoric production and memorable cameo.
  • The album's strengths are its adventurous, theatrical collaborations and Cyrus's emotional vocal moments, despite inconsistency.

Themes

surreal influence nostalgia experimentation celebrity and self-image dance-pop and disco elements

Critic's Take

Never one for stasis, Miley Cyrus stages another reinvention on Something Beautiful, a high-camp pop opera whose best tracks crystallise the album's aims. The reviewer's favourites are the neon-lit “End Of The World” and the melodramatic “More To Lose”, and the stomp of “Easy Lover” is singled out as the record's '70s centrepiece. Daisy Carter praises the record's spectacle and Miley's gritty vocal, even while flagging moments like “Every Girl You’ve Ever Loved” as trying too hard. Overall, the album's ambition and standout songs make a convincing case for this new chapter in Miley's shape-shifting career.

Key Points

  • The best song is 'End Of The World' for its 80s Euro-pop production and showcasing of Miley's gritty vocal.
  • The album's core strengths are ambition, theatrical spectacle, and Miley's distinctive voice anchoring varied pop pastiches.

Themes

transformation camp pop opera 80s Euro-pop nostalgia theatrical spectacle collaboration

Critic's Take

Miley Cyrus treats Something Beautiful as a big, sometimes baffling concept, but the review points to a handful of best tracks that actually land. Alexis singles out “End of the World” and “Every Girl You’ve Ever Loved” as the songs most likely to register as hits, admiring the album's hi-NRG, synthy choruses and Brittany Howard's turn on “Walk of Fame”. The result is an album that often fails to vibrate at a metaphysical level yet contains several of the best songs on Something Beautiful - songs that are well written, well made and genuinely catchy.

Key Points

  • The best song is one of the synthy, hi-NRG tracks like "End of the World" because its chorus sticks and it recalls irresistible 80s pop hooks.
  • The album's core strengths are well-made, varied vehicles for Cyrus’s powerful, raspy voice and a convincing revival of mid-80s hi-NRG textures.

Themes

80s pop revival hi-NRG/dancefloor concept vs. execution vocal power

Critic's Take

In a typically expansive turn, Miley Cyrus makes Something Beautiful into a widescreen prog-pop fever dream where the best songs - notably “Something Beautiful” and “End of the World” - feel like miniature epics. Sal Cinquemani’s review revels in Cyrus’s maximalism, praising the title track as a Big Bang of brass and guitar and calling “End of the World” euphoric with strings and ABBA-esque piano. He also singles out “Every Girl You’ve Ever Loved” and “Reborn” for their barnburner energy and rapturous production, arguing the album luxuriates in sax solos, spoken interludes, and world-building. The tone is admiring and analytical, framing these songs as the clearest evidence that Cyrus’s bold theatrical impulses yield some of the best tracks on Something Beautiful.

Key Points

  • The title track stands out for its explosive prog-rock arrangement and vivid imagery, making it the album's best song.
  • The album's core strengths are its maximalist production, theatrical world-building, and emotional contradictions that deepen its pop ambition.

Themes

maximalism vs pop simplicity post-apocalyptic/world-building love and contradiction theatrical/prog-pop ambition feminist anthem/ballroom culture

Critic's Take

I kept thinking of Miley Cyrus's knack for theatricality as I listened to Something Beautiful, and the best tracks - notably “Something Beautiful” - show why she remains compelling. The title track flexes her rasp and range, shifting from lounge-y jazz to roaring distortion and offering the album's clearest moment of payoff. Yet that payoff is undermined by songs that ring hollow, leaving the record feeling like style without the emotional footholds it promises. In short, the best songs on Something Beautiful make the album worthwhile in moments, but they are too isolated to redeem the whole.

Key Points

  • The title track is best because it flexes Cyrus's rasp and range and delivers the album's most convincing shift and payoff.
  • The album's core strength is widescreen, larger-than-life production and adventurous pastiche, but it often prioritizes style over substantive hooks or emotional footholds.

Themes

aesthetics over substance experimentation and pastiche therapy and personal revelation grand production