Twerking nine to five

Seeing as Sinead O'Conner is now considered an essential voice in pop I guess it's about time I threw in with my 2p on the whole Sexy Miley Cyrus 'scandal'. And I use that word with great caution, because the definition I found for that word was "damage to reputation or character caused by public disclosure of immoral or grossly improper behavior" and I really don't see how a 20 year-old pop act showing off their bum to anyone that happens to be passing is actually that big a deal. It's also not like what happened was that big a shock for anyone who has been keeping up to date with what the ex Hanna Montana has been up to, she started with the sexy images last year and was very public about the fact that she was going to "make history" at the VMAs (presumably till then no-one had been allowed to gurn all the way through their set) to ensure that everyone was looking.

This whole thing is, very simply, someone deciding to stop acting like a girl and start acting like a woman, or at least what she thinks a woman should be given the world that she has grown up in. She wants to wiggle and be evocative, so be it. To me the important thing is that before this she performed mild, uninteresting pop whilst dressing like a 16 year old and now she performs mild, uninteresting pop whilst dressing like a 20 year old who decided to piss off their parents and who has the over-riding compulsion to stick her tongue out all the damn time (seriously, does anyone actually find that look sexy?).

Now I can see why this change will upset a number of parents, and I do have sympathy for them here. She has been marketed, very heavily, via her Hannah Montana image at the early teen market so there are going to be a lot of 12-15 year old suddenly wanting to recreate their idols actions in a variety of inappropriate manner. True, the tracks stopped coming out 3 years ago but the image and the music has still been promoted as a 'wholesome' option for young girls getting into pop music until very recently (though the Hannah Montana machine hasn't slowed down, which will cause more fun on that front). The change is going to cause some problems for a number of parents ("Mommy, can I become a professional twerker rather than finish school?") and I get why they may feel betrayed about this having happened. Is it Miley Cyrus's fault? Not really, she made it clear for the last couple of years that she wasn't the character and has actively tried to distance herself from that image. Is Miley Cyrus responsible for any problems this may cause? Again 'no', but given the millions of dollars that she earned from that gig and those parents she might want to think about maybe being considerate of the situation she's created. Then again that would wreck her currently finally crafted rebel motif, so I don't think it will happen any time soon so we'll have to wait for the detox for that to happen.

So onwards she goes, bravery charting courses only previously sailed by a couple hundred other pop divas with producers and writers doing all the creative effort. Will it head into the rocks or stay the course until the 'serious' album when she hits 30? No clue and very little care, I just wait for the 'My, she has grown up and argh! Put it away!! I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE TO LOOK' phase of her journey to be over so that she can fade away into background noise, rather than being taken seriously or given so much coverage by the media.
It's a warbling pop-tart.
They happen, a lot.