Let’s cut the crap: We all had our fair share of time and opportunities at our hands to bitch, moan and rant about all things post-Disney Miley Cyrus. And that includes twerking, nudity, tongue sticking and riding a wrecking ball naked. But actually the time has come to take the bitch mas down, lay it aside and have an informed and smart look on the work of this 20 year old "fresh & new" artist, and not see her as a Hannah Montanna follow up program.
The first real insight we get into the actual
ways of how Miley thinks and creates her career has been granted to us in the
MTV documentation "Miley: The Movement". Throughout the glamorous
interviews, you know: the ones with the good lightening and make-up, the ones
that give you this Barbara Walters feeling and moment, we actually get to
discover that there is more to the tongue we all have seen, grown tired of and
hate now. This young lady is a genuinely hard working artist who in fact wants
to do one thing in fact: to be taken seriously as an artist. And serious might
be the word that could be hard to live up to for Miley. But the question is:
Why?
First of all let’s ask ourselves the question
of what Miley is. She is a pop musician. Therefore she has to compete in the
realm of pop and genres that border with it. And with pop being, probably, the
most competitive genre she has to bring it. The pop business is sex obsessed,
body focused, fast and an arena where everyone wants to be the attraction in
the spotlight. So if you want to be taken seriously you have to stick out, be
different and dare to be controversial. Otherwise you won’t make the headlines.
Let’s roll up the thing from the point of Mileys most controversial live
performance yet: the MTV VMA 2013 performance of "We Can't Stop". If
we “read” the performance without letting our jaws fall to the ground and the
ranting, and really have a deep look at it we discover that in fact it shows
one thing: the crack in the understanding and perception between Miley and her
work and the public and her work. She comes out on stage inside a huge teddy
bear with, emerges from it in a teddy bear fashioned body, her hair with this
ridiculous two “whatevers” and flat plateau shoes that blink with every step.
Very 90’s and very unsexy, yet revealing. Then, having gotten rid of her body,
she, now dressed in skin colored latex panties and bra, twerked on Robin
Thicke, used a foam finger to grind his junk and sticked it between her legs.
Oh yeah, the tongue was there as well. #InterestingYetDisturbing.
But all the media talked about was how overly
sexualized and eroticized the performance was. Really: That was overly sexual
and eroticized? I would rather say it was not. If someone considers this to be
a serious attempt at sexy this person should get a reality check. It is like
Miley said it in the documentation: The intend never was to be sexy. I mean,
that should have been obvious to the viewers. Dancing teddy’s, that outfit and
the rather androgynous look that Miley has scream parody rather than Moulin Rouge.
And putting on a sex show is pretty easy for the pop ladies. And a sex filled
show is what we actually would expect. And BAM: we get the parody of a sexy pop
show. We get a show that is so ridiculously oversexualized to the absurdity of
the level of our demand for it. The actual shock is not in the fact that she is
twerking for us in skin colored latex, or that she is just 20. The real shock
is that we, unknowingly, find our own demands repulsive. Stick our demand for a
sex show in our face in a parody manner and you will see faces in the audience
that make headlines! And, lesbe-honoest here, that does not set us, as general
public of the western world, into a good light. Narrowed down we are sex
focused and simple minded. #SNAP
So why don’t we take her serious then? I mean
what could be more a serious comment on expectations and sexuality in pop
performances then such an parody of it? Well, I guess it still is the curse of
Hannah Montanna.
But, whether you like her or hate her, please
stop going on and on about how she is a bad role model, ruining the youth and
ruining herself. Miley is 20 years old. What did you do in your 20’s in the
clubs? One thing you sure did not do was sitting there and complaining about
the loud music, not dancing and being negative. Of course she will go wild and
freakdance! That is not what I call a bad role model, I would rather call it
normal 20 year old behavior. I don’t see that she is a bad influence. She looks
healthy, she works hard, she is a successful business woman and is nice to her
fans. Has she been on drugs, alcohol and Purple Drank all the time? No. I would
say Justin Bieber is far worse than Miley at this point. Las but not least let
me tell you that twerking and tongue are, both, not shocking at all. I mean,
haven’t we all sticked our tongues out way too much and twerked even though we
can’t? And if not: Ever heard of scandal for publicity?
Hate her, love her, despise her, adore her or do whatever you want: Her new album BANGERZ is at number one, she makes the buck, travels the world and does what she wants. (By the way: BANGERZ actually is a good album, I was surprised myself!) If she is not your kind of WOMAN (She is no girl anymore!) then just don’t talk about her. You should always remember: It takes a certain amount of fucks to give to talk about something. If you really have no fucks to give, then just don’t talk if you are not directly asked about the matter. #DoYaThang
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