Hannah Griesel – Contributing Writer
On August 25, Miley Cyrus put on a shocking performance that surprised guests, attendants, as well as viewers of the Video Music Awards (VMA‘s) on MTV. She started the show with a sexually charged performance of her latest single, “We Can’t Stop” and a duet with Robin Thicke of his summer hit, “Blurred Lines.” To kick off the performance, Cyrus walked out of a giant teddy bear with her tongue out, wearing her short hair in two buns, donning a metallic silver bodysuit. Cyrus continued to stun the audience as she danced and made suggestive movements while singing her latest hit.
After she performed her single, Thicke walked out in a black and white striped suit, while the opening music of “Blurred Lines” came out of the speakers. When the camera flashed back to Cyrus, she was out of her bodysuit and wearing a flesh-colored plastic bathing suit, holding a foam hand. The performance reached its peak of raunchiness as Cyrus grinded against Thicke, and rubbed the foam finger against her crotch in an extremely provocative manner.
In Matt Stopera’s article for BuzzFeed,“This Is Why Miley Cyrus’s VMA Performance Was A Failure,” he compares Cyrus’s actions to Britney Spears’ coming-of-age VMA performance in 2000. He illustrates how Spears made her career move successfully and how Cyrus fell short mostly, in his opinion, by failing to be sexy.
Other people seem to agree that this performance was a flop. Sam Burton, a junior at SUNY Oneonta, says, “[Cyrus’s] performance is taking her in the wrong direction.”
Anna Manninen, a foreign exchange student at SUNY Oneonta, adds, “She’s really trying [too hard] to get rid of her past with ‘Hannah Montana.’ She’s trying to copy Gwen Stefani and Madonna and not being an original artist anymore.”
Many reviews of the performance were negative, but Cyrus herself re-tweeted some positive reviews from Rolling Stone. She also posted what she claims to be a quote from her dad,
Billy Ray Cyrus, saying ‚“Mile, if twerkin woulda been invented‚ and I had a foam finger‚I woulda done the same thang you did.”
Cyrus’snot-so-innocent behavior has been going on for some time now, but especially raised eyebrows with the debut of her video for, “We Can’t Stop” back in June. The video was a huge departure from her Disney Channel image, featuring Cyrus twerking with back-up dancers and making out with a doll.
Although many opinions of Miley’s performance and career moves seem to be negative, if what they say is true, all press is good press, and she’s certainly keeping her name in the headlines. Regardless of whether her career moves are positive or negative, most will agree that whatever Miley Cyrus comes out with next is bound to be exciting.
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