Transitioning
from a teen artist to an adult performer is not an easy task. We’ve seen artist’s
different takes on it in the past. Female artists often sex themselves up like Britney
and her “I’m a Slave 4 U” days and XTina’s “Dirrty” phase. Sexing things up is
the rather popular route female performers have chosen to take to prove that
they are no longer teenagers. The
transition for male artists has been a lot smoother for artists like Justin
Timberlake. Justin Timberlake’s transition has been successful considering he
is a well respected artist and had the best selling album of 2013 with The 20/20 Experience(Lewis).Timberlake
said good-bye to his boy band days and has earned a loyal fan base all on his
own. The most recent pop star trying cross this barrier is the one and only
Destiny Hope, better known as Miley Cyrus, and she has shed her good girl
image. We grew up with Miley, considering she’s only a year younger than most
of us. Many viewed her as her character
on the Disney channel, which prevented her from showing her true identity.
However, now that she’s older, she is trying to break away from that image. Hannah Montana was a likeable show that
featured Miley as an innocent country girl. Now that she’s older, Miley has transformed
from girl next door to wild child. By twerking, grinding on Robin Thicke at the
Vma’s, posing nude for Rolling Stone,
and constantly sticking her tongue out, this girl is trying to tell us she’s
grown up. Just recently, she missed a costume change on her tour and performed
in her underwear. Through this evidence,
it’s apparent that her attitude, appearance, and her music have all evolved.
Musical
artists can market themselves in many different ways today. As Music Business’
James Donio states, “ Is there a wrong way to market an album? The answer is
no”(Anderson). Justin Timberlake promoted his new album with a week long stint
at Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, and
ads with Budweiser (Lewis). Miley is selling herself as well as her “girl gone
wild” image and it seems to be working. The ex Disney star’s
controversial “Wrecking Ball” video is the fastest growing video on
VEVO(Inocencio). It caught everyone’s eye and had 100 million views in just six
days. Apparently straddling a wrecking ball naked, and licking a sledgehammer
is the way to gain attention these days. Her most recent album, Bangerz,
received the years
largest sales week for a solo woman(Caulfield).Long gone are the days of
the bubble gum pop “Party in the U.S.A”. Now there’s highly sexualized songs
that are full of profanity, such as the song “FU”. Where oh where has Hannah
Montana gone? Miley’s current Bangerz
tour is deemed to be too mature for children to go see. The tour is all about
embracing her new wild child personality. The costumes leave little to the imagination,
Cyrus constantly simulates sex, and she no longer sings the Hannah Montana
songs. With the shocking set and
costumes on her tour, many reviews have stated that it overshadows her vocal
performance(Rosen). It seems every Disney starlet wants to get out of the “good
girl” image somehow; others do it different ways than others.
People
are constantly hating on her, but she can’t be little old Hannah Montana
forever. People grow up, yet she is doing things to the extreme and states that
this is just her personality. Has Miley lost her mind, looking for attention,
or just trying to tell us she’s grown up? Her actions are more talked about now
than her music, it seems that it isn’t even about the music. How can you pay
attention to her singing on tour when she’s riding around on a flying hotdog?
To my knowledge, no star has gone to these extremes to prove they’ve grown up.
Britney Spears and Christina Aquilera had their dirty moments, but nothing
comparable to Miley. Miley herself doesn’t view it as a transition as she is
quoted, "It's not a transition. People always like to call it a
transition, I'm the same human - I have the same heart that I had five years
ago. Everything about me is the same. Same skin, same human”(London Newsdesk).
As much as she wants to deny it as a transition, there is no old trace of the
Miley she used to be. I understand people grow up and develop into the person
they truly are meant to be. Miley has gained so much attention during this
transition that maybe she doesn’t even know who she is anymore. Or maybe she
really is just a wild child that Disney kept under wraps for so many years. Whether
Miley wants to call it a transition or not, I think we can all agree on
something that we view Miley in very a different way now. What are your
thoughts on Miley’s “transition?” Is she headed in a good direction, or is she
going to be the next Amanda Bynes?
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Works Cited:
Anderson, Kyle. "Beyond
Beyonce." Entertainment Weekly 10 Jan.
2014: 15-16.23 Mar.2014
Caulfield, Keith. "Miley
Cyrus' 'Bangerz' Nets Year's Biggest Sales Week for a Woman."Billboard.
N.p., 17 Oct. 2013. Web. 24 Mar. 2014
Inocencio, Mark. "Ryan Seacrest - Miley Cyrus’
‘Wrecking Ball’ Sets New VEVO Record -." Ryan Seacrest. N.p.,
17 Sept. 2013. Web. 29 Mar. 2014.
Lewis, Randy. "Justin
Timberlake, Robin Thicke Post 2013's Top-Selling Album, Single." Los Angeles Times 3 Jan. 2014. Web.23 Mar. 2014
Rosen, Craig. "The
Hollywood Reporter." The Hollywood Reporter. N.p., 21 Feb.
2014. Web. 24 Mar. 2014
"Latest 10 Miley Cyrus
News Stories." Pressparty. The London Newsdesk, 3 Oct. 2013.
Web. 23 Mar. 2014.
I agree that there is no “wrong” way to market an album, as we have seen by a simple comparison between Beyonce’s recent album and Justin Timberlake, illustrated in Anderson’s “Beyond Beyonce”. Miley Cyrus created her own brand of marketing and taken it to the extreme. She has created 3 names for herself in the course of her career. First, as Hannah Montanah back in the good old days before crotch grabbing and twerking. Second, her beautiful voice. I don’t know about all of you, but her rendition of Dolly Parton’s (also her god mother, by the way) “Jolene” is heavenly and a song that I play on repeat again and again. In comparison to her beautiful voice/ “Jolene” persona, the third name she has created for herself is an absolute train wreck. We all know what I’m talking about. The tongue, the twerking, the leave-nothing-to-the-imagination outfits. In a battle to make a new name for herself, she has succeeded, but not in a good way.
ReplyDeleteThis is not the first conversation I have heard in which people wonder if Miley is taking it too far. Many agree she has. Personally, when I see her on stage grinding on Robin Thicke, I have to wonder if she is doing it simply for the attention. She knows that she will get a response from the public, and as the saying goes, there is no such thing as bad publicity. However, when will the shock factor wear off? The public is only going to put up with Miley’s grotesque sexual stunts for so long. Eventually people will no longer be shocked and simply become bored, moving on to the next thing. I would not be surprised if people begin to chalk it up to a need for attention, and soon begin to see her as fake. According to a study conducted by MTV Research entitled “Music to the M Power”, “68% [of Millennials] say when it comes to artists and musicians, as long as they are real and not fake, there is no such thing as ‘selling out’” (Hillhouse). So as long as she keeps convincing the world that her grotesque stunts and the crazy sexual being she portrays are the real Miley, I suppose she will do fine (*cough* not happening).
Additionally, I have to wonder if her sudden “coming of age” isn’t anything more than some perfect timing. Much of her loyal fan base has grown up, and no longer looks up to Cyrus as Hannah Montana. In an effort to not piss off a bunch of parents and scar the minds of kids, I imagine that the sudden “coming out” of sexy Miley has a lot to do with the age of her loyal fans.
It seems to me that Cyrus has overshot maturity in her attempt to transition from good girl/innocent personality to mature young artist. Mature is not the word I would use to describe her. I would call it “trying too hard” and diagnose her with a serious case of missing the mark. As for the future of Miley, I can only hope that the sexualized persona she has going on will fade and that people can begin appreciating her again for her truly amazing voice, not for her twerking.
(If you haven’t already, you need to see her cover of “Jolene”. Remarkably, Dolly Parton’s original stage performance of Jolene in 1974 has only around 18 million views on YouTube. Miley’s cover has close to 29 million. If this isn’t proof of her amazing voice, I don’t know what is. Open your eyes Miley. Maybe if you put some clothes on people will notice your voice.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOwblaKmyVw
Works Cited:
Anderson, Kyle. "Beyond Beyonce." Entertainment Weekly 10 Jan. 2014: 15-16.
Hillhouse, Allison. "MTV's 'Music to the M Power.'" Blog.Viacom 5 June 2013. Web.
Emily Hauser
This article talks about the difference that is seen when female child stars transition into adult artists versus how males transition. I think a lot of this has to do with the societal standards that we place on women and how they differ from men. When males hit puberty in the public eye they go from cute teen heartthrob to sexy Adonis-like figures. If they don't their career is over (ie Macaulay Culkin). When girls go through this transition, society wants them to go from America's sweetheart to some pre-Danny Sandra Dee-esque role model. When they don't, society and the media go in for the kill.
ReplyDeleteMiley is just another in a long list of female artist who have used sex (more so sexuality) to transition in to public womanhood. Unlike reality "stars", true artist won’t just do anything for a camera. It’s all about building your brand. As mentioned in the article “Beyond Beyonce” by Kyle Anderson, there is no wrong way to market an album. Even no marketing at all works (but only if you’re Beyonce). Millennial believe there is no such thing as selling out anymore. (Hillhouse) We understand the ideas and the workings of marketing, so when you have a case like Miley, we see past all of this on some level and actively wait for release day to see if it was all worth it.
As far as this new persona as a marketing stint goes, her video for “Wrecking Ball” was one of the fastest growing videos on Vevo, she’s been talked about by every news source in the country and Twerkgate nearly took over the world. Since, she’s had her own documentary on MTV and as Kim mentioned, Bangerz had the largest sales week for a solo woman in 2013. This was huge, especially for a Disney child star.
Do I believe it was part of a very thought it marketing campaign? Yes, but you can tell from interviews that there was still a very personal aspect of this. Not many child stars make it the transition well, mostly because of the perceived ideas about them from the public’s perspective. As pointed out in a study by MTV, Music to the M Power, consumers are more likely to respond or be receptive to an artist when they feel like they can relate to them. “91% say it’s OK if an artist has some flaws – it makes them human and likeable” (Hillhouse).
I do believe that Miley has been very thoughtful and careful about that she is doing. While that may seem crazy because I used the word "careful", I truly believe it. She hasn't done anything completed damning, she's not running around getting DUIs, she hasn't leaked a sex tape, and even though she barely wears clothes, there aren't naked pictures of her floating around the internet. The only thing about Miley that has been sullied is her public image, and as we've seen from this, that can change pretty quickly. I do think it will be interesting to see how she handles her public person post-Bangerz.
Anderson, Kyle. "Beyond Beyonce." Entertainment Weekly 10 Jan. 2014: 15-16.23 Mar.2014
Caulfield, Keith. "Miley Cyrus' 'Bangerz' Nets Year's Biggest Sales Week for a Woman."Billboard. N.p., 17 Oct. 2013. Web. 24 Mar. 2014
Hillhouse, Allison. "MTV's 'Music to the M Power.'" Blog.Viacom 5 June 2013. Web.