14 DAY TRIAL // You're not going to hear aging country legend Dolly Parton rave on about “back in my days we used to do things different,” because she's just as wild as the young generation, if not exceedingly wilder than some of the specimens out there. But she only has words of praise for Miley Cyrus, who also happens to be her goddaughter.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, Dolly admits that she totally gets Miley's onstage antics, which include twerking on a horse and riding an inflatable male reproductive organ, among many other disturbing bits of imagery we wouldn't want to impose on our readers for fear we might shock them.
The reason why Dolly isn't shocked or ashamed of Miley's antics is because she identifies with the young singer and compares her to her younger self, when she was at the same point in her career.
“Back in the day, doing my own things my own way, and dressing sexy and showing my cleavage and all that, I got a lot of criticism,” Dolly said and added “Lots of people thought I was making a mistake and that I was just trashy, which I was. So I did go through that, but I don’t give her advice.”
And it seems that all those years on the stage have turned Dolly into somewhat of a sage when it comes to show-business, because she gave these pearls of wisdom for her goddaughter: “Everyone has to walk this journey according to their own rules. That’s what she’s doing. And I lurve her.”
Because of her friendship with Billy Ray Cyrus, Dolly has seen Miley growing up and she thinks that the younger Cyrus is quite the brainiac. She would have to be to come up with all these outrageous antics, both on and off the stage.
“I've known her daddy (Billy Ray) the many years he's been in the business. I've watched her grow up. She's a smart girl. She had to go to extremes to get her point across. I think she got the point across,” concludes Dolly, giving the impression that Miley is forging her own path in the industry.
That Miley is a trailblazer is obvious, but at what price is she steaming ahead, creating precedent after precedent? The moral dilemma is made even bigger by the fact that just a couple of years ago, Miley was still Hannah Montana, everyone's favorite teen pop singer, and, though fictional in every sense of the word, she did manage to inspire countless girls.