Miley Cyrus: From Pop Princess to Pop "Tart"?
Miley Cyrus's Wonder World tour may leave many younger fans (and their parents) wondering what happened. The answer? Miley's growing up. But are her fans ready?
The warning signs started popping up back in 2008, but, like many parents eager to deny the realities of their own children growing up, we ignored them. There was the June Vanity Fair interview and Annie Leibovitz photo shoot, wherein Miley posed "topless but demure" (whatever that's supposed to mean when you're talking about a 15-year-old girl) and waxed rhapsodic about how much she loved the HBO series Sex and the City.
Then there was the flap about her August 2009 Teen Choice Awards performance: Was Miley's suggestive, scantily-clad cavorting atop an ice-cream truck a true "pole dance", or was it, as some of the deeply-in-denial crowd maintained, just Miley using the pole to "keep her balance"? There was never any definitive ruling on that one, but clearly, the rapidly-maturing writing was on the wall: Miley Cyrus is growing up, whether we're ready or not.
This inevitable fact of life was on vivid display on a recent stop of Miley's current Wonder World tour, which I had the opportunity to see with my daughter and some friends. The opening act, Metro Station (which is fronted by Miley's half-brother Trace, and Mason Musso, brother of Hannah Montana co-star, Mitchel Musso) set the racier, more mature tone for the evening right from the start, with suggestive, driving lyrics about taking off clothes, smoking, who wanted to touch whom and where - all accompanied by a pair of backup dancers whose sole job onstage seemed to be pelvic thrusting and hair-flipping. Parents in the audience were not amused.
While there were many teenaged fans present, the vast majority of the audience appeared to be the core Hannah Montana crowd, young girls (some as young as four or five) accustomed to a much more "wholesome" and less mature event. It was this crowd that Trace Cyrus had to try to warm up, and he tried every trick in his (limited) rock punk book: cajoling, chastising ("If you're not up out of your seat, I don't care if you're a kid or a parent, you don't belong here!"); chucking half-full water bottles out into the audience (hopefully he missed the 7-year-old girl in the front row); taking off his shirt to show off his fully-tattooed torso; even wiping his sweaty chest with a towel and graciously tossing the soiled item to the little girls in another front section. The parents were still not amused.
By the end of Metro Station's set, save for those teens who had arrived at the concert already fans of the band, you could almost hear the crickets chirping it was so still. With a collective sigh of relief, the arena cheerily bid adieu to Trace & Company: Now for the real thing!
But sadly, although the audience may have been expecting a wholesome, poppy antidote to the thrashing bump-and-grind of the disappointingly adult opening act, we were all in for an even bumpier ride.
The sparkle and shine of a younger Miley were replaced by a young woman clearly trying to break free of that squeaky-clean image. Most of her songs were not the melodic, fun songs so many of her younger fans had come to hear; on the contrary, many of the numbers she performed were strident and angry-sounding, even those that aren't particularly angry songs. It was evident from Miley's stage patter, what little there was, that she could feel the audience's coolness; at one point she asked the audience if her brother had "worn us out". He had; and she was not providing the antidote we had hoped for.
While her lyrics were nowhere near as suggestive as those of her half-brother, Miley's moves and those of her backup dancers more than made up the difference: there was so much pelvic thrusting and back-arching that a quick glance around the arena revealed many uncomfortable expressions on the faces of the fans, who were watching, rather than grooving.
Miley's costumes, (there were many changes, with at least one occurring onstage behind sheets held by backup dancers), were nothing that could be called modest; she did not appear in a single outfit all night that did not feature the shortest of shorts or a plunging neckline (most outfits featured both). At a time when many parents are bemoaning the "tarting up" of Halloween costumes and everyday clothing for young girls, seeing one of their role models displaying so much cleavage and bare skin was unsettling, to say the least.
There were, to be fair, some good moments; one occurred when a fan handed Miley a Sno-cone, which she took bites of between lyrics, saying "I love Sno-cones!" That brief reminder of the younger, more innocent girl many fans had come expecting to see was one of the highlights of the show.
There were some interesting special effects that helped keep the show alive, such as Miley's cover of the Joan Jett song "I Love Rock 'N' roll", during which she rode a motorcycle suspended by cables out over the audience's heads, and the occasional fireworks launched from the back of the stage. But the addition of an overly-long video plug for Miley's upcoming movie, The Last Song; the inexplicable video message from Will. I am of the Black Eyed Peas; and a duet with her half-brother Trace helped keep any sort of lasting momentum from building in the audience.
When Miley finally said "Thank you and goodnight", without having sung the two songs that were perhaps the only ones some fans present had come specifically hoping to hear, "Party in the U.S.A." and "The Climb", there were a few moments of something like fear whispering its way through the audience. "She's not really going to end the show without singing those, is she?"
No - like a true performer, she had saved the best (or at least, most popular) for last, performing both songs in a clearly-planned encore. "Party in the U.S.A." got the crowd moving at last, but "The Climb", coming as it did, at the end of a long, grueling evening for a still-young voice, came off sounding flat and tired.
There was much thoughtful conversation as we began making our way out of the arena about how different the Miley onstage was from the Miley that young girls have come to look up to and adore through her Hannah Montana persona. We heard concern for her, and for the choices she's making, voiced repeatedly by parents and older fans alike as we filed out.
It was difficult for our daughters to understand the contrast between the two. I tried to explain to my own daughter that Miley is growing up, that she is trying to find out who she is, as all teenagers must do. "I get that," she said, "but does she have to dress like that and dance like that? That's not Miley." I had to gently remind her that the Miley she thinks she knows is, in reality, just a character, Hannah Montana, that Miley plays on television. "But that's who I wanted to see," she protested. Therein lies the problem.
It is all well and good, even natural, for Miley Cyrus to try on different personas, to dress and dance and sing more maturely, to try to move on past her Disney image. But the problem is that she is still appearing in the Disney series. She is winning new young fans every day - fans who don't think of her as, and who are not ready to see her as, a rapidly-maturing young woman, and that is going to be a very difficult balancing act for Miley to pull off: making the move to a more mature career focus without alienating, and losing, the very young, innocent fans who put her on that path to begin with. Perhaps it would be better for her to make a complete break from her Hannah Montana image and stop doing the show altogether, take some time off, out of the adoring gaze of her youngest fans to make this transition to a more grown-up image.
In her 2009 autobiography, Miles to Go, Miley herself says "I love that Hannah Montana is a sweet, good quality show that brings joy to people's lives. As I start doing more grown-up, dramatic projects, I want to stick with what I believe and what makes sense for a girl my age. I want to be a good role model." That's a nice goal, but I think perhaps Miley needs to be (gently) reminded that she isn't just a role model for young women her own age. She is also a role model for little girls just starting to formulate their own ideas of who they are, and what is appropriate for Miley and her older fans is definitely not appropriate for her youngest ones. For now, it may just be wise for parents of younger fans to take their own break, and come back to their favorite star when they're all a little bit older, and ready to accept a racier, edgier Miley.
Then there was the flap about her August 2009 Teen Choice Awards performance: Was Miley's suggestive, scantily-clad cavorting atop an ice-cream truck a true "pole dance", or was it, as some of the deeply-in-denial crowd maintained, just Miley using the pole to "keep her balance"? There was never any definitive ruling on that one, but clearly, the rapidly-maturing writing was on the wall: Miley Cyrus is growing up, whether we're ready or not.
This inevitable fact of life was on vivid display on a recent stop of Miley's current Wonder World tour, which I had the opportunity to see with my daughter and some friends. The opening act, Metro Station (which is fronted by Miley's half-brother Trace, and Mason Musso, brother of Hannah Montana co-star, Mitchel Musso) set the racier, more mature tone for the evening right from the start, with suggestive, driving lyrics about taking off clothes, smoking, who wanted to touch whom and where - all accompanied by a pair of backup dancers whose sole job onstage seemed to be pelvic thrusting and hair-flipping. Parents in the audience were not amused.
While there were many teenaged fans present, the vast majority of the audience appeared to be the core Hannah Montana crowd, young girls (some as young as four or five) accustomed to a much more "wholesome" and less mature event. It was this crowd that Trace Cyrus had to try to warm up, and he tried every trick in his (limited) rock punk book: cajoling, chastising ("If you're not up out of your seat, I don't care if you're a kid or a parent, you don't belong here!"); chucking half-full water bottles out into the audience (hopefully he missed the 7-year-old girl in the front row); taking off his shirt to show off his fully-tattooed torso; even wiping his sweaty chest with a towel and graciously tossing the soiled item to the little girls in another front section. The parents were still not amused.
By the end of Metro Station's set, save for those teens who had arrived at the concert already fans of the band, you could almost hear the crickets chirping it was so still. With a collective sigh of relief, the arena cheerily bid adieu to Trace & Company: Now for the real thing!
But sadly, although the audience may have been expecting a wholesome, poppy antidote to the thrashing bump-and-grind of the disappointingly adult opening act, we were all in for an even bumpier ride.
The sparkle and shine of a younger Miley were replaced by a young woman clearly trying to break free of that squeaky-clean image. Most of her songs were not the melodic, fun songs so many of her younger fans had come to hear; on the contrary, many of the numbers she performed were strident and angry-sounding, even those that aren't particularly angry songs. It was evident from Miley's stage patter, what little there was, that she could feel the audience's coolness; at one point she asked the audience if her brother had "worn us out". He had; and she was not providing the antidote we had hoped for.
While her lyrics were nowhere near as suggestive as those of her half-brother, Miley's moves and those of her backup dancers more than made up the difference: there was so much pelvic thrusting and back-arching that a quick glance around the arena revealed many uncomfortable expressions on the faces of the fans, who were watching, rather than grooving.
Miley's costumes, (there were many changes, with at least one occurring onstage behind sheets held by backup dancers), were nothing that could be called modest; she did not appear in a single outfit all night that did not feature the shortest of shorts or a plunging neckline (most outfits featured both). At a time when many parents are bemoaning the "tarting up" of Halloween costumes and everyday clothing for young girls, seeing one of their role models displaying so much cleavage and bare skin was unsettling, to say the least.
There were, to be fair, some good moments; one occurred when a fan handed Miley a Sno-cone, which she took bites of between lyrics, saying "I love Sno-cones!" That brief reminder of the younger, more innocent girl many fans had come expecting to see was one of the highlights of the show.
There were some interesting special effects that helped keep the show alive, such as Miley's cover of the Joan Jett song "I Love Rock 'N' roll", during which she rode a motorcycle suspended by cables out over the audience's heads, and the occasional fireworks launched from the back of the stage. But the addition of an overly-long video plug for Miley's upcoming movie, The Last Song; the inexplicable video message from Will. I am of the Black Eyed Peas; and a duet with her half-brother Trace helped keep any sort of lasting momentum from building in the audience.
When Miley finally said "Thank you and goodnight", without having sung the two songs that were perhaps the only ones some fans present had come specifically hoping to hear, "Party in the U.S.A." and "The Climb", there were a few moments of something like fear whispering its way through the audience. "She's not really going to end the show without singing those, is she?"
No - like a true performer, she had saved the best (or at least, most popular) for last, performing both songs in a clearly-planned encore. "Party in the U.S.A." got the crowd moving at last, but "The Climb", coming as it did, at the end of a long, grueling evening for a still-young voice, came off sounding flat and tired.
There was much thoughtful conversation as we began making our way out of the arena about how different the Miley onstage was from the Miley that young girls have come to look up to and adore through her Hannah Montana persona. We heard concern for her, and for the choices she's making, voiced repeatedly by parents and older fans alike as we filed out.
It was difficult for our daughters to understand the contrast between the two. I tried to explain to my own daughter that Miley is growing up, that she is trying to find out who she is, as all teenagers must do. "I get that," she said, "but does she have to dress like that and dance like that? That's not Miley." I had to gently remind her that the Miley she thinks she knows is, in reality, just a character, Hannah Montana, that Miley plays on television. "But that's who I wanted to see," she protested. Therein lies the problem.
It is all well and good, even natural, for Miley Cyrus to try on different personas, to dress and dance and sing more maturely, to try to move on past her Disney image. But the problem is that she is still appearing in the Disney series. She is winning new young fans every day - fans who don't think of her as, and who are not ready to see her as, a rapidly-maturing young woman, and that is going to be a very difficult balancing act for Miley to pull off: making the move to a more mature career focus without alienating, and losing, the very young, innocent fans who put her on that path to begin with. Perhaps it would be better for her to make a complete break from her Hannah Montana image and stop doing the show altogether, take some time off, out of the adoring gaze of her youngest fans to make this transition to a more grown-up image.
In her 2009 autobiography, Miles to Go, Miley herself says "I love that Hannah Montana is a sweet, good quality show that brings joy to people's lives. As I start doing more grown-up, dramatic projects, I want to stick with what I believe and what makes sense for a girl my age. I want to be a good role model." That's a nice goal, but I think perhaps Miley needs to be (gently) reminded that she isn't just a role model for young women her own age. She is also a role model for little girls just starting to formulate their own ideas of who they are, and what is appropriate for Miley and her older fans is definitely not appropriate for her youngest ones. For now, it may just be wise for parents of younger fans to take their own break, and come back to their favorite star when they're all a little bit older, and ready to accept a racier, edgier Miley.
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