After years of artistic and personal evolution, Miley Cyrus takes a decisive new step with Something Beautiful, her ninth studio album released on May 30, 2025. This ambitious project transcends traditional pop boundaries to offer a unique immersive experience, where music and cinema combine in service of a profound existential quest.
Far from the provocations of her early career, the American artist delivers her most vulnerable and authentic work here, transforming the wounds of romantic breakup into a 52-minute healing journey. Structured around 13 compositions with “therapeutic sonic properties,” this concept album explores with striking sincerity the psychological mechanisms that accompany the end of a relationship, while seeking beauty in life’s darkest moments.
The originality of Something Beautiful also lies in its cinematic dimension: accompanied by a musical film of the same name to be unveiled at the 2025 Tribeca Festival, this multimedia project marks the emergence of Miley Cyrus as a complete artist, capable of combining visual innovation with emotional introspection. More than just an album, this is a total work of art that redefines the contours of contemporary pop art.

For this review, you will find 3 versions tested:

• Ed 1: Vinyl Red Translucent – 2025
• Ed 2: Tidal Max – 2025
• Ed 3: Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2025

Below you will find the description of the different editions, as well as the measurements of each edition in the following chapters.

The album is composed of 13 tracks:

1. Prelude
2. Something Beautiful
3. End of the World
4. More to Lose
5. Interlude 1
6. Easy Lover
7. Interlude 2
8. Golden Burning Sun
9. Walk of Fame (feat. Brittany Howard)
10. Pretend You’re God
11. Every Girl You’ve Ever Loved (feat. Naomi Campbell)
12. Reborn
13. Give Me Love

Summary, scoring and Samples

Ed 1: Vinyl Red Translucent – 2025

Presentation

This is the Red Translucent vinyl record with one lp at 33 1/3 rpm 180g cutted by Bernie Grundman Mastering (ref : 19802924051).

Waveform and Spectrum: DR10

The waveform of the Vinyl record – 2025 version shows a correct dynamic range confirmed with DR10. The vinyl record’s cutting sound level is low, due to the length of each side (over 25 min) and the use of a dynamically-compressed master. The DR measurement of the vinyl record is superior to the Tidal Max version, due to the principle described in the article: Does analog media force a dynamic on music? or Does Analog Media increase the dynamics?

The spectrogram clearly illustrates the significant level fluctuations (up to 20 dB) above 15 kHz (yellow arrow), a characteristic often associated with lacquer cuts from Bernie Grundman Mastering. The white arrow indicates the presence of signal above 20 kHz, which is partially related to the musical content but primarily results from distortion artifacts inherent to the vinyl playback mechanism.

The graph below compares the spectrum of the Vinyl Red – 2025 (white curve) with the spectrum of the Tidal Max – 2025 (blue curve).The two spectral curves align almost perfectly up to 10 kHz. Beyond this frequency, the red area reveals a significant level variation, with an excess of about 20 dB at 15 kHz on the vinyl version compared to the Tidal Max stereo version. This difference will affect the sound reproduction, potentially causing an excessive emphasis on sibilance.
This flaw is common in many lacquer cuts produced by Bernie Grundman Mastering, and it is exacerbated here by the use of a compressed master combined with an excessively long side duration.

Synthesis and listening

This translucent red vinyl edition exhibits satisfactory physical pressing quality; however, it is sonically compromised due to a lacquer cut sourced from a heavily limited digital master. The program material spans a duration that exceeds optimal side length, necessitating a lower groove modulation level to maintain tracking integrity, which in turn reduces signal-to-noise ratio and compromises dynamic articulation.

Furthermore, the frequency response reveals a notable and abrupt attenuation above 15 kHz a recurring artifact often observed in lacquer cuts performed by Bernie Grundman Mastering.

As a result, the technical merit of this release is limited, particularly in terms of dynamic fidelity, transient accuracy, and spectral balance, aligning with the criticisms outlined in the article Vinyl Succumbs to the Loudness War: More Than Just Collateral Damage.

Nevertheless, despite the compromised source and the technical limitations of the cut, this vinyl pressing offers a subjectively more engaging listening experience than the Tidal Max version, which is characterized by pronounced dynamic range compression and limited headroom across the spectrum.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●●●oo (3)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●● (5)
• Surface noise: ●●●oo (3)
• Restitution: ●●●oo (3)

Sample : Something Beautiful 24 bits 96 kHz:

Ed 2: Tidal Max – 2025

Presentation

This is the TidalMax presented in 24 bits 96 kHz (link).

Waveform and Spectrum: DR4

The waveform of the Tidal Max – 2025 version shows very low dynamic range confirmed with DR4! We’re still in the loudness war!

The spectrogram shows that the signal rises above 20 kHz (yellow arrow) with signal up over 30 kHz (white arrow) due to the 96 kHz sampling frequency.

The graph below compares the spectrum of the Vinyl Red – 2025 (white curve) with the spectrum of the Tidal Max – 2025 (blue curve).The two spectral curves align almost perfectly up to 10 kHz. Beyond this frequency, the red area reveals a significant level variation, with an excess of about 20 dB at 15 kHz on the vinyl version compared to the Tidal Max stereo version. This difference will affect the sound reproduction, potentially causing an excessive emphasis on sibilance.
This flaw is common in many lacquer cuts produced by Bernie Grundman Mastering, and it is exacerbated here by the use of a compressed master combined with an excessively long side duration.

Synthesis and listening

It’s always disappointing to see an album with a DR4, corresponding to approximately -6 LUFS integrated, especially when it’s released in high-resolution format (24-bit / 96 kHz), which theoretically offers a dynamic range of over 140 dB. In today’s landscape, where streaming is the dominant mode of music consumption and platforms normalize volume around -14 to -13 LUFS, this kind of hyper-compressed mastering raises questions.

Maintaining such a high loudness level no longer has any technical or artistic justification, as it will inevitably be attenuated by loudness normalization algorithms. This effectively wastes about 7 dB of dynamic headroom that could have been used to preserve more microdynamics, transients, and musical breathing space. The result is an overly compressed sound with a flattened stereo image, where distortion effects characteristic of the genre are brought to the forefront, but lack depth and contrast.

In comparison, the Dolby Atmos version of the album benefits from a far more open and three-dimensional mix, with better dynamic management, offering a significantly enhanced listening experience.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●oooo (1)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●● (5)
• Restitution: ●●ooo (2)

Sample : Something Beautiful Dolby Atmos :

Ed 3: Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2025

Presentation

This is the Tidal Dolby Atmos presented in Dolby Digital Plus or AC-4 (link).

Below the spatialization for all tracks. Click on the images to zoom in.

Below the spatialization for all tracks in 9.1.6. It can be seen that the mix was produced in a fixed 7.1.4 format, with no movement of objects on the Wide or central top channels. Click on the images to zoom in.

Below is the video of the animated presentation of the spatialization in 7.1.4 of the song “Something Beautiful” (accelerated version).

Waveform and Spectrum: DR12

The waveform of the Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2025 version shows a very good dynamic range confirmed with DR12.

The spectrogram of the Tidal Dolby Atmos track downmixed in 7.1 is limited to 20kHz (yellow arrow) with no signal above (white arrow). This limitation is due to Dolby Digital Plus encoding, which is a lossy encoder that limits bandwidth to optimize data size for a bit rate of 768 kbits/s. The green arrow shows the 120Hz filtering of the bass channel (LFE).

The graph below represents the spectrum of the Tidal Dolby Atmos 2025. The spectrum of Tidal s Dolby Atmos version decoded in 7.1 shows that all channels are used. The LFE channel is used with a cutoff frequency of 120 Hz (green arrow). The white arrow indicates the high-frequency limit at 20 kHz due to Dolby Digital Plus encoding. The yellow arrow indicates the high-frequency limit at 24 kHz due to encoding at the 48 kHz sampling frequency used.

Synthesis and listening

The Dolby Atmos version delivers significantly enhanced dynamic range compared to the stereo masters, particularly when played back in a 7.1.4 monitoring environment. Unlike the heavily limited stereo versions, this mix takes full advantage of the available dynamic headroom, allowing for a nuanced reproduction of contrasts between quiet and intense passages. This expanded dynamic range enhances musical expressiveness and reveals the artist’s intent with greater clarity.

From a spatial standpoint, the mix demonstrates a controlled and intentional use of objects and height channels to construct a coherent three-dimensional soundfield. Instrumental elements are strategically distributed throughout the immersive space, avoiding arbitrary placement. Special attention is given to the expansion of the frontal soundstage through the wide channels (Lw/Rw), enhancing the horizontal image while preserving the integrity of the traditional stereo anchor.

The result is a more vivid and articulate rendering, where dynamic contrasts are accentuated by precise spatial placement, offering a more legible and immersive interpretation of the arrangement.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●●●oo (3.5)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4)
• Spatialization: ●●●●oooooo (4.5)
• Restitution: ●●●oo (3.5)

Sample : Something Beautiful 7.1 Dolby Atmos (Downmixed in 7.1) :

The sample is in 7.1 wav format, if you can not play the sample in your navigator, you can save it, right button menu and Save Audio As and play it with an external player.

Sample : Something Beautiful Dolby Atmos (Downmixed 2.0) :

Once again, the Dolby Atmos version delivers the most accurate and engaging sonic rendering, largely due to its superior dynamic range. This enhanced expressiveness breathes new life into the album’s reproduction, in part thanks to Dolby’s loudness normalization standard, which targets an integrated level of -18 LUFS. This stands in stark contrast to the stereo version on Tidal, which peaks at -6 LUFS despite being encoded in 24-bit resolution, a format capable of supporting a theoretical dynamic range of up to 140 dB.

Pursuing loudness at -6 LUFS has become anachronistic in the streaming era, where playback platforms apply loudness normalization based on a reference between -14 and -13 LUFS. As a result, such hyper-compressed masters are automatically attenuated, nullifying any intended loudness advantage and sacrificing valuable dynamic information in the process.

This loudness war approach is a relic of the CD era a format that now represents only a marginal share of music consumption. In contrast, formats like Dolby Atmos, which embrace greater dynamic fidelity and spatial immersion, are more aligned with today s listening standards and expectations.

Dynamic Range measurements and spectra are shown below.

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Measurements

Dynamic Range comparaisons

Dynamic represents the ability to reproduce a wide range of sounds from the softest to the loudest. The target is to compare the dynamics of the music and not of the media (CD, digital files or vinyl).

Comparing the waveforms of the excerpts for the Tidal Max, tidal Dolby Atmos downmixed 2.0 and vinyl disc versions clearly shows the differences in music dynamics on the different media.

For our 3 editions reviewed have obtained the following Dynamic Range (DR) :

	Vinyl Red Translucent – 2025	Tidal Max – 2025	Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2025
Global	DR10	DR4	DR12
Min	DR8	DR3	DR10
Max	DR12	DR5	DR14
Prelude	DR10	DR5	DR12
Something Beautiful	DR10	DR4	DR14
End of the World	DR12	DR4	DR11
More to Lose	DR9	DR4	DR12
Interlude 1	DR9	DR4	DR10
Easy Lover	DR10	DR4	DR11
Interlude 2	DR9	DR3	DR12
Golden Burning Sun	DR10	DR4	DR11
Walk of Fame (feat. Brittany Howard)	DR11	DR4	DR12
Pretend You’re God	DR9	DR4	DR12
Every Girl You’ve Ever Loved (feat. Naomi Campbell)	DR12	DR3	DR12
Reborn	DR10	DR4	DR12
Give Me Love	DR8	DR4	DR12

As a reminder, the scale goes from 0 to more 20, but the dynamics are considered good from 12, quite good between 10 and 11, and deteriorate below 10.

Detail of the ratings :

• Dynamic :
  1. Significant dynamic compression, DR less than 7
  2. Compression of the present dynamics, DR between 7 and 9.
  3. Correct piece DR >=10
  4. No dynamic compression (DR >12), dynamic rendering
  5. No dynamic compression, high DR and very dynamic sound rendering
• Spectrum :
  1. Spectrum cut and less than 15 khz
  2. Spectrum cut at 15 khz
  3. Spectrum not conforming to the original and cut (not HD) or original but limited bandwidth (but less than 20 kHz)
  4. Spectrum conforming to the original (but not HD)
  5. Spectrum conforming to the original with HD resolution (higher than 24kHz)
• Surface noise (only for vinyl):
  1. Continuous audible noise
  2. Audible surface noise except on passages with a high level of noise
  3. Reduced surface noise, barely audible on low level crossings
  4. Low surface noise, very good quality
  5. Very low surface noise, no defects, almost inaudible on the quiet passages (exceptional disc)
• Spatialization :
  • Between 0 and 5 for 5.1 or 7.1 channels configuration
  • Between 0 and 10 for Atmos configuration (7.1.4)
  • For more information on spatialization, you can read the article describing this parameter here.
• Restitution :
  1. Low quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments.
  2. Average quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments.
  3. Quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments. Good record.
  4. High quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments. Very high level disc.
  5. Maximum quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments. Exceptional disc.

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