14 DAY TRIAL // The first question that comes to mind when seeing Miley Cyrus perform on stage these days should be: should concerts bear a label like a parental advisory on music albums to prevent people from getting shocked by on-stage antics?
That question is only natural as news of outraged parents made its way online and initial reviews of Miley’s recently started “Bangerz” tour began pouring in, most of them negative. The big issue is not the fact that she is “controversial.” There have long been artists who tried to shock on stage. One need only remember Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” tour and Ozzy Osborne’s infamous bat beheading incident.
The problem with Miley is her sudden reinvention. Just last year she was still known to many as her squeaky-clean alter-ego, Hannah Montana, and then something happened in 2013, and she decided that it was time she moved away from that age of innocence and reveal her true punk-rock self.
As a side note, 2013 was also the year that Miley hired as her manager a fellow by the name of Larry Rudolph, who had previously worked with Britney Spears. Remember when Britney also dramatically changed her image at one point in her career and turned from this virginal eye-candy to a raunchy male fantasy? Exactly.
The Facts
Miley’s new concert was going to be controversial; she promised fans that much, but no one had an inkling as to what she was referring. She was known as a person who liked to shock audiences, but she has now taken things to a level that is finely flirting with the line of the socially acceptable.
Leaving apart the very revealing and risqué outfits that Miley wears during the performance, made up mostly of tight fitting and impossibly low-cut leotards, one even printed with marijuana leaves on it, there are also some things difficult to stomach by audiences.
There is a lot of innuendo, and it’s mostly of a certain nature that has a lot to do with reproduction. Everything that Miley does on stage is focused on that aspect. Whether it’s grinding on her backup dancers, simulating pleasuring herself or simulating oral gratification with a man wearing a Bill Clinton mask, Miley is always looking for the shock factor.
She has also managed to be blasted for racism and exploiting certain categories of people. The singer received a media grilling for using only African-American backup dancers and for making use of little people on her show. Cyrus just shrugged it off by saying that she didn’t see a problem with having just African-American dancers and, as for the use of little people, she claimed that it was actually helping them because it made them feel appreciated and at the center of attention.
The rest of the show is made up of other odd moments, like Miley riding a huge plastic hot dog with a shape strongly reminiscent of a certain male organ, humping a golden tricked-out SUV, dancing with furry animals like a purple shark and a magenta monkey, before finally blasting some other American icons like Abraham Lincoln and Mt. Rushmore.
The Reviews
Oddly enough, the reviews of “Bangerz” have been of a mixed nature. There isn’t a convincing majority of bad reviews, so it’s clear that Miley is doing at least something right in appealing to the current pop culture.
It would only be natural that her fans defend the singer and speak only in praising words of her innovative show that she actually labeled as “art” and “educational for kids.” Parents dragging their 9-year-old children after the first minutes of the concert were certainly not of the same opinion.
They would go on to speak strongly against Miley Cyrus and against the organizers, asking that the tour be cancelled. While there is no chance of such an event ever happening, with all the money invested in this production, the boycott did lead to an interesting phenomenon: the secondary market for Miley’s concert tickets saw a dramatic drop. Resellers of tickets were forced to drop their asking prices, as less and less people became interested.
Reviews also spoke of an amalgamation of sound, light and visual elements that comes off as too rich and hard to take in. Some reviewers credited this as an attempt to balance the overall mediocre musical experience.
This is due to the fact that Miley is strictly sticking to her “Bangerz” repertoire, which isn’t much to work with, apart from a few hits that made the charts. In an effort to add more substance and to give her audiences a feeling that their money was well spent, the “Wrecking Ball” singer has also added an acoustic set in the middle of her performance.
The set is made up of five cover songs, including Dolly Parton’s “Jolene,” the Flaming Lips’ “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1,” Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide” and a mellow version of OutKast’s “Hey Ya!”
The Verdict
The conclusion is that Miley Cyrus’ “Bangerz” is not shocking for being too raunchy. There are acts such as Shakira, Rihanna or Beyonce, which can be considered to push the envelope to further levels than the 20-year-old Cyrus. The issue here is approaching the raunchy factor with a straight, low-brow attitude, and from a girl that has barely stepped into womanhood.
There is also an inescapable feeling throughout her performance that she’s trying too hard. It’s clear that the pop singer is struggling to find her place in the ever-expanding and very dynamic gallery of pop stars, but some feel that she’s going about it the wrong way.
There is no denying that Miley has vocal talents and the ability to woo audiences with her singing, but she’s more focused at the moment on shocking people with wild antics and barely socially acceptable behavior, than she is with creating memorable hits that would secure her a place in the Pop Hall of Fame.
Among the Ke$has and Katy Perrys of the day, Miley’s tongue sticking and twerking is not only grabbing audiences, but it’s also creating an image for younger generations to follow and therein lies the problem.
Finding your 11- or 12-year-old daughter twerking furiously in her bedroom to a hip-hop song that incidentally has some very demeaning lyrics towards women is not what every parent dreams of. Nor is sticking out her tongue in just about every photo she takes with friends and family. Because, sadly, this is the legacy that Miley is forging at the moment with her cult following among teens and tweens.