As a 21-year old male, I expected to thoroughly dislike Miley’s Cyrus’s latest album, “Breakout.” Well, in some respects, Miley met my expectations: It’s a bland and silly album. In other ways, though, the preteen idol pleasantly surprised me, namely with her sheer star presence.

I, admittedly, am not her natural demographic. Her tales of girl-bonding, crushes and text-message drama don’t resonate with me. Her songs are designed to express the huge, mixed-up emotions of a teenage girl. For instance, her anguished ballad, “Simple Song” never even bothers to pinpoint the source of her emotional turmoil. Instead, the whole wide world confuses her, and sends her looking for salvation in a “simple song.” I can imagine, however, that angst that vague will strike a chord with a 15-year-old girl.

Her hit, “7 Things,” meanwhile, is a frustrated rant about the seven things — or eight or 11, depending on how you keep count — she hates about her beau. The song is oddly both empowered and reactionary. Cyrus is strong enough to tell off somebody who hurt her, but not really strong enough to let him go. At the end of the song, she begins listing the seven things that she likes about the guy. Isn’t love confusing?

And then there’s Cyrus’s powerful political message. “Wake Up America” is a plea to save America’s environment. To begin her case, Cyrus concedes that she doesn’t know what she’s talking about: “Everything I read/Is Global Warming/Going Green/I don’t know/What it all means.” Then, with that out of the way, she goes on to demand immediate action: “Wake up America/Tomorrow becomes a new day/Everything you do matters/In some way.” If this song doesn’t get our nation’s act together, I don’t know what will.

In the end, when listening to a pop artist like Miley Cyrus, it’s difficult to distinguish her art from her commerce. The songs are well-crafted and catchy to a fault; the album comes off as a generic chords and plastic vocals destined to be a travel montage in her TV show. But Cyrus delivers them with enough skill and pep that you almost forgive her.