If you've even bothered to read this review, you'll at least have a passing interest in Miley Cyrus - whether it's because her Hannah Montana character has driven you to distraction via the medium of younger siblings or relatives, you once rather fancied (gruffly admired, for the men) her dad Billy-Ray's line-dancing country soundtracks in the '90s, or you're genuinely curious about the newest pop poppet on the block.
A child star, the now-15-year-old actress/singer/entrepreneur/all-American golden girl is no stranger to the music business - and it shows on 'Breakout', her second studio album and first with no affiliation to Hannah Montana. The immediate and obvious comparisons are with Avril Lavigne; although there are no paeans to 'Sk8r Bois' here, Cyrus's musical style is almost identical to the Canadian's debut album - although there aren't half as many quality pop numbers here as there were on 'Let Go'. Instead, there's a clutch of confidently-delivered guitar-pop songs that are difficult to get excited about - as well as an awful cover of 'Girls Just Want to Have Fun' that destroys the sentiment of the original.
The important thing to remember, though, is the market that Miley Cyrus is aiming for; teen girls who have grown up with the singer and are willing to subscribe to her accounts of heartbreak and 'stupid boys'. But surely, surely there are teens intelligent enough to see through saccharine lyrics like "Suddenly my cell phone's glowing up with your ring tone / I hesitate but answer it anyway" (the awful Goodbye), or "Wake Up America / We're all in this together / It's our home, so let's take care of it / You know that you want to".
Of course, there's the usual brace of passable tracks; Fly On the Wall breaks through from the ear-glazing uptempo pop/midtempo ballad formula, and closer See You Again borrows heavily from Gwen Stefani and Kylie. Even as albums by fifteen-year-olds go, though, this one has little real heart.
