I am a little torn about how I feel about Miley Cyrus...
As somebody who is a fan of music from all avenues (I am definitely not a snob in terms of genre or artist ability...If I find even an modicum of art of raw talent in a person, I usually respect them as an artist.)
It is clear to me, that Miley Cyrus has a great deal of talent. Her vocal is very unique, and given the right arrangement and "feel", she more than proves herself. Do yourself a favor and YouTube Miley's acoustic covers of "Jolene" by Dolly Parton (who is Miley's GODMOTHER) and "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" by Bob Dylan. She has a real something there, and I feel like you can't deny that.
What we see with her is no different than what happens to many a child popstar, especially one who has ties to Disney.
They are told implicitly that they cannot be "sexy", that they are to act within a certain way, but as they get older and find themselves no longer under the thumb of other people, and AFTER experiencing these RIDICULOUSLY high levels of fame so early on that they begin experimenting...
And just like in the vein of Preacher's Daughters, they find themselves going to extremes. They don't understand what true "sex appeal" is and I feel like in Miley's case, the only way in her mind to SHED this squeaky clean image she has had is to go VERY far left. I mean she is SUCH a young girl who has always had an identity chosen FOR her, to now be faced with the freedom to choose her own representation, image and musical ambitions, she has created something that MUSICALLY I find appealing...
A lot of what I love about music is that sometimes it so totally defines but a MOMENT in pop culture and history. She most definitely represents the Millenial Generation and the freedom of youth and expression, she just hasn't had the proper education or experience in order to be able to truly explore what that really means for her.
"Wrecking Ball" is the most insane thing i've seen in a while, but if you listen to just the song... I don't know I think it's hot.. and I like "We Can't Stop".. I like the FEEL that she is going for on her new album, it's just the visual representation is fragmented and unfortunately makes her lose a certain amount of appeal.
That being said, there is NO OTHER person in pop music who is being discussed more right now than here. Her twitter following is staggering and while her press is for the most part negative, she will succeed if for nothing more than people are curious about her.
So while I don' find Miley that deep of a person, I respect her as a woman trying to figure out what this all means to her. I mean Madonna CAME with a knowingness of herself and at times pushed the limits and REALLY made people think and question what they are comfortable with. Miley is still learning, but I won't sit here and disregard her as another "pop tart" because I do feel like she will eventually come around..
And like I said, I am a fan of ALL genres of music.. Sometimes you don't want to feel anything from music other than GOOD. I don't need all my music to be deep or have some hidden meaning. Sometimes I just want to rock along to a song because it feels good to me, so I appreciate artists that exist if only for that value.
