Noah Cyrus debuted her new single, “Make Me (Cry)” featuring Labrinth in November 2016. The now-17-year-old watches her song climb the iTunes top 50 songs chart.
STARS: 3/5
Noah’s father, Billy Ray Cyrus, is a well-known country singer who appeared on “Hannah Montana” with his other daughter, Miley Cyrus.
Miley has been wildly successful and booked her role as Disney Channel’s Hannah Montana at age 12. Noah appeared in a few of her own roles over the years. Her fan base is now waiting to see how she differentiates herself from Miley.
At first listen, Noah’s voice strongly resembles her sister’s. Initially, one could easily mistake Noah for Miley and vice versa.
“Make Me (Cry)” is a beautiful song, but it almost failed to showcase Noah’s voice. If an established artist had sung the song, it’d be different. As an audience, knowing the vocal range of a musician helps in giving credit for talent where credit is due.
Noah may have vocal range, but this song didn’t hint at raw talent in either direction. Labrinth’s collaboration was really the only thing helping to showcase Noah’s talent.
Along with the song came a music video. The simplicity of the video was made clear although the song itself is supposed to evoke emotion. Noah had the same bored expression throughout the duration of the video.
In an effort to stray from her sister’s wildcard videos, Noah may have opted for something clean and simple, but a trained actress should coach her on the importance of communicating emotion through facial expressions.
One could argue that Miley’s “Adore You” and Noah’s “Make Me (Cry)” are similar in tone as well as lyrics to a small degree.
Miley sings, “Know I need you more” in “Adore You,” in a similar tone as Noah’s, “I never needed you like I do right now” in “Make Me (Cry).”
Granted, the two are related, so voice similarities are to be expected on some level. Then again, Noah is only 17 years old. She has time to improve and distinguish herself as an artist.
My hope for the star is that she takes some risks to step out from behind Miley’s shadow.
A Noah album release is expected, but an official release date is yet to be announced.