Noah Cyrus, “The Hardest Part.”

Noah Cyrus worked most of her teen years to set her career apart from her famous family and has generally managed to do so. A sister prone to making headlines and recent parental drama made it difficult to forge her own path. But with two EPs and debut album The Hardest Part, the singer-songwriter is establishing herself as a capable lyricist and strong singer. 

The Hardest Part is a modest offering of 10 folky, sometimes nearly alt-country songs, but Cyrus’ ability to weave deep emotion into her music gives the album greater weight. Gut-wrenching honesty, a knockout duet and simplistic orchestration position her as the star of her own story in a way that feels equal parts refreshing and heartbreaking.

Noah Cyrus bares her soul on this album, with honesty playing a major thematic role across all 10 songs. Stories of her own heartbreak, allusions to her parents’ messy divorce and songs about death all give it a somber tone. However, Cyrus writes about these topics in a way that makes the listener feel seen, making the reality of pain easier to bear.

“Mr. Percocet” is a great example of her ability to detail her experience in a way to which people can relate without being too cliché. The song details a destructive relationship that involves drugs, altered states and a love that presents one way publicly and another way behind closed doors. The husky-voiced Cyrus details the pain of loving someone who claims to love her back in a way that feels raw beyond her years. “I wish that you still loved me when your drugs wear off in the morning,” she sings.

She also addresses feelings of inadequacy with painfully beautiful accuracy. “If I gave you less, would you want me more?” she asks on the chorus of “I Burned LA Down.”

“My Side of The Bed” tackles uncertainty in relationships from a perspective of loneliness. Rather than speaking the fears aloud, Cyrus sings about moving to the far edge of the bed to give her partner space and the silence of the living room when no one knows what to say. “Ready To Go” is a slow ballad to love that has run its course, relating borrowed time to the final stages of a relationship that should have ended long ago. 

Cyrus’ lyricism shines because the arrangements don’t overdo it. The songs lean heavily on acoustic guitar. Very few feature electric instruments, synths or vocal modulators, giving more credence to authenticity and honesty. Higher-tempo, beat-driven tracks like “I Just Want A Lover” and “Hardest Part” show that Noah Cyrus can delve into that realm if she wants. But considering the themes of the album were so personal, the slow vibes are far more suited to this particular collection of songs.

The standout track is call-and-response country ballad “Every Beginning Ends,” with Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie. The two sing of a sputtering love like the last light of a candle that once burned bright but lost its fuel. The song is guided by the notion that love is a choice you must make every day—and when the initial reasons for loving someone are no longer there, it becomes harder to make that choice. Their two voices blend beautifully together and both parts are equally as vulnerable, which adds to the depth of the track.

Cyrus seams to hold nothing back with The Hardest Part, and her honesty pays off. The through-line is easy to follow in each song. There’s little musical variety but because that doesn’t seem to have been Cyrus’ goal, it’s all the more endearing for it.

Follow writer Piper Westrom at Twitter.com/plwestrom.