Bangerz (album)

### **Producers**

Mike Will Made-It (also exec.) • Miley Cyrus (exec.) • Pharell Williams • Max Martin • P-Nasty • will.i.a.m • Oren Yoel

**"Bangerz"** is the debut studio album by American singer Miley Cyrus. It was released on January 19, 2018, by Shadow Records. Cyrus began planning the project in late 2016, early 2017. Working on the album continued when she joined the label Shadow Records in mid 2017. Cyrus describes the album as a "dirty hip-hop with pop mixed in between", *Bangerz* really set the mark for Miley Cyrus as a good start for her career.

*Bangerz* received mixed to positive reviews from music critics (such as; Billboard, PopCrush, Pitchfork & Rolling Stone), who praised its overall production and originality. The record debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 222,000 copies. It was the first female studio album in 2018 to debut at number one with such high first-week sales. The album was later on certified seven-time platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) after moving seven million units in the country.

"Drive" was released as the lead single from the album on December 8, 2017 and peaked at number eight on the US Billboard Hot 100. The second single "We Can't Stop" was released on January 5, 2018 and became Cyrus' first single (out of three total) to peak in the top position on the Billboard Hot 100. We Can't Stop was the song for Miley Cyrus that got the general public her attention. The music video shot for the song was a party vibed song with friends of Cyrus herself. The third and final single "Wrecking Ball" was released on February 23, 2018 and peaked at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100. Wrecking Ball caused a lot of media headlines and controversy as the music video for the song showed Miley Cyrus swinging naked on a wrecking ball and licking a sledgehammer. The Trap Remix for Wrecking Ball received a Grammy nomination for "Best Remixed Recording" at the 2019 Grammy Awards.

## Singles from Bangerz

1. "Drive"Released: December 8, 2017

2. "We Can't Stop"Released: January 5, 2018

3. "Wrecking Ball"Released: February 23, 2018

## Background and production

In late 2016, news broke the internet that Miley Cyrus was focusing on releasing music as a solo artist under her own name. Even though Miley Cyrus released projects with Hannah Montana, she told multiple media outlets that her first studio album under her own name would feel like a her debut in the music business.

She described the then-untitled album as "dirty hip-hop with pop mixed in between". To achieve this sound, Cyrus worked with different Pop & Hip-Hop producers including Mike Will Made-It, Pharell Williams, Max Martin, P-Nasty, will.i.a.m and Oren Yoel. They helped her with the album and teached a lot of things to Cyrus for future projects. Mike Will Made-It and Miley Cyrus explained the album title was decided after realizing the album was full of bangers and good songs.

## Release and artwork

On December 7, 2017, Miley Cyrus went on to go on her socials to announce "Drive" as the lead single for her debut studio album. Five minutes after that announcement, a tweet went live with the album cover and a message that the pre-order for her album *Bangerz* would also be up on December 8, 2017. She later announced the album will be released on January 19, 2018. The album went straight to the top spot for the top pre-ordered albums on iTunes.

In February of 2018, two unreleased album covers leaked to Twitter. Those two unreleased album covers are similair to the original album cover but are a little different in order of shots and backgrounds. On December 15, 2017 a promotional single called "Someone Else" was released to promote the pre-order for her album.

On December 18 of 2017, Miley Cyrus took to Twitter to release the tracklist with 20 - 30 seconds snippets of each song. The tracklist was revealed with emoji's, each emoji described each track so the fans could figure out how the songs would sound. On December 24 of 2017, Miley Cyrus released a single "Nightmare", the song didn't make the album but Cyrus loved the song so much that she wanted to release it,

which was a good move, even though the song was only promoted on Saturday Night Live together with We Can't Stop, Nightmare still went on to sell 1,100,000+ copies in the United States and is certified RIAA platinum.

## Singles

"Drive" was the lead single from *Bangerz* and was released on December 8, 2017. Critics praised Cyrus' raw and pure voice on the song and its lyrics. The song peaked at number eight on the US Billboard Hot 100. The song was succesful worldwide, peaking at least in the top 10 worldwide especially in European countries and Oceania.

"We Can't Stop" was the second single from *Bangerz* and was released on January 5, 2018. The song peaked atop of the Billboard Hot 100 marking Cyrus' first song to do so. The song peaked at number one worldwide and peaked at two in the United Kingdom. The accompanying music video was released on January 10, 2018, Miley Cyrus went on to do a live-release via Twitter, tweeting along with her fans to the music video release while using the hashtag "#WCSMusicVideo", the hashtag went on to become the number-one trend on Twitter Worldwide for twenty-four hours. The single went on to become certified Diamond by the RIAA for selling over 10,000,000 copies in the United States.

"Wrecking Ball" was released as the third and final single from *Bangerz* and was released on February 23, 2018. The song peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked within the top three worldwide and even going to the top spots in Australia, Germany and the United Kingdom, in the United Kingdom, the song went on to stay at number one for three weeks. The accompanying music video was released on the same day as the release. The music video made some headlines and caused a lot of controversy as Miley Cyrus can be seen swinging naked on a wrecking ball and licking a sledgehammer. The Trap Remix, which got a 2019 Grammy nomination for Best Remixed Recording, was released on March 19, 2018. The song also had a director's cut music video which was released on March 11, 2018.

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### Label

Rolling Stone: 68/100

*Bangerz* received mixed to positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received a green score of 72. The reviewer for PitchFork made sure the name was a good one for the album; "Once you look at that album title [Bangerz], you definitely wonder whether or not the album actually lives up to its name. That certainly seems to be the case in this situatian". PitchFork praised the ballads and mid-tempo songs on the album such as "Malibu", "Drive", "Someone Else" and "Wrecking Ball" writing in their review: "With these four soungs, Cyrus is doing exactly what many of her pop stars peers are failing to do, making ballads and mid-tempo songs that aren't boring".

Billboard wrote "An edgy new look, a fierce stare and a neon sign behind her showcasing the title of her new album - BANGERZ. Miley Cyrus' evolution comes across as more than evident by now. She's ditched her pink and gliterry Hannah Montana days, and is now ready to become one of the industry's biggest forces. And she's not gonna do that without a bit of controversy, as we have learned recently". Billboard praised the album and found it a good move for Miley. "One she should keep working on", Billboard on the direction Miley took with the album. "There's some flaws here and there but Miley herself is flawed, and that's what we love about her so much", Billboard wrote in their review.

## Track listing

Credits adapted from the liner notes of *Bangerz.*

**Bangerz -** Standard Versions (*Excluding track 15, 16, these are deluxe version tracks only*)

## Charts

**Weekly charts**

 Brazil (Brazilian Album Charts)
 Canadian Albums (Billboard)
 French Albums (SNEP)
 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)
 UK Albums (OCC)
 US Billboard 200

## Certifications

 Canada (Music Canada)
 France (SNEP)
 Germany (BVMI)
 United Kingdom (BPI)
 United States (RIAA)