At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, Can't Be Tamed received an average score of 48, which indicates "mixed or average reviews", based on nine reviews [REF].
Theon Weber of The Village Voice felt that Cyrus' attempts of maturity were too similar to those of Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears in their earlier years, and commented that the album itself was "sadly wan" [REF].