For years teen stars have gone to drastic lengths to prove to the world they aren’t little girls anymore. From Britney to Christina to Lindsay, we’ve seen this story so many times it’s almost become an overdone cliché. The latest to join the group is Disney’s very own Miley Cyrus. Within less than a year, the former Hannah Montana star has swiftly become a textbook case of “when Disney darlings go bad”, following in the footsteps of many a child star, however I’m not sure if we’ve ever seen a case like this quite before. Just in case you’ve been living under a rock for the past few months, I’ll run through a quick timeline of Miley’s transformation to wannabe sex symbol.
June 2012: Miley announces engagement to on-off beau and The Last Song co-star, Liam Hemsworth. While her decision to become engaged at the tender age of 19 did raise a few eyebrows, the lack of concrete wedding date seemed to relieve apprehension on the part of most and so many were truly just happy for the young couple. (Except of course for those of us bitter that Liam was no longer on the market)
August 2012: Miley shocks the world by chopping off her signature long, luscious brown locks (which she admitted were actually tons of extensions BTW) into a super edgy platinum blonde pixie cut! Miley’s new do received mixed reviews, with many reacting strongly against the cut to which Miley let us know that FYI, her fiancé LOVES her new hair and that she’s never going back long again.
March 2013: Amidst rumours of a split between her and fiancé, Liam Hemsworth, Miley does the strangest thing and debuts a video of her “twerking” in a unicorn onesie. Yes, that’s right. She is twerking in a unicorn onesie. And trust me, it gets worse; please read on.
June 2013: The video for Miley’s latest club-banger, “We Can’t Stop” is released and boy, is it some video. Miley continues to display her newfound talent/love of twerking with the addition of money sandwiches, severed fingers spouting pink blood and gigantic dancing teddy bears.
August 2013: The VMAs. Miley’s VMA performance with Robin Thicke was perhaps the straw that broke the camel’s back. Miley took her wildness up a couple notches by spanking buxom black women on stage, shaking what her mama did not give her, grinding on a very married Robin Thicke and gyrating on a foam finger, all the while clad in nothing but underwear. It is something that you just can never un-see.
September 2013: Miley is clearly trying to make headlines at least once every month. This month we have the music video for her second single, “Wrecking Ball”. The singer strips down to her birthday suit, swings naked on a wrecking ball AND licks a sledgehammer. Make of that what you will…
Of course Miley’s antics have been subject to significant backlash. Some feminist groups have come out in defence of Miley, noting that while Robin Thicke was as much of an active participant in the VMA performance as she was, he hasn’t received half the criticism. On the other hand, some have taken offense to what they see as Miley’s “race issues”; using black women as props, claiming that she wants her music to take on a more “black sound” (Miley’s latest hit “We Can’t Stop” was actually originally offered to Riri who many believe Miley is trying to emulate) and of course her excessive use of grills, twerking and other acts we usually associate with black artistes. Others have questioned Miley’s moral obligations as a role model for many young impressionable girls and the message she may be sending to them.
Personally, I think that Miley is trying to show the world she is grown up in a big way and like all other declarations of adulthood; “look at me, look at me! I’m grown now!” she will probably be super embarrassed a few years down the road. But that’s okay! Who hasn’t done things they’ve lived to regret in the name of changing their image? Miley is 20 years old and has a lot of living (and learning) to do. That is not to say that she isn’t a hot mess cause she totally is. I’m just saying she is entitled to be a hot mess; we all are at some point.
That being said, this hot mess is currently the most talked about celebrity right now. Wrecking Ball’s video broke a VEVO record and the song is now #1 on the Bilboard top 100. Miley is also set to feature on a Kanye West remix (yes, Yeezus himself) and she’s making headlines hourly; the girl is running things. If all her antics are just publicity stunts, they sure are working for her in a big way. Consequently, Miley has zero incentive to drop this new persona so my guess is Miley “good girl gone bad” Cyrus is here to stay. One thing we know for sure is that Liam has had it with her new image and reports are the couple has permanently called it quits, showing that a girl really can’t have it all. I guess guys actually don’t like it when you grind on a foam finger, go figure…