First, it was a haircut. Then, it was a scandalous performance at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards. Now, and most recently, it’s a racy music video for her new song, “Wrecking Ball,” which had nearly 120 million hits on YouTube within a week of its release. It seems like no matter what 20-year-old Miley Cyrus is doing, she gets people talking about it.
Miley got her start on the set of Disney Channel’s Hannah Montana, a show with an average viewer of ages 6-11, according to a press release from the television network. After staggering popularity with her young audience, she was able to become a multimillion dollar success around the world. It’s clear to me that Miley is now desperate to appeal to more mature viewers, and wants to ignore the fans who were the only reason she reached such a level of fame in the first place.
The singer has been the latest subject of discussion across campus and everyone seems to have an opinion. Some say that she’s being original or creative. But in a powerful position where she could make a very positive impact on the next generation of girls, she’s chosen to be just like most other “gone-bad” female celebrities. Where is the originality in that?
This was just my opinion, so I decided to ask other TCNJ students to weigh in on the topic this week, and this is what they had to say:
“I consider it a desperate expression of the need for attention. The question still stands as to why Miley would go this route in her career. I truly believe Miley is the only one who could answer this question; however, I know for certain that she abused her influence over countless fans who once embraced her as one of America’s sweethearts.” -Isabel Armendi, junior biology major
“I think that Miley Cyrus is like a lot of girls our own age, but because she’s got the public spotlight on her, she has peer pressure from every American girl watching her. I don’t think she’s that much different than anybody else, but maybe she is in a bad setting and that’s why she’s not having the most respect for herself. Hopefully she can turn herself around.” -Amanda Acebal, sophomore English major
“I think she’s crazy, and I think she’s doing all this stuff to get attention and stay relevant.” -Alyssa Ramdeen, junior communications major
“I think it’s okay that she’s expressing herself, and I guess it’s a form of art, but I really don’t think that given her background and the following she has with Disney that it’s really appropriate for her to be doing [racy performances] with such a big audience.” -Jessa Gianotti, junior journalism major
“I still think she has really good intentions, and I like her for her individuality, but I just think that she’s taking everything too far. She’s doing everything to an extreme to get more attention and be more edgy because she doesn’t want to be associated with Hannah Montana and Disney anymore, but she didn’t sign up to be a role model.” -Alyssa Henderson, junior Nursing major
“In my opinion, she’s another instance of the good girl gone bad, following the Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears trend. I think fame got a little bit to her. She reached the top; she peaked, and then she didn’t want to leave that spot, and I feel like celebrities do whatever it takes to be noticed or to get on the magazines. Usually it’s whatever’s bad that gets publicized more. I think that she needs to take into consideration that [a very young fan base is] what made her famous; those are her fans. It’s like you say you love your fans, but you know who they are.” -Katharine Rosa, junior nursing major
“I think she writes and delivers good, catchy music, and she definitely has talent. I think she’s trying to be unnecessarily individualistic by doing racy music videos and live acts that are not relevant to the music and seem to be for the purpose of distinguishing between the old and new Miley Cyrus.” -Oliver Hendy, junior biology major
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