Beating Dead Horses: Miley Cyrus

If you've been paying attention to the internet at all today, you probably will have noticed that Miley Cyrus has been getting a lot of shit. And she definitely deserves it. Cultural appropriation, ignorance, horrible outfits, lack of a butt, her crimes against good taste continue to mount. But we're ignoring two important points about Cyrus's recent transition from Hannah Montana to the girl with bad hair from last night's VMAs.

Point 1:
We Can't Stop is a horrible song. Just terrible. I mean, the chorus is "La ti da ta di, we like to party, dancing with molly (Miley? Nobody really knows, nor should they care because this song is the worst) doing whatever we want." So even though it was written for Rihanna and Miley co-opted it or whatever you want to say about it, it's probably not a bad thing. Rihanna has enough troubles without being responsible for unleashing this drivel on the world.

Point 2:
Dolly Parton is Miley Cyrus's godmother. Dolly Parton is Miley Cyrus's godmother.
Miley is country music royalty. Do you know how many people would kill to have the kind of music industry connections Miley was born into? It's upsetting that Party in the U.S.A was the pinnacle of Miley's career, because with a little training in music, humility and good taste, Miley could have been the next Shania Twain or Loretta Lynn. Dolly issued a half-assed statement about how Miley was just doing her or whatever, but I'm pretty sure she was ASHAMED.

Point 3:
This is why child stars are a terrible thing. Miley Cyrus should be in a liberal arts college learning about privilege and oppression and music theory instead of smoking salvia and wearing stupid outfits. I wish with all my heart that the rumor that Miley Cyrus was going to Oberlin had been true. She'd still be able to smoke salvia and wear stupid outfits, but she'd also learn about feminism and why it's not okay to decide you're "trying to sound more Black" as a white woman.

Publicity, whether it's bad or good, is what Cyrus wants. We're all feeding the monster.
I wish only the best for Miley Cyrus. And the best is that she gets it together, takes some time off of touring to read some books, spends more time with Dolly and less time doing molly, and returns to her glory days of The Climb and See You Again.