Inebriated teddy bears, twerking and a skin colored bikini seem to be the only things anyone remembers from the 30th annual VMA’s. And if you’re Miley Cyrus, that means mission accomplished.
The competition between generic artists to decide who can be the trashiest has reached a gladiatorial state, and we fan the flames by showering the combatants with attention.
There must have been a meeting at one point between Cyrus and her team regarding what sort of performance she would give the world on August 25, and it was decided that anything leading to offended parents and media buzz was the goal to shoot for—presumably with a glitter cannon.
Like pop idols before her, when faced with the daunting task of choosing just how to shock and offend, Cyrus had all options ranging on a scale from sex, to a lot of sex, and sex overload.
I’m not entirely sure where “latex skin colored bikini” lands on your scale, but I’m pretty sure that no matter where it is, it’s miles outside of your comfort zone . . . and there’s quite a good reason for that. The majority of us simply don’t want the amount of attention she wants.
Ten days after her performance Steve Chmelar, inventor of the foam finger, appeared on HLN’s “Showbiz Tonight” and expressed how he felt that Cyrus “degraded” his creation. By using the foam finger as a prop to simulate inappropriate behavior up, down and all around Robin Thicke during the duo’s mash-up of their equally mediocre songs “Blurred Lines” and “We Can’t Stop,” Cyrus managed to keep herself on national news ten days after her performance.
I use the word “mediocre” very pointedly in describing the quality of Cyrus and Thicke’s songs. Other than the nudity in Thicke’s video for “Blurred lines” and Cyrus’ general bizarre behavior at the VMA’s, there isn’t really anything original about the pair’s songs. When standing alone for scrutiny, both fade into the wall of noise of popular music.
So what’s a mediocre artist by the likes of Cyrus and Thicke to do? When the music is lacking depth, when the pop is really just a fizzle, we’ve seen the solution is simple: shock and offend. Legendary performances, whether due to talent or offensive behavior, are never forgotten. Cyrus knows this.
Say what you want about her risqué behavior, her talent (or lack thereof), but Miley Cyrus knows exactly how to market herself and how to sell music. She shocked us all two weeks ago, but here we are having this discussion. Cyrus found her niche in the entertainment world, and the seemingly out of control attitude is merely an image that sells. The crazy girl on stage is making money hand over fist while we watch her post-show interviews and tune in to see what she’ll do next. We don’t want to admit it, but the girl in pink latex might be smarter than she lets on.