[REVIEW] Miranda Cosgrove - High Maintenance - EP

Hey y'all, this is my track-by-track review of Miranda's follow up to her legendary album Sparks Fly.

This album is different from her previous albums in that it showed her experimenting more with sound (the songs in this album are much more diverse than her previous efforts), and the songwriting is more mature (in that she doesn't just sing about kissing and sparks flying).

Anyway, here's the reviews of tracks:

1.) Dancing Crazy - So I think this song's interesting in that it paints Miranda not as the sweet girl we knew in her previous album, but a more fun, party girl almost. As for the lyrics, one thing I really like is the addition of the word "smack!" Because all too often we have songs with awkward gaps and that would've been so easy here, but Miranda refused to do that and so filled it in with this iconic word. Now for the music: I think it's absolutely beautiful because it doesn't rely too much on loudness and electric guitars, but it doesn't rely too much on acoustic instruments either, and so it has this happy medium of both. Vocally, I think this is better than anything Selena, another ex-act, has sung, especially that long note, you know, that long "stooooooooooooooooooooooop."

My only criticisms of this is the fact that it doesn't have strong vocals throughout the whole song, but it has low points and high points instead. On top of that, it's not as melodic as one would expect after a beautiful album like Sparks Fly.

DISCLAIMER: I have made a change to the song's score to reflect the thoughts that came to me AFTER posting this. I really thought about the "smack" part and realized "it'd be a crime to not give it a 10 at least." Overall Score: 10/10

2.) High Maintenance - Miranda takes that image she painted of herself in Dancing Crazy, and runs with it in this song. In this duet with Rivers Cuomo, who I guess is meant to be hr sugar daddy in this song, she tells us that she's wild and reckless and that she threw an insane destructive party (Katy who?) And that she's not sorry in the slightest (Demi is SHOOK). Here the vocals are more consistent, and really match the song because it's fun, she laughs at the end, and she doesn't try to hit any long notes or anything. This paints her as not only more mature, but as pretty much a completely different person. But by saying she doesn't think she's "high maintenance," we see that she doesn't give a fuck about any crazy shit she does. Also, she even curses in this song.

She's changed. She's wild. She's high maintenance.

Overall Score: 10/10

3.) Face of Love - In this semi-sing, semi-talk BOP, we see Miranda talking directly to her lover, who has clearly impacted her. It seems as though Miranda has been with him for quite a while, but has never quite fallen into the "love" territory because she's scared of falling in love, but this man has managed to fix any scars and fears. Also, a vocal improvement is made here: she tries to go for something other than just fun. Here she stays a bit calm while also staying energetic and she stays consistent once again. This is a perfect song all around.

Overall Score: 10/10

4.) Kiss You Up - This song is the romantic ballad we needed to remind us that she is still Miranda. This shows us that she hasn't pulled some Taylor Swift and got rid of her good girl side completely. She won't just rap about sex and being bad all the time, she'll still remind us that she's a sweet girl, just with a new wild side to her. Here in this song, we see her comforting her lover and also at the same time finding comfort in her lover. We see that she can still love.

Vocally, this is quite possibly the best performance of her career. She stays in one area, and doesn't go for long or high notes that sound a bit awkward. Here she has a calm tone and really demonstrates that she knows her limits and where to not attempt to go. We see maturity in he concept, songwriting, vocals, and production. This is a masterpiece.

Overall Score: 11/10

5.) Sayonara - Oooohhh GIRL! In the previous two tracks, we were reminded she's still the good ol' Miranda. In the two tracks before those, we saw that she's becoming a bit more wild.

But here she's a straight up BADDIE!

She's singing about sex, talkin' 'bout how she gon' leave him if his dick ain't big and the sex ain't bomb. Here she's requesting more than romantic pleasure, she's looking for sexual pleasure as well.

She says that she's a "ninja" and shows that she breaks hearts and that she's queen. She shows her power, all while sounding like a femme fatale sex kitten.

Bop.

Overall Score: 11/10

ALBUM AVERAGE: 10.4

Final thoughts: This EP is amazing. Buy it. She shows growth, maturity, multiple sides to her, she really shows us that she's evolved. She shows that she's not a kid anymore.