Miley Cyrus has received a lot of media attention in the past few weeks since her performance at the VMA’s this year. She sang a collaboration of her song “We Can’t Stop” and Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines.” Both songs talk about partying and “living for pleasure” without a single care in the world. Both are in the top 5 charts on iTunes and have sold millions of copies worldwide. That alone should show us that we had a hand in Miley’s actions on the stage.
While we all drop our jaws and become embarrassed at her performance, is this really something new and deserving of so much media buzz? This scandal has been in the news and all over social media for weeks now. One possible reason could be because parents are suddenly ashamed to have let their young daughters see her as a role model for so long. But this kind of behavior from a woman her age in the music industry is not new. Several stars such as Madonna and Britney Spears have done the exact same thing and never received such attention. So what makes Miley’s performance so different than theirs? Is it because she was more of role model to young girls than Spears and Madonna, or that we’re just ashamed to show we didn’t already see this coming and didn’t want to admit it? We sing along to her and so many other artists’ songs that talk about exactly what she did on the stage, and now that we are seeing her doing those things, we’re embarrassed. If we’re so ashamed to watch Miley act that way and yet not ashamed to sing her songs at the top of our lungs, what does that say about us? Doesn’t that mean we’re at fault for this whole thing? Miley made a statement at the VMA’s that was the result of our own support of hers and every other artist out there that has done a similar routine.
Miley Cyrus is no longer a little girl and she acted in a way that most would call uncomfortable and inappropriate. But in reality, this kind of behavior has been a long time in coming; it’s just that now that we are seeing the actions of what we sing along to and buy on iTunes being shown in front of us, we’re ashamed. Miley’s actions wouldn’t have embarrassed us so much if we hadn’t watched her YouTube videos countless times, or bought her newest single and requested it over the radio. So is the way Miley has been acting lately what we should be allowing our daughters and friends to be inspired by? Of course not, but we should let this whole thing be an eye opener to what exactly we’ve been listening to and whether or not the amount of attention we’re giving it is absolutely necessary.