A Definitive Ranking of EVERY Song from Miley Cyrus' Can't Be Tamed Album (MONTH OF MILEY)

*full reflection on each song coming soon!(:

Welcome Back to Disney!👋😊🎉I hope you enjoyed my last post on A Definitive Ranking of Every Song from Miley Cyrus’ The Time of Our Lives EP, because today we’re continuing this Month of Miley blog post series and talking all about the TRULY UNFORGETTABLE, SO NOSTALGIC and ICONIC Miley album, Can’t Be Tamed.💿🎶🤍🖤🤎But of course, as always, before we get into my official ranking of the songs from this album, I just want to give a brief history about it along with some of my memories associated with this album. So, let’s get into it!😊

Can’t Be Tamed was the third studio album by Miley Cyrus that was released on June 18, 2010, by Hollywood Records.🎉💿🎶🤍🖤🤎It was also her final album with the label, as she then signed with RCA Records in early 2013. While traveling for her Wonder World Tour, Miley wrote and began recording this album in late 2009, and completed it in early 2010. According to my research, Can’t Be Tamed represented a musical departure from Miley’s earlier work, which she had grown to feel uninspired by. The efforts resulted in this album being primarily dance-pop, which Miley’s record label acknowledged differed from the original plans for the album. Miley also once described this album as being a “good record to blast in your car.” Which, I agree with. Although, this album is good to blast anywhere, not just in your car.😊 Lyrically, the songs’ themes revolve around breaking free of constraints and expectations, which are largely mentioned in the context of romantic relationships, but it even refers to business relationships. Most of Can’t Be Tamed was produced by John Shanks and Rock Mafia. Miley also co-wrote eleven out of the twelve songs on the album.👏The only one not written by her being THE cover of “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” by American band Poison. 

Can’t Be Tamed received generally mixed reviews from “music critics” upon its release, who were uncertain toward the album’s perceived lack of musical focus and its failure to fully establish Miley’s maturing public image.👎With additional criticism being placed on her vocals sounding over-processed and lacking emotional depth.👎Which I totally disagree with, because I feel like her vocals in majority of these songs are filled with raw, emotional depth.👍😊 Even more-so than her vocals in a couple of her other albums, which is one thing that I believe sets this album apart from some of her other albums. But apparently, Can’t Be Tamed was unable to replicate the success of Miley’s earlier work. As it debuted at #3 on the U.S. Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 102,000 copies. However, Can’t Be Tamed charted moderately on record charts internationally, reaching the TOP 10 in countries including Canada, Australia, and the U.K..👏👏👏

Two singles were released from the album. Its title track “Can’t Be Tamed” was released on May 3, 2010, which peaked at #8 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and performed moderately worldwide.👏👏 And “Who Owns My Heart” was released as the second single in Germany on October 22, 2010. Promotional efforts for the album began to associate Miley with an “increasingly provocative image”, which was an effort that continued with her fourth studio album Bangerz (2013). Can’t Be Tamed was primarily promoted through a series of TV appearances, along with Miley’s headlining Gypsy Heart Tour in 2011. 

As briefly mentioned before, in December 2009, Miley announced that she had begun planning her THIRD studio album, and after its completion she intended to begin a musical hiatus. As she specifically stated at the time, when describing the artistic transition that she experienced during the production of Can’t Be Tamed to MTV News, ”I want to do my last pop record. I’m working on a record right now. I kind of want this to be my last record for a little while and be able to take a break and just get all the types of music that I really love…you know, my favorite styles, because in a few years, as I grow up, so will my fans, and I won’t have to focus on that as much, and I’ll be able to have more of the sound of music that I’m into.” Clearly, Miley expressed concerns that her newer material didn’t truly inspire her, and worried that she would be “blending in with everyone else”. Although, she later commented that the final product was inspired by techno music qualities commonly used by recording artists such as Lady Gaga. Which, in my opinion, you definitely do get some of those vibes when listening to this album. Abby Konowitch from Hollywood Records also once stated that the record drew more inspiration from dance-pop music than she originally intended, but that it “feels very comfortable for her (Miley), and it feels very comfortable in terms of the state of contemporary music.” 

Like I also mentioned before, the majority of the album was recorded abroad during Miley’s headlining Wonder World Tour in 2009 and 2010. Where she collaborated with John Shanks during its production, as well as with the production team Rock Mafia (Antonina Armato and Tim James), who also notably produced Miley’s earlier singles “See You Again” and “7 Things” from her first (Meet Miley Cyrus (2007)) and second (Breakout (2008)) studio albums.💿🎶Miley also once stated that this album (Can’t Be Tamed) contained a variety of dance beats and synths, but believed that its sound was secondary to the personal lyrics therein. Which I also agree with. The lyrics of a lot of these songs on the album are really deep and thought-provoking, and they stand-alone from just the beat or sounds🤍🖤🤎

Miley announced, in February 2010, that her then-untitled THIRD studio album would be released later that summer.🎉Which, as said before, she felt was appropriate because it is “good to blast in your car”. It was announced that the record would be titled Can’t Be Tamed later that April, and that it would be released on June 22, 2010 (😲my little sister’s birthday🎂🎈) in the U.S.. As a result, it became the FIRST project from Hollywood Records to be released under the “day-and-date” format, which allowed the album to be released nearly simultaneously worldwide. Instead of traditionally “staggering” its launch to accommodate “the availability of the artist” internationally. 

On May 7, 2010, Miley unveiled the album artwork on her website, which depicts her standing against a black-and-white background dressed in a leather jacket, pants, and midriff-baring shirt. Apparently, it was noted for establishing an “increasingly provocative” public image for Miley. But Miley’s stylist at the time, Simone Harouche, stated that the album artwork was inspired by singer Joan Jett and the band Blondie, and that it was “basically a strong statement saying in the most simple way, that she (Miley) can’t be tamed-literally and metaphorically.”👏👏Which again, I don’t see the problem with the cover or album artwork. Especially compared to what you see pop stars wearing nowadays. The fact that this was ever a “controversy” is silly and laughable.🤣But anyway, a deluxe version of the record was simultaneously released, which included the audio disc packaged with the standard version. In addition to a bonus DVD that included previously unseen footage from Miley’s performance at The O2 Arena during the Wonder World Tour.🎶💿📀 

As described before, Can’t Be Tamed is primarily a dance-pop record. As Ann Donahue from Billboard once described the album, saying that it contains “several bass-heavy, slickly produced dance numbers” that, as she also once joked, “thunder in such a catchy, accessible way that it may make Kesha down another bottle of Jack out of envy.”🤔Kind of a weird way to put it, but okay.😂👍The album also leans towards more meaningful content, lyrically. Especially back then, when mainstream music was more “super shallow” at the time. The songs on this album are about leaving bad relationships, the excitement of finding a lover, breaking out and feeling free, maintaining long-distance relationships, but there’s also a few just FUN, CAREFREE, dance songs to bring one joy.🤍🖤🤎

On May 3, 2010, “Can’t Be Tamed” was released as the lead single from the album, and it received generally favorable reviews from music critics, who appreciated its electropop influences. The track also debuted at #8 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 with first-week digital downloads of 191,000 copies.👏 Although, internationally, it performed moderately. On May 4, 2010,  an accompanying music video for “Can’t Be Tamed” directed by Robert Hales, premiered on E News. The music video follows Miley and her back-up dancers dressed in bird-like clothing as they escape a cage and trash a museum. Something else that caused quite some controversy when it was released. Not to me, but to others. 'Cause I was too young at the time to know anything going on or being said in the news, but I do remember the music video being a big deal at the time. 

Later that same year, “Who Owns My Heart” was released as the second single from Can’t Be Tamed. It generated mixed reviews from music critics. As they felt that its production was generic. Though, the song reached the TOP 40 on the German record charts.👏The accompanying music video for “Who Owns My Heart”, which was also directed by the same director who did the “Can’t Be Tamed” music video, was released on October 22, 2010. 

When it came to further promotion for the album, Hollywood Records focused on TV appearances, which they expected would accommodate Miley’s schedule more effectively than traditional interviews with radio stations and the press. So, on May 18, 2010, Miley performed “Can’t Be Tamed" during the 10th season of Dancing with the Stars in the U.S.. She later traveled to Europe to perform “Can’t Be Tamed”, “Robot”, and “My Heart Beats for Love” at the Rock in Rio concerts in Lisbon on May 29, 2010 and in Madrid on June 6, 2010. She performed a concert at the 1515 Club in Paris on June 1, 2010, and on June 3, 2010, she performed “Can’t Be Tamed” on Britain’s Got Talent. After returning to the U.S., on June 16, 2010, Miley held a concert at the House of Blues in Los Angeles, California. Her performance at the House of Blues was later re-broadcast by MTV through thirty of its international websites, and it reached approximately 160 countries. It was then made available for on-demand streaming the following day. 

Miley also performed “Can’t Be Tamed” on TV shows such as the Late Show with David Letterman on June 17, 2010, Good Morning America on June 18, 2010, which were both in New York City. And at the 2010 MuchMusic Video Awards on June 20. On Good Morning America Miley performed the ICONIC and one of the BEST songs from the album, “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” with Bret Michaels. She (Miley) also flew to Europe in November 2010, to perform “Who Owns My Heart” on Wetten Dass, on November 6. As well as at the 2010 MTV Europe Music Awards on November 7. Miley also performed “Forgiveness and Love” at the 2010 American Music Awards in Los Angeles, California, on November 21. Then finally, in April 2011, she launched and headlined the Gypsy Heart Tour, for which she traveled internationally. 

Again, in the U.S., Can’t Be Tamed debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 102,000 copies. Which was behind the 741,000 and 447,000 copies moved by Eminem’s Recovery and Drake’s Thank Me Later.👎👎Given that Miley’s second studio album Breakout (2008) debuted at #1 on the chart with first-week sales of 371,000 copies, Can’t Be Tamed was viewed as a commercial disappointment in the country.👎 In January 2014, Can’t Be Tamed had moved 350,000 units in the U.S..👏 However, the album reached #2 on the Canadian Albums Chart, and it peaked at #10 on the Top 100 Mexico. 

In Europe, Can’t Be Tamed also performed moderately on national record charts. However, it  peaked at #1 on the Spanish PROMUSICAE, and reached the TOP FIVE on the O3 Austria Top 40, German Media Control Charts, Greek IFPI, Hungarian MAHASZ, Irish IRMA, Italian FIMI, and Swiss Hitparade.👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 The album also peaked in the TOP 10 on the Flanders and Wallonia regions of the Belgian Ultratop, Norwegian VG-lista, and the UK Albums Chart.👏👏👏 In the U.K., Can’t Be Tamed was also certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry.👏 And although the album charted in the lower ends of the Danish Tracklisten, Dutch Mega Charts, The Official Finnish Charts, French SNEP, and the Swedish Sverigetopplistan, it did, however, attain gold certification in Poland.👏 In Oceania, the album also peaked at numbers two and four on the Official New Zealand Music Chart and the Australian ARIA Charts.👏👏 It was recognized with a gold certification in the latter nation.👏 

Again, like I’ve said many times before when talking about these albums, those are all just words and numbers to me. That chart stuff really means nothing to me, but I still thought it was all worth noting here because they were wins for Miley.😊Though, those facts did not make me like and/or enjoy this album any more or any less than I already did. Nor did it affect my thought process when ranking the songs for this post. So, in other words, no matter where this album or the songs themselves ranked on the charts back then, I didn’t know or care about any of that either back then, when I was a kid hearing these songs for the first time and listening to this album. And I still don’t care about them even now. ‘Cause I was just a fan of anything Miley at that time, and therefore I LOVED the songs on this album no matter what anyone else said. And I still LOVE majority of this album. Which is mostly because it’s SUPER NOSTALGIC to me, but also because A LOT of the songs are just GREAT. Which I guess I’ll now get into some of my specific memories when it comes to this album.😊 

Can’t Be Tamed was an album that came out during a really difficult time in my life, because everything from it was literally released the exact same year that my parents got divorced when I was only thirteen years old.😔 And my parents divorce was really messy, to say the least.💔So, this album definitely helped me get through that tough time in my life. And because I listened to this album A LOT during that time, EVERY TIME I re-listen to just one song from this album or the whole thing, I’m instantly taken back to that time of my life when my sisters and I were going through our parents divorce.🖤 

I don’t remember when or how I got this album on CD when I was thirteen, but I just remember somehow I ended up getting the CD version of this album sometime during that summer, and I listened to it all the time that year.💿🎶🤍 In fact, it was this album I had on CD, and Miranda Cosgrove’s Sparks Fly album, that were the two most-listened to albums of 2010 for me.🎶💿💿🤍🤎🖤🩶🩷💚 Those TWO specific albums BOTH bring me back to that dark time in my life, but they were a couple of the good things to come out of 2010 for me. In fact, I have such fond, vivid, special memories when it comes to BOTH of those albums. But today is all about Can’t Be Tamed, so I’ll talk about my memories with Sparks Fly hopefully another time soon.😉😊 

Anyway, so I just remember during 2010, always listening to my CD of this album in the car anytime my dad would be driving my sisters and I somewhere or we'd be leaving from somewhere. And even when my sister and I were with our mom, and she would be driving us places this album was always playing. Which this CD/album was kind of like a weird connecting thing in that way. 'Cause at that time, when I would be with my dad and sisters in the car, he really liked the song “Every Rose Has Its Thorn". So he would always repeatedly play that song from this album whenever I put in my CD of it in the CD player to listen to in the car. And when I would be with my mom during that time, her favorite song off the album was also “Every Rose Has Its Thorn”, which she would repeatedly play in the car every time, too. So, it was like a connection thing going on there, and them both liking that song also made me just LOVE it even more. So, as you can probably tell from that story, even just that specific song alone holds special memories for me. I also vividly remember when the music video for "Can’t Be Tamed" was released, and my sisters and I watching it for the first time with our cousin at her house on her little laptop. I’ve also never forgotten that, because that was a fun and interesting moment in time. Oh, and I also remember my sisters and I being at our dad's house that summer and it was just my sisters and I hanging out one night in his room to watch the 2010 MuchMusic Video Awards, and I us watching Miley's performance on there. I forgot what specific song(s) she sang, but I do vividly remember watching that that night, because I was also obsessed with Justin Bieber's performance that he did at that time on that same awards show.😊🤍🤍

Other than those specific 2010 memories, I’ve always just gone back to listen to these songs and this album throughout the years. And as I’ve gotten older my favorite songs have changed and I’ve grown to LOVE and APPRECIATE the album and different songs from it even more just for what they are and not just for all the NOSTALGIA that they bring. But I’ll never not associate this album with my parents divorce. It’s also quite interesting that this album was like a shift and big change for Miley at the time because at the same time big changes were happening in my life, too, at only thirteen. So, I definitely could relate to some of these songs back then in that way. Even though back then, I never paid that much attention to all the lyrics. But they still just made me feel something deep and a certain type of connection.🤍🤎🖤🩶 

Although this album brings up some not-so-good memories for me, there are still some good memories it also brings up for me, and I still do always enjoy getting to listen to it. I loved this album then, and I still LOVE it now.🤍🤎🖤🩶'Cause this album truly never gets old and it’s one of Miley’s BEST, because majority of the songs are GREAT, very relatable, and make you feel something deep. Which is very rare, because not many albums can do that, especially ones being released from artists nowadays. But you can always count on a Miley/Hannah album to.😊 In fact, I not only feel like this is one of Miley's most underrated albums, but also just one of the more UNDERRATED albums in general.🤔 But maybe I’m just not on social media enough to know.😊 Though, that’s why I’m SO EXCITED that I finally get to talk about the songs from this album, because it’s been a long time coming and I want to give this album all the HYPE and LOVE that I think it deserves. So, what are we waiting for? Let’s not make this feel like a PERMANENT DECEMBER, because this post, and my EXCITEMENT for it, CAN'T BE TAMED no longer, so STAY with me, as I TAKE YOU ALONG to find out which song OWNS MY HEART as we get into A Definitive Ranking of EVERY Song from Miley Cyrus’ Can’t Be Tamed Album!!🎉💿🎶🤍🤎🖤🩶😊

   🎶🤍💿🤎🎶🖤💿🩶🎶🤍💿🤎🎶🖤💿🩶🎶🤍💿🤎🎶🖤💿

  

   🎶🤍💿🤎🎶🖤💿🩶🎶🤍💿🤎🎶🖤💿🩶🎶🤍💿🤎🎶🖤💿

(from LEAST to MOST FAVORITE)...

#12

#11

#10

#9

#8

#7

#6

#5

#4

#3

#2

#1

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  Well, that concludes A Definitive Ranking of EVERY Song from Miley Cyrus’ Can’t Be Tamed Album!🎉🎶💿🤍🤎🖤🩶I really enjoyed getting to go back and listen to this album once again, and I hope you enjoyed reading this post as much as I did creating it.😊This was definitely one of the hardest Miley/Hannah albums to rank, because the majority of the songs on it are SO GOOD and I was trying not to go just on NOSTALGIA alone when ranking them. Having said that, I do feel pretty good about my ranking of these songs. Especially the ones in my TOP 3, because the TOP 3 on this list have always been my TOP 3 favorites. But I really do LOVE a lot of the other songs from this album, too. And like I've said many times before, I even found a new LOVE and APPRECIATION for a few that I never really cared that much about before. Ones that I would just listen to over and over in the past because they were on the CD and I didn't want to skip them, but are now songs that I would intentionally play, because I really do like them.😊🤍🤎🖤🩶

Having said all that, this is an album that I will continue to listen to for years to come, and an album that I suggest anyone to go listen to at least once. After you do, or after you read this, let me know in the comments below what your TOP 3 favorite songs from this album are. Or just your FAVORITE. And is this your FAVORITE Miley Cyrus album? 'Cause we're getting closer to the end of this little series of posts, and sadly this is the LAST Miley album when it comes to her Disney discography, but there is still one more album that we have yet to talk about. So, hit that follow button so that you get notified when my next post goes up, and come Back to Disney tomorrow for the LAST Miley/Hannah album, and the LAST post of this series of blog posts for the Month of Miley! Bye for now!!✌👋🤍🤎🖤🩶😊

P.S. Happy (early) 15th Anniversary to Can’t Be Tamed!🎉🤍🤎🖤🩶