"SMS " is a song by American singer Miley Cyrus featuring Britney Spears for Cyrus' fourth studio albumBangerz. It was written and produced by Mike Will Made It and Marz, with additional songwriting provided by Cyrus and Sean Garrett. The track incorporates elements of hip hop styles, and is lyrically a "celebration of pop culture, beautiful women, strong women". Upon its release "SMS " received generally mixed reviews from music critics; some complimented its originality, while others criticized its production and Cyrus' rapping. The album's digital downloads helped the song chart in the United States and the United Kingdom. Cyrus has performed the song on MTV Unplugged and her Bangerz Tour.
Production and composition
"SMS " was written by Miley Cyrus, Mike Will Made It, Sean Garrett, and Marz, while production was handled by Mike Will Made It and Marz. Stephen Hybicki and Tim Roberts recorded the track with help from Mike Gaydusek, and Jaycen Joshua mixed it with assistants of Ryan Kaul. Chris "Tek" O'Ryan handled engineering the song, and it was further mastered by Dave Kutch at the Mastering Palace. The track is the third on Cyrus's fourth album Bangerz, which was released in 2013. "SMS " has been described as "1980s hip hop-inspired track". The song lasts for two minutes and 49 seconds. Garrett stated that its concept was inspired by the female rap trio Salt-n-Pepa, and noted that the final track was "like five different things, it's hip-hop, it's the girls, it's a female anthem, Salt-n-Pepa, Britney and Miley". He further opined that the women's collaboration made for a "historical moment as big as when Britney kissed Madonna" Miley said:"There's only one bitch that I want on my album, and that is Britney bitch !". In August 2013, producer Sean Garrett confirmed that the pair had recorded a "nuts" collaboration for Bangerz. He later stated that Cyrus considered featuring Gwen Stefani or Nicki Minaj as the song's guest vocalist, but felt that the final cut with Spears was "absolutely the right one."
Release and reception
"SMS " is the third track on Miley Cyrus's fourth studio album Bangerz, which was released in October 2013. Although the song never entered the BillboardHot 100, the album's strong digital downloads helped it reach number 10 on Billboard's Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart, as well as number 157 on the UK Singles Chart. The song is marked as explicit by the RIAA due to its explicit language. Although in October 2013 Cyrus claimed she wanted the song to be the third single off Bangerz, "Adore You" was the album's third single release instead. Talking about plans for a music video, Cyrus hoped "that the video will be as epic as the 'Work Bitch' one, so I think that would be the smartest choice." Upon the album's release, "SMS " received generally mixed reviews from music critics. Nick Catucci of Entertainment Weekly provided a favorable review, calling the track one of the best included on Bangerz and describing it as "a merry rap-off with Britney". Caroline Sullivan from The Guardian opined that Spears' inclusion was "a stroke of skewed inspiration", which contributed in making its parent album Cyrus' "game-changer". Writing for Slant Magazine, Kyle Fowle called the song an "Auto-Tuned Euro-house jam" that helped make the album both "a message of empowerment" and "a straightforward party album". In contrast, Mariah Eakin of The A.V. Club provided a more mixed review, saying that "Cyrus absolutely cannot rap, as horrifyingly evidenced by her Kreayshawn-like turns" highlighted in the track. Evan Sawdey from PopMatters cautioned that "braggadocio can only go so far ", and felt that Mike Will Made It has a "horrid sense of how hooks work, leaving a slew of missed-attempts and mangled opportunities in his wake."
Live performance
An episode of MTV Unplugged starring Cyrus premiered through MTV on January 29, 2014; she performed an acoustic version of "SMS " without Spears, among several additional tracks from Bangerz. The song was used as the opening number on the worldwide Bangerz Tour, lasting throughout 2014. Blake Hannon provided a positive review for the performance, praising the "synthy rush of the title track." Cyrus returned to perform the song during the musical festival on June 21, 2014, Summertime Ball at Wembley Stadium of London, in front of 80,000 people.
Credits and personnel
Credits are adapted from the liner notes of Bangerz. ;Recording
