I have to admit that I have zero background with Miley Cyrus before the last few years because I was too old to watch Hannah Montana and didn't yet have kids to have her fit into that sweet spot of cultural recognition. That being said, I have been following her fairly closely in the last few years as she seems to be breaking free of the "Disney Child Star" persona and into her own woman (for better or for worse). Most recently, she's had some sultry singles, really done a bit of "try too hard" on her first single, We Can't Stop from her new album, and as of early September, she's released her next video single for her song Wreckingball.
Here's the NSFW video in all its glory:
I know that lots of people are going to be up in arms about this one, but try looking at it from a different perspective — this isn't any less risque than something that P!nk would do, or Beyonce or any other pop starlet today. Miley Cyrus is now a (young) adult and a lot of the online flames are being fanned by people who remember her as Hannah Montana.
While I don't particularly like the song, and I find director Terry Richardson to mostly be a letch, I think that getting all "how skanky" or "trashy" or whatever other shaming words are going around in response to this video are just silly/over the top.
I'm not about to get all, "Leave Miley Alone" here, but I remember what I was like in my early 20s, and if I had the money and musical backers that Miley has, I would have probably done a lot worse.
A lot.
And I bet dollars to doughnuts that those of you with kids who grew up with Hannah Montana have kids that are growing up, too. Maybe it's the fear of our own kids becoming adults and doing cringeworthy things that have some people shouting out against Miley? The song itself sounds like she's gone through/going through a bit of a rough patch/break up with Liam Hemsworth, and I'm actually surprised at how articulate she sounds (I know its writers).
I think that maybe we all need to just let pop singers be pop singers and appreciate the fact that Miley Cyrus is officially a grownup now, and if she's left Disney behind, maybe we need to, too.
And if you want something interesting and fantastic to talk about, Arcade Fire also released a new video on the same day, and it's something pretty remarkable (and might have David Bowie singing backing vocals — you be the judge — https://www.justareflektor.com/)
So, spill it! What do you think of Miley's new video?
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