{"id":2445239,"date":"2019-06-12T11:01:22","date_gmt":"2019-06-12T17:01:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=845749"},"modified":"2019-06-12T11:01:22","modified_gmt":"2019-06-12T17:01:22","slug":"song-you-need-to-know-miley-cyrus-ashley-o-on-a-roll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/music-news\/song-you-need-to-know-miley-cyrus-ashley-o-on-a-roll\/","title":{"rendered":"Song You Need to Know: Miley Cyrus\/Ashley O, \u2018On a Roll\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Thirty years ago, no one would have expected that Nine Inch Nails<\/a>\u2019 foreboding industrial dance rock would be at the nexus of Top 40 pop conversations. Yet, in 2019, Trent Reznor is everywhere he may have never wanted to be: you can hear the 2008 instrumental track \u201c34 Ghosts IV\u201d at the base of country-rap phenomenon \u201cOld Town Road,\u201d while reformed pop-punk boy band 5 Seconds of Summer cite NIN\u2019s biggest hit \u201cCloser\u201d as an influence on gothic new single \u201cEasier.\u201d Now NIN\u2019s breakthrough hit \u201cHead Like a Hole\u201d has been repurposed and rewritten for an episode of Black Mirror<\/a><\/em>, where the new versions are sung by none other than Disney rebel Miley Cyrus<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the episode \u201cRachel, Jack and Ashley Too,\u201d which premiered earlier this month, Cyrus plays Ashley O, a pink-haired pop icon known for her feel-good lyrics and for being the face of a \u201csmart speaker\u201d named Ashley Too. Like any good fictionalized pop star story, this one is incomplete without the appropriate music. The glimpse at Ashley O\u2019s empower-pop in this episode comes in the form of \u201cOn a Roll,\u201d a slinky, corny celebration of goal-achievement that brightens the melody of \u201cHead Like a Hole\u201d while also flipping the anti-establishment lyrics. The final product is the aural equivalent of a mall\u2019s Sanrio store: bright explosions of Hello Kitty cuteness and lightness that would even be too much for Cyrus\u2019 former pop star counterpart, Hannah Montana.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m stoked on ambition and verve\/I\u2019m gonna get what I deserve,\u201d Cyrus sings, flipping every syllable of the original lyrics. That daring twinge of familiarity and de-punking of an important moment within the alternative rock canon with tongue firmly in cheek is certainly Cyrus\u2019 most effective attempt to unsettle her listeners.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOn a Roll\u201d would never exist in the real Miley Cyrus universe; even her pivot back to country-pop on Younger Now<\/em> felt too optimistic for the same artist who staked her claim on adulthood with a cover of Poison\u2019s \u201cEvery Rose Has Its Thorn.\u201d The underlying darkness and the disconnect of knowing that a cutesy, capitalistic take on a Nine Inch Nails classic shouldn\u2019t work but inexplicably does feels like more danger than she\u2019s been able to extract before.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even Reznor has gotten in on the fun of song\u2019s ridiculousness, selling \u201cOn a Roll\u201d-themed merchandise<\/a> (though he should show that same energy for the actually big \u201cOld Town Road\u201d). He may admittedly<\/a> not listen to much pop, but pop has started listening to him at exactly the right time.<\/span><\/p>\n