Miley Cyrus: Can She Not be Tamed or Is she Simply Breaking Out
Miley Cyrus has been in the media spotlight since birth, being the
daughter of country music icon Billy Ray Cyrus. At age 13 she landed the title
role on the hit Disney show Hannah Montana, and spent the rest of her youth
portraying a sweet, innocent, teen who leads a secret double life as a pop star.
This ethos carried over into her public identity as well as her characters.
Eventually she grew out of the Disney scene and into more adult roles, her most
prominent being the lead female in Nicholas Sparks film “The Last Song” staring
opposite Liam Hemsworth. Even in her more adult roles however, she still
portrayed aspects of her former character. I, much like many others in my
generation, have grown up with Miley as a prominent pop culture figure and even
at times saw her as a role model.
After laying low in Hollywood for a while she appeared with a freshly
shaven head and a drug scandal. Then she released “We Cant Stop” video, with
references to illicit drugs, drinking, sex, and a whole new persona. Miley has
ditched her former good girl, Disney star image for something a little more edgy
and rebellious, causing both former Hannah Montana fans and pop culture
junkies alike to classify the new Miley as a Hollywood train wreck. On
September 9th, she released the video for her latest single, “Wrecking Ball,” off
her forthcoming album, Bangerz. This video depicts her as a broken woman,
evidenced in the lyrics and the visual shots, describing her as being wrecked and
burned. The message referring to her emotional state after her former fiancé
ended their engagement after almost 4 years together; a length unheard of
between two young Hollywood stars in this day and age.
In her new song “Wrecking Ball” she argues not only the emotional
scarring left by her traumatic breakup, but that she’s changed and is no longer
the sweet, innocent girl she once was. In the public eye she emits an ethos of a
rebellious, defiant, party centered young woman. In contrast, when making her
argument in “Wrecking Ball”, the ethos portrayed is one of heartbreak,
vulnerability, devastation, and being broken. Her choice of lyrics, metaphors, and
actions in the video all help to support this ethos. Throughout the video she is
seen crashing into and breaking down cement walls a sledgehammer and
wrecking ball, giving us the title of the song. Other shots show her lying in a pile
of rubble, symbolizing the shattered pieces of her old relationship. The most
alarming and most talked about shots are ones of her naked swinging on the
wrecking ball to argue her vulnerability and how open she was in her relationship.
Lyrically, the song begins by describing happier times between the couple,
transitioning into the breakup, leading into a chorus about the emotional chaos
that occurred after. Though the video makes many arguments, the central claim
of the song is all that Liam ever did was “wreck her”, an argument repeated in the
song over and over and over again
With her use of ethos and pathos, Miley makes her argument to appeal to
young women, but as a result of word of mouth, captured the attention of a much
larger and more diverse audience. A devastating break up after a serious
relationship is a very relatable thing for most young people, helping to pull in her
broad audience in with an emotional description of her rollercoaster of a
relationship. Lyrics like “We jumped, never asking why, We kissed, I fell under
your spell A love no one could deny” at the start carry an innocent, care free,
“honeymoon phase” air about the start of their love. By then end all of that joy is
tarnished when darker, more mature lyrics such as “you let me burn, and now,
we're ashes on the ground” accompanied by shots of her with tears rolling down
her face, and images of only her intense, cheerless eyes. The combination of her
powerful words and raw facial expressions make her pathos seem very genuine,
something most popular breakup songs don’t usually argue very well. Audiences
can relate to that feeling awful of defeat at the end of a serious, long-term
relationship, which aids in presenting her argument. The most powerful appeal to
pathos occurs in the song's bridge: “I never meant to start a war, I just wanted
you to let me in, And instead of using force, I guess I should've let you win. ...
Don't you ever say I just walked away I will always want you.” In the bridge,
Cyrus argues that all she wanted was to be close to this boy, and by being so
aggressive about it ended up pushing him away. Most females and males can
relate to this issue of being too attached or clingy with a significant others, people
they like, and even friends. By one party being to involved or attached, problems
can arise between the parties regarding space and mutual trust, contributing to
the end of many relationships, especially people at points of transition and
change in life. Being such a relatable situation, whether it be a past situation or
present, audience can further agree with the argument she is making.
Breakup songs are becoming something of a commonplace in top 40 radio
today with artists such as Pink!, Selena Gomez, and Taylor Swift releasing sappy
breakup songs what seems to be daily. Audiences don’t want to hear to another
song about someone else’s constant break ups, but for their own reasons they
still listen to them, and they do it all the time. Country singer Taylor Swift emits
the same persona of being a very innocent girl next-door type, very similar to
how Miley Cyrus was portrayed, in all of her songs. Because of the simple
manner she presents the situations in and the frequency in which they are
released, her songs start to lack the presence of honest sentiment.
Comparatively, Cyrus presents the audience with raw, real emotion in a mature
way through her appeal to pathos. By going against the traditional sound and
appearance of pop music she offers a different approach to the overdone
breakup song to her audience.
Being well known for constantly walking the line of what is an appropriate
display of creativity and what is too far, Miley is no stranger to media frenzy’s
regarding her barrier pushing performances. Throughout the video she is shown
licking a sledgehammer and swinging from a wrecking ball naked. Because her
video is so controversial everyone and their mother is watching it, posting it to
social media, and sharing it with their friends, generating huge word of mouth
buzz. The controversy that surrounds her is one of the commonplaces that
continue to attract attention and contributes to her broad audience. Generally
speaking, in the United States public nudity and overly sexual gestures are
considered a taboo. Though viewers shouldn’t be condoning taboo in the video,
somehow they cannot stop watching it and talking about it. Older audiences,
such as parents and grandparents, watch the video and are shocked or offended
by the images, which in turn get them to talk about the racy performance with
friends. Others, such as teenage boys, watch it because it’s erotic. It features a
hot, naked girl swinging from construction equipment, which to them is insanely
sexy.
In general, I watch her videos so I can entertain myself, to stay up to date
with pop culture, and get a good laugh about what outlandish thing she is doing
now. Going back to the commonplace of her controversial performances, I came
about to this video thanks to my roommates, who presented it to me on the claim
“it’s behind the “We Can’t Stop” VMA performance as far as her controversial
performances are concerned, but just as entertaining to watch.” While watching
video the first thought that came to mind was, “she is swinging from construction
equipment nude… I can’t even, she is officially off her rocker.” We all sat at the
table and laughed for hours about her latest performance, making jokes like “its
official, Miley Cyrus killed Hannah Montana.” When I showed it to my boyfriend
his only response was “Damn, she may be crazy, but she is hot. I have to show
my buddies this.”
I can honestly say that when I started watching this video I only did it to
watch the latest boundary pushing performance and to see if I could get a good
laugh out of it. But as myself, my roommates, myself, and even my boyfriend
continued watching, the lyrics and argument of the song started really resonate
with us. Suddenly the video was no longer a source of guilty pleasure
entertainment or a hot girl swinging around with tools, but actually one of the
most relatable and well done breakup songs we had all heard in a while. Mainly
though, we realized that she isn’t sweet Hannah Montana anymore. Just like us,
she had matured to be her own person and made a few mistakes along the way.
We all finally saw and accepted the fact that she no longer was the innocent
tween of the past; She was just growing up like everyone else.
Much Like watching a bad car crash, her boundary pushing performance
keeps you from looking away, and eventually the lyrics start to shine though,
helping to present her argument to the listeners. By doing a phenomenal job of
utilizing pathos to argue her claim of heartbreak with powerful lyrics describing
her of being physically and emotionally devastated, by using shots her appearing
defeated and destroyed lying in a pile of rubble, as a result of her breakup. She
breaks down the walls and argues to the world that she is no longer the little girl
that she once portrayed on a show. She has matured in to her own woman, not
an older version of a character she once played.