The song was inspired by Roger Waters’ memories of trying to play a show after being injected with some hardcore pain tranquilisers, and certain choice lyrics also seem to speak to Miley’s desire to break free from the mould she’s been put in: “I can’t explain you would not understand,” she gravels, “this is not how I am”. It’s a vocal mammoth and a lyrical masterpiece; Cyrus steps up to the challenge, giving as big and poignant a performance as she can muster. Love them? “I sing songs like ‘[We] Can’t Stop’ for you, but then I sing a couple of songs for me,” Miley told the crowd at last year’s iHeartRadio Music Festival – clearly a favoured spot for unexpected covers. A conflict-averse episode centers on the revelation of a long-held secret that doesn’t have any consequences. Eventually, Cyrus turns to passionate shouting that should make Paul Westerberg proud; a month later, when she came out as gender-fluid, fans would know what the words truly meant to her. 3. “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” (Poison), Can’t Be TamedCyrus gives her all singing this power ballad, but the drum track and stiff guitar solo behind her make the whole thing sound sappy — hardly fitting for an album called Can’t Be Tamed. “A Day in the Life” (the Beatles) with the Flaming Lips and New Fumes, With a Little Help from My FwendsThis Beatles cover is less obnoxious than Cyrus’s other Flaming Lips team-up, even tolerable when it comes to her bridge. Miley Cyrus has a deep and wide catalog of covers, from her beloved Backyard Sessions to her stops to the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge. We counted three “titty meat” references. With her starring role in Black Mirror as Ashley O, Miley Cyrus appeared to shed some light on her own rockier leanings and desire to break out of the pure-pop mould. Is it damn impressive? 26. 22. Miley Cyrus Is Taking Her ‘Backyard Sessions’ to MTV, 21 Miley Cyrus Songs and Performances That’ll Make You a Fan, Cardi B Really Didn’t Mean to Post That Nude, Sacha Baron Cohen Hid in a Bathroom for 5 Hours to Prank Mike Pence, Bette Midler Posts Shriek Peek of Sanderson Sisters’ Virtual. 19. 16. Miley’s version doesn’t stick rigidly to Debbie Harry’s delivery, and it’s all the better for it – instead, her take is gravelly, and charged with the merest hint of a country-rock twang. It’s even more exciting in front of an audience (including Simon himself) for Saturday Night Live’s 40th-anniversary special — Cyrus shows off breathy vocals, growls, and belts, all in just three minutes. 20. In the show, the pink-haired pop star sings a bubblegum version of Nine Inch Nails’ 1989 track ‘Head Like A Hole’. When choosing covers, Cyrus doesn’t go for the notoriously huge singers, like Whitney Houston or Aretha Franklin. And she’s had the voice to back it up — one that can effortlessly traverse pop, rock, country, and soul. That’s the thing: She could’ve done justice to a bigger Blondie song (I know she can scorch “One Way or Another”), and she has the voice for a traditional “Heart of Glass” cover too, but she remains hell-bent on staying original. One of Cyrus’s strengths as an artist is channeling the emotion of a moment into an off-the-cuff reaction, like this cover, performed just days after Tom Petty’s death. But she made it her canvas when she dedicated her Backyard Sessions performance to Leelah Alcorn, a transgender teenager who died by suicide the year before. 2. A few days after the death of the legendary Tom Petty, Miley Cyrus performed ‘Wildflowers’ on the Howard Stern Show in tribute to one of her favourite artists – speaking to the host, she added that she wanted to pick out a song that felt “hopeful rather than mourning”. And her own version of Arctic Monkeys’ ‘AM’ stormer trades in riff-heavy heft for campy country Western. “Lilac Wine” (standard), Backyard Sessions 2012. Cyrus already performed a great cover of this song in 2012, so much so that Melanie herself joined Backyard Sessions for its next iteration. One second she’s grooving with the band, then she’s moaning out that whole chorus, then she’s making small talk with the audience like it was nothing — only to do it all again for the ending. For that performance, she made the song into a gentle, heartfelt elegy, letting the simple chorus speak for itself. Last month at a pandemic edition iHeartRadio Music Festival, Miley opened her four-song set with a cover of ‘Heart and Glass’ by New York new wave pioneers Blondie. Why it rocked: That low-pitched vocal – sublime stuff. Miley Cyrus: her best rock cover songs, from Blondie to Nine Inch Nails The pop star's killer version of Blondie's 'Heart of Glass' is just the beginning of her rock prowess… By El Hunt 31. She adds just a bit of humanity, something the rest of the cover is sorely lacking. Her raspy vocal couldn’t be better suited to the song, and the following day she and dad Billy Ray Cyrus took the cover to The Tonight Show. Join Stephen Colbert for His Live Election Night Special on Showtime, Brian Wilson As Surprised As You Are Beach Boys Playing That Trump Fundraiser, “We have absolutely nothing to do with the Trump benefit today in Newport Beach. Also yes. “New York State of Mind” (Billy Joel) with Billy Joel, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. © 2020 Vox Media, LLC. 37. 11. “Daddy’s always taken the six-foot social-distance rule with me.”, “I’d like to start by tearing you a new one.”, Get Into ‘Position’ for Ariana Grande’s New Single. The pop star's killer version of Blondie's 'Heart of Glass' is just the beginning of her rock prowess…. 32. Sean Ono Lennon, The Flaming Lips feat. Why it rocked: At this point in her career, Miley was still playing clean-cut Disney heroine Hannah Montana, making this the perfect curveball. 8. 39. 25. Sometimes, it’s singing the song that shows off the best contours of her voice; others, it’s bending songs that just shouldn’t work to her will. Paul Simon wrote this song as a fun, low-stakes romp, and Cyrus plays it up in her cover, giving it that twangy swing that she can effortlessly add to a performance. “Happy Together” (the Turtles), Backyard Sessions 2015. “No Tears Left to Cry” (Ariana Grande), BBC Radio 1 “Live Lounge”. As a searing hot heatwave beat down on Worthy Farm last summer, Miley Cyrus got an entire field headbanging, and let loose completely to Led Zeppelin’s live favourite ‘Black Dog’ – roaring and yowling atop some truly dirty guitar playing. Then she took it miles further the second time, singing like the words had taken on new meaning to her in the intervening three years. “my future” (Billie Eilish), BBC Radio 1 “Live Lounge”. “Different” (Joan Jett & the Blackhearts) with Joan Jett, Backyard Sessions 2015. 35. The Eagles were my Mammies favorite band.... and my mama grew up singing this song on drives in the car w her mom! “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” (Robert Hazard), BreakoutMaybe Cyrus could pull off a better cover of this Cyndi Lauper hit today, but she couldn’t shake the Disney off in her 2008 performance. Why it rocked: It’s not only a stunner of a performance, but a heartfelt song choice – Miley dedicated ‘Take it to the Limit’ to her late grandmother Mammie. As well as singing her godmother’s classic ‘Jolene’ and Outkast’s ‘Hey Ya’, the tour also featured a rendition of The Beatles’ psychedelic ‘Lucy In The Sky with Diamonds’ – complete with bug-esque sunglasses and a pair of teeny-boppers. “Help!” (the Beatles), “Global Goal: Unite for Our Future”. But Melanie being there keeps things from getting too serious; she pulls out a verse in French, making Cyrus giggle like no other duet partner. Underneath that layer of tackiness that a Disney Channel cover is bound to have, it’s fun and playful, a delectable little hint at where she’d eventually go next. Zero.”. This fuzzed-out take on the song sounds just terrible, with Cyrus giving the most absent vocal performance she’s ever sung. Already a subscriber? 23. I’m just begging for her and Sean Ono Lennon to get a chance to perform it free from Mark Ronson and his synthesizers just once. Are the Eagles supposed to sound this emotional? But if her song as Ashley O charted, then let’s give this performance its due, too. Cyrus puts a punk spin on “Head Like a Hole” to nice effect, and after she pulled out some great hard-rock covers on her Bangerz tour, it’s great to hear her snarl again. 34. 12. Why it rocked: What could be more rock’n’roll than the Tennessee-born musician metaphorically killing off Hannah Montana, once and for all?