OPINION
HENRY NORTHMORE
Agents provocateurs or just car-crash celebrities? Disney childstar turned crotch-toucher Miley Cyrus and controversial ex-Hole frontwoman Courtney Love both play Glasgow this month. Henry Northmore fi nds them brash and bizarre, but refuses to be shocked
At this moment, Miley Cyrus is probably the most famous pop star on the planet. She twerked her way into the global consciousness grinding up against Robin Thicke in l esh-toned rubber pants at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards. The former Hannah Montana actor sparked a media frenzy, further compounded by appearing naked in her video for ‘Wrecking Ball’.
She joins a procession of ex-Disney prodigies making that tricky transition from child to adult star. Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Lindsay Lohan have all walked the same troubled path. Curiously, Justin Timberlake, the male star who has also followed that career trajectory, was praised when he released tracks such as ‘Sexy Back’. It just highlights the continued dual standards at play. As part of such a male-dominated industry, sexuality has become the default setting for many young female artists.
In this particular instance, it’s odd that Thicke is hardly mentioned and Cyrus is left to shoulder the responsibility. Meanwhile, rappers continue to spout misogynistic lyrics while being proclaimed as street poets. Here’s the chorus to ‘Birthday Song’ by 2 Chainz: ‘All I want for my birthday is a big booty ho’. Society still has a big problem with outspoken women. Just ask Courtney Love. Musically, she couldn’t be more different from Miley Cyrus, but there’s a shared honesty to the lack of PR i lter in their sometimes bizarre, bold and off-kilter statements. Hole never really got their due and were often reduced to ‘just another Nirvana rip-off’.
10 THE LIST 17 Apr–15 May 2014
And there appears to be a mutual admiration going on, Love tweeting: ‘if it wasn’t for @MileyCyrus 2013 would’ve been a dull dreary year. If you can’t agree with that, you’re an idiot’. To which Miley replied: ‘@courtney, I ❤ you!’ It’s not as if Cyrus was doing anything new; it seems strange that 30 years after Madonna released ‘Like a Virgin’, people can still appear shocked. The main problem for Cyrus is that the reaction outweighs the event itself. In the UK, the VMAs aren’t the national institution they are in the US, so the vast majority heard about Cyrus’ ‘scandalous’ performance second-hand.
How many ‘outraged’ Daily Mail readers have actually watched the video for ‘Wrecking Ball’? All anyone focuses on is the lack of clothing but the song is a heartbreaking slice of pop balladry, the video emphasising her stripped-down emotion. It’s far less titillating than the tabloids insist. As Miley herself told MTV News a few days after twerkgate: ‘You’re thinking about it more than I thought about it when I did it.’ Underground culture – from punk to twerking – nearly always ends up being exploited for commercial gain. At worst, Cyrus is a symptom, not the cause. Her stance is perhaps a little naive but she is, after all, a young woman who has grown up in the spotlight. In many ways, isn’t Cyrus just living up to her role as a pop star? By creating this furore she’s merely fuli lling her job description.
Miley Cyrus, The Hydro, Glasgow, Mon 12 May; Courtney Love, O2 Academy, Glasgow, Thu 15 May.
‘Society still has a problem with outspoken women’