How does Miley Cyrus prove that (a) she's a girl, and (b) she just wants to have fun? She sings 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun' of course. Sure it's too obvious — Disney princesses are never big on originality — but is there really a better song for a 15-year-old who likes posing for pictures in the shower?

It's also a pretty good reflection of the bubbly 'Breakout' — cribbing from Avirl Lavigne's songbook her first album outside the 'Hannah Montana' universe is all about boys, parties, breaking hearts, and, yes, having fun.

The shout-it-out title track celebrates weekends; the bratty '7 Things' is an empowerment anthem for tweens; 'The Driveway' which tellingly features Katy Perry on backing vocals, adds a hint of regret to the big chorus; sassy 'Full Circle' is the perfect soundtrack to one of those training montage sequences in a school sports movie; and dirty rocker 'Fly On The Wall' blends scuzzy guitars with grimy vocal effects and surprisingly gutsy singing. Even rallying call 'Wake Up America' works because the appropriately less-than-articulate sentiment ("the earth is calling out… can you give her a little attention?") is paired with the sort of high octane music that drives the likes of 'Born In The USA'.

But when she tries to act older than 15 (ie. on the ballads — that cause the album to fade away rather than burn out), Cyrus struggles. The acoustic guitars and country twang of 'These Four Walls' remind that she will always be Billy Ray's daughter, 'Bottom Of The Ocean' simply washes over you in an electronic swell, and 'Goodbye' just takes too long to actually leave.

And while Miley herself will soon overstay her welcome, at the moment there's still a place for her in Perry's shadow.