Miley Cyrus – Summertime Sadness (Lana Del Rey Cover) (Live in the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge)

Miley Cyrus has been dominating the mainstream media currents since early summer. After the release of summer-ready “We Can’t Stop,” fall’s introduction to “Wrecking Ball,” a scene-stealing VMAs performance, the hostess of Saturday Night Live in October, and various magazine covers and interviews all either praising or bashing the woman, the vehicle of her talent and voice is definitely not unnoticed.

Regardless of her style or behavior, we can’t help but recognize the rawness under which Miley lies. She can sing–and that’s not some assumption or question or dream. What you see and hear is what you get. Is it really worth it to review the goodness of her character? What’s more powerful is that Miley isn’t afraid to be who she is–and she isn’t trying to be anything she isn’t. She totally owns up to who she is, which people will respond positively or negatively to. We all ought to look in favor to someone who is trying to mold their own name.

Whatever the case, Miley’s rendition of Lana Del Rey’s is absolutely breathtaking. The instrumentation is beautiful as it starts off with a steady build-up on a lone guitar–revealing Miley’s convincing voice–with added percussion and piano harmonies played atop. By the time the chorus hits, the rhythm is fully there and we find ourselves bopping our head to its inevitable catchiness. The song continues with its guitar, percussion, piano and voice harmonies and we’ve got ourselves a solid performance. Miley’s voice holds up the song with the right conviction and–most importantly–it’s hard to not hear the heart in her voice.

The mark of any talented artist, in my eyes, is when one is able to really wring out the emotion to any song and lyric he/she is singing. Rather than just singing, Miley’s truly bringing an element of herself to this song, as we feel the heart and emotion in her voice. With that, it really grabs our ears and attention as we fully grasp the meaning–something you can’t quite miss.