Miley Cyrus wows as pop star, but not as musician

Miley Cyrus, ahhh, Miley Cyrus... Having been a fan of Hannah Montana when that was still Miley's thing, we admit to being a tad excited at the chance to see her perform live last June 17 at the SM Mall of Asia concert grounds. In fact, as teen/tween role models go, she's pretty good.

She hasn't been to rehab yet, unlike other role models of female youth. She doesn't seem to sleep around too much, or at least has the good sense to employ effective spin doctors and have her public persona well in hand. Judging by the number of little wannabes who were all taking a page right outta the Miley book of fashion last Friday, she seems to have a large segment of female youth eating out of her hand. Would that her singing caught up to her look. Don't get us wrong - we think she has a decent set of pipes. But really, more attention must be paid to good intonation. Her pitch was quite suspect for most of the night. Granted, even among the best musicians, no one ever sings perfectly in tune all night long, but still, Miley Cyrus is one of the highest earning teenagers on the planet. To whom much is paid, much should be expected. To her credit, at least she sang sans lip-synched trickery. She was really singing. It wasn't a pre-recorded vocal, as has been increasingly common in other concerts. In fact, her spotty intonation was proof of her integrity. Kudos for integrity. A waggled finger and a "tsk tsk" for the lack of attention to musical detail. Perhaps as much time should have been spent on vocal performance as on visual image. Yes, she was hot. Yes, visually she's the ideal nymphet. Her legs go on forever and her face is undeniably pretty in an American girl-next-door-to-Nashville sort of way. And yes, her show certainly had more than enough costume changes. But really, aside from wanting to be in clean, dry clothes all night, what was the point of changing from one cleavage-revealing bra top into another? Good intonation would have been more impressive. Several songs were cool, though. "Fly On The Wall" has long been something of a favorite. It's a cute little ditty. "Party In The USA" is catchy, infectious and was a crowd favorite. "The Climb" was stirring, and served as ostensible curtain closer. The two encore numbers seemed to be throw-away sops to ticket purchasing parents of Miley dress-alikes, though. And the string of slower songs that spanned the last third of the show was tiring. Too many of the newer tunes were unremarkable, forgettable -- disposable pop formulae. Any professional songwriter can write such songs in his/her sleep. Having said that, however, we do like her new image as a rocker chick by way of Nashville. "I Love Rock & Roll" is a classic and will always be a crowd favorite. And her cover of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" seemed honest and heartfelt. Also, kudos go to her back-up band and back-up singers. We're not sure if the back-up vocals were done live or were pre-recorded tracks, but the back-up singing was impeccable. They were in marked contrast to Miley's iffy intonation. Indeed, the flawless back-up vocals served to highlight the flaws in the lead vocalist's performance. The band was very professional. The drummer, bassist & keyboardist played a gig any pro would have been proud to have played. The guitarist took the spotlight with several tasty, feral, pitch-perfect solos. Most memorable was his duo number with Miley -- she on skimpily clad vocals, he on acoustic guitar. Still... at the risk of incurring the ire of ardent Miley-philes, we must come to an arguable conclusion: Miley Cyrus is really more of a manufactured pop star than she is a musician. A musician is one who strives to sound consistently good, while a pop star is one who strives to always look her best. Sorry, Hannah Montana... NOT the best of both worlds this time around. - YA, GMA News