Miley Cyrus. Those two words by themselves have a multitude of connotations to them. Miley Cyrus can bring many things to your mind; Hannah Montana, another Disney kid gone wild, twerking (or bad twerking I should say), and many other (not necessarily good) things. So where exactly did Miley Cyrus go wrong? After reading the Brand.com reviews, I think I have a better take on what happened.
Brand.com reviews someone's online presence and uses special online reputation management technology to help control the search engine results page. They help you maintain a good reputation online. And I believe that if Miley had some kind of influence in her life to help her re-brand herself, then she wouldn't be in the place she is now. It's kind of the same tragic tale: A young, innocent girl rises to stardom through Disney Channel, and as soon as that phase is over, she desperately wants people to view her as a mature adult. So what does she do? She wears less clothing, she sings more provocative songs and takes on more sexy acting roles.
Honestly, there isn't anything wrong with wanting to mature in your career -- that's natural. Where Miley went wrong, is that she went from one extreme to another. That's a common problem with Disney -- they try so hard to keep the image of their stars squeaky clean, and then when they leave Disney they are so branded that the only thing people can view them as is whatever role they were on Disney. In Miley's case, she will forever be Hannah Montana, no matter how much hip-thrusting, foam-fingering or twerking she does.
When Miley first tried to re-brand herself with "Can't Be Tamed" no one bought it. It was trying entirely too hard. So after a few years off, she came back, she cut her hair, and she lost all judgment. At first, I wasn't too worried about Miley's comeback, I thought the haircut was good for her, and thought maybe she was going to try a more mature approach at "growing up." But no, I was wrong. I think where Miley went wrong was she became too desperate. That became blatantly obvious during her performance at the VMAs.
First off, she came out with a hairstyle that can only be comparable to Cynthia, Angelica Pickle from the Rugrat's favorite doll. Wardrobe wise, she wore a teddy bear themed leotard with apparent plastic undergarments underneath. Which, for those of you who have seen the flood of vines, Instagram posts and memes know... did not flatter her body at all. We won't go into any more detail than that.
As for her performance, words cannot describe it besides: train wreck. She came out doing strange gestures with her tongue, hip-thrusting and her version of twerking (her incorrect version I might add). She was so busy shaking her hips in the crowd's faces and putting her face in women's butts that she barely sang her song "We Can't Stop." Isn't the whole point of a performance at a music awards show to sing? It was just a pitchy, tone-deaf mess. Not to mention her completely upstaging Robin Thicke when he came out to perform his song "Blurred Lines." Grinding on a married man, Miley? I understand you want to be seen as a mature adult but that isn't how you do it. Her performance, in my opinion, actually made her look more like a child. A true mature adult doesn't have to prove that they are one, they just are. They act and behave like a mature adult. And rubbing a foam finger on your private parts in front of millions of people and on live television when you are an engaged woman is not behaving like an adult. Miley wants to be a role model to young girls but if this is how she wants young girls to behave then I feel sorry for any girl gullible enough to believe that that is how a woman with dignity acts.
It goes without saying that if people didn't question Miley Cyrus before, they are now. It seems that wherever Miley goes, controversy will follow. Even I am fully convinced now that whatever comeback she is trying to make happen will only be short-lived. Just recently she tweeted about calling a paparazzo a "c**t" and even laughed about it. And let's not forget to mention her new video for "Wrecking Ball." The video starts out at just a close-up on Miley. For a minute, you believe this is going to be a nice, emotional, heart-wrenching video. But no. Only a few seconds later we see Miley riding on a wrecking ball completely naked. Not only was it highly inappropriate, but it took away the meaning from what really could have been a great video. That is what I mean by being an adult shouldn't have to be a conscious effort. The song already had more mature concepts and meaning, but she just had to throw in sexual content because that's just what adults do, right?
In this new musical era where social media status is key to your career, how you portray yourself on the Internet is your entire brand. Maybe Miley could use some help from Brand.com. Reviews don't lie, and right now her reputation is going down the drain. I truly hope that Miley will come out of that little bubble of false confidence soon and realize that she is going down a path that she won't be able to throw a blonde wig on to get herself off of.