Miley, Please Stop

Previously, I discussed how I absolutely adore pop music and briefly touched on the positives that it brought to the music industry. This week, however, I’d like to talk about this music genre on another perspective. So far, I have talked about music artists, like Taylor Swift, who keep a good role model image and achieved success during their young adult years. That being said, are there any problems with starting out in the music injury and being a famous celebrity at a young age? Is there a recurring issue with teenage pop starts belonging to the Disney music industry?

“I have this theory that if you cut off all her hair, she’d look like a British man.” This is quoted from the 2004 movie, Mean Girls, and about eight years later, a meme was created that involves this quote and a famous pop star. The meme looks something like this.

 

Yes ya’ll, it’s Miley Cyrus. In this picture, the quote appears on the top photo while being compared to a British actor named Tom Felton. I can’t find the original source of this meme, but this appeared on the internet in 2012 after getting a drastic image change. Let's briefly talk about Cyrus’s music career and discuss how being a former Disney pop star might be a reason that explains her behaviors she has today.

From 2006 to 2011, Miley Cyrus starred in a Disney Channel show called Hannah Montana. In this show, her character led the normal life of a grade school student but had an alias known as Hannah Montana. With this “other identity”, she was able to become a famous pop star without having the public know who she really is. Cyrus’s alter ego became so popular that it branched outside the television show. In 2007, Disney created The Best of Both Worlds Tour which promoted one of her albums featuring songs as herself and her alter ego. In general, the tour received positive reviews; however, some critics argue that Cyrus performed better has her alter ego. According to Jim Abbott of the Orlando Sentinel, she was unable to duplicate the energy of Hannah Montana. Reviews like this one show a problem that she faces later on in her career.

From about 2008 to 2011, Cyrus tried separating herself from her Hannah Montana persona. She released several albums and tours that included songs by her and not Hannah Montana. Also throughout these years, Cyrus began to change her look. A music review about her Wonder World Tour states that her wardrobe of the concert consisted of more sexualized outfits, much more different compared to her Hannah Montana appearance. She decided to show a more sexual side to authorize that she is now a woman and is growing tired of having a good girl Disney image. In 2011, Hannah Montana ended, and matters got much worse.

From 2012 to the present, Cyrus completely changed her image, sound, and behavior. Instead of having her normal long, brunette hair or her long, blonde Hannah Montana wig, she got a platinum blonde pixie cut style. According to her Twitter, she stated that she had never felt like herself before in her life. She probably had the feeling that her real self was lost because of her Hannah Montana image. Regarding her new music style, she now sings about drinking alcohol, doing drugs, and twerking. Also, lots of her songs now contain curse words. As far as her behavior goes, just take a look at these pictures.                                                         

Pretty horrible, aren’t they? Here you can clearly see that Cyrus has completely deviated from her Disney good girl image. It’s almost as if Hannah Montana never existed.

Hopefully after reading a small biography about Miley Cyrus, you remember what this post is about. How does she fit the thought that being a famous pop star at a young age is potentially problematic? For many years of her life, Cyrus had to live up to the standards of a Disney Channel role model. Since her audience at the time consisted of young children and preteens, she was expected to set good examples and have appropriate behavior. Any slip ups would be considered as controversies and addressed to world. For example, images of Cyrus in underwear shots were leaked online in 2008. Even after apologizing to her fans, this act tarnished her Disney image. Eventually, she grew tired of living up to her good girl expectations and decided that dancing in her underwear, riding hot dogs, and licking hammers were the best ways to prove that she is no longer associated with Disney.

So why would I spend all this time writing about Miley Cyrus? The truth is that she used to be my celebrity crush. She was the form of Taylor Swift when I was in middle school and part of high school. I loved her Hannah Montana image and songs. I am totally disgusted with how she presents herself to the world today.  Recently though, I began to realize that my thoughts of her relate to what the music critic mentioned earlier; I favored her Hannah Montana character instead of her real self. I had a crush on somebody who never existed. Even though I don’t care for her much anymore, I sort of blame Disney for her behavior she has today. They forced her to become somebody who wasn’t real. People today claim that they miss the “real Miley Cyrus”, meaning that they miss her Hannah Montana character. I'm not sure how she would've turned out if she didn't start off with Disney, but I believe that she wouldn’t be as crazy. The real Miley Cyrus is how she acts today.

What are your thoughts and opinions of Miley Cyrus? Does fame at a young age come with a price? Personally, I would like to answer the meme. Yes Miley, you do look like a British man. You state in one of your songs that “we can’t stop and we won't stop". I think that you should stop.