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So why a blog post about Miley Cyrus? As if there aren’t enough of those already; well in all reality Miley’s career is at a crossroads. She has to make the transition from teen TV star to a grown up artists. Sure she’s only seventeen right now but if one thing is clear she’s already bigger than herself as a star. People don’t use the term biggest teen star of all time very lightly but in this case it probably applies.
Hannah Montana is ending, Disney is currently filming the fourth and final season of the show. So after that it leaves a large gap, what will Miley do next? Actually quite a lot is known about that already. Though one note has to be made, Hannah Montana is ending but Disney is going to stretch it into 2011. They’ve pretty much had crappy airing schedules since the Writer’s Strike in 2008, doesn’t look like that is going to change anytime soon. Disney seems to be trying to hold on to Hannah Montana as long as it can. Personally I feel that this doesn’t do the show justice at all and I don’t actually know anyone who’s happy about the airing schedule. Nothing I say about it will change it though so I’m leaving the subject.
One “mistake” (it’s always a relative term, one thing can be right for one person and wrong for another) a lot of teen stars tend to do is that they stick with the wrong kind of movie. There are always girls who seem to go with the good girl image (e.g. Selena Gomez) and girls who seem to go with the bad girl image (e.g. Taylor Momsen). They go with roles that seem to focus on the short term, it’s all a bit of the same. There of course also are the actresses don’t really go for any image also because they operate a little more in the background (e.g. AnnaSophia Robb, Sofia Vassilieva, etc).
Looking back at former teen stars the main name which comes to mind is Hilary Duff, after she finished Lizzie McGuire she just stuck with teen movies, your run of the mill comedies and teen dramas. Right now she is struggling to get accepted as a grown actress while I feel like she can actually do it. When you watch the movie According to Greta you see that there is potential there but you can’t help but think “this is Hilary Duff”, someone you’ve seen play the same basic role over and over again but is now trying to change that. The bias of her being just another former teen star still sticks in your mind somehow.
Miley however seems to be doing it a bit differently, her first major movie after Hannah Montana is The Last Song, book and script written by Nicholas Sparks. Playing the role of a rebellious teenager, though the level of rebellion seems to be limited after reading the book, it’s not the most obvious choice. A lot of people would go the safe route and go with what they know which in this case would be teen comedy, instead she chose to go with a drama.
I however think that is a good thing to do, if she doesn’t want to get a certain image stuck on her she has to do things like this. Doing the same role over and over again would only hurt her career. Even though in the larger picture a Nicholas Sparks movie is still somewhat of a safe choice, as people know his movies and there usually isn’t anything too extreme in them and people more or less know what to expect. Whether she can pull off the role of Ronnie is something time will tell, I haven’t seen the movie yet and a trailer isn’t really enough to go by.
The movie roles after that also suggest that she isn’t planning on sticking to one genre. The choice of Wings as a project might seem odd as a lot of people already have reservations about her being in a movie about faeries (for the odd spelling of the word fairy you would have to read the book). Having read the book however I think there is some potential there, the book is actually more adult than it seems. Seeing the line “sex is just for fun” in a book which is targeted at teens it makes you wonder a bit. It all however depends on the writing and how well it translates to a script so only time will tell. While this is a movie targeted at teens it isn’t in the same genre as her previous projects, more a mix of genres really. That’s besides the main thing; it’s a different kind of character.
Then a couple of weeks a project with the weird title LOL (Laughing Out Loud) was announced co-starring with Demi Moore, a remake of a French comedy. While this isn’t official yet everything suggests that this is going to happen (main thing being Miley’s reaction to being asked about it). Yes this is a comedy, however the main subject is sex. I don’t think a lot of her peers with a Disney background would get right to that subject at only seventeen/eighteen. While it’s a very normal subject to talk about it seems that there are still some reservations about it. Especially in the entertainment industry things can get very prude, so I’m hoping the European touch won’t get lost in that movie. Even though I don’t actually know how far the movie goes, disadvantage of not speaking French and there not being subtitled versions of the movie.
So three very different movie projects in the making (there is a fourth one on several website but there has been no evidence whatsoever it’s happening), can she pull it off? I certainly hope so but in the end we will have to wait and see. Miley has stated that she’s going to focus on acting for now, of course she’s also a number one recording artist. She still sells records by the truckload. The most normal thing you’d anyone expect to do is to continue that and sell as many albums as possible. Does Miley do that? No, she does not. Yes a new album is in the making and will come out later this year, after that however it’s going to end for a while. She’s taking a break.
Sometimes I think Miley is a publicists nightmare, what recording artist goes around and say that the music they make isn’t the music they actually want to make? After the next album pop will most likely be gone, she’s going to try and find herself musically. Find the music she wants to make, music that means something. That in all reality is an extremely gutsy move, completely changing her music and actually not release anything for a while. I can only commend her for that, it again is not the most obvious and safest choice. This tells me one major thing about Miley; while she makes truckloads of money and is one of the richest teenagers out there she’s in it for the art and not for the money. Sure money is nice but if she were only in it for the money she would be making different choices, she is planning for a long career and not for a career that just lasts five years.
That impresses me most about Miley actually, she actually seems to stay herself and not who some random manager wants her to be. She and her management seem to do what is right for her in the long run and they aren’t afraid to make changes. That is actually what makes me think that Miley has what it takes to survive in the business the long run, everything just seems well planned out to develop Miley as an artist and not to let her stay the money making machine of Hannah Montana. I think the same can actually be applied to her personal life in some way, so as to what person she actually is.
With a lot of celebrities I’m not always sure who I’m listening to in interviews. Is it the celebrity or is it the publicist in the background telling them what to do and to say? Same goes for public behavior. She actually seems to be a real person when she’s out in public, she’s the person Miley and not the celebrity Miley. It even shows in things like appearance; how many young stars are there with visible body jewelry other than normal earrings? Sure the bellybutton piercing is pretty much a standard with a lot of people but a nose piercing (though I’m aware that she’s not the only young actress with one, just not of big a fame as Miley)? I’ve seen quite some people a bit upset about that thing, be it media or fans. Same goes with that tattoo of hers, she does know that it would get people to react and upset about it (I know that is an assumption but I just can’t imagine that she does not know). She however still does it, in a way that tells me she does what feels right for her and not what feels right for the public eye.
People even comment and complain about the clothes she wears. So she wears what she likes; I don’t see anything overly sexual in it as some people are suggesting. Yes there are outfits where I think “what is she wearing?” but then I move on. No point in dwelling over it, people seem to especially upset with her frequent wearing of short shorts. Honestly there are tons of celebrities who wear them but you never hear anything about it. Miley can’t really help it that it’s quite noticeable with her seeing her legs are 52% of her body length (based on her own statements regarding the length of her legs and her total length). So yes, when she wears short shorts she shows a lot of leg. Besides, everyone gets complaints about what people wear. Celebrities, me, you and whoever else, you can’t make everyone happy with clothing. Also a notable thing in her wardrobe; she wears things more than once which can be a rare thing in Hollywood.
Though sometimes I feel people complain about her just because she’s Miley. Only recently, she was part of the We Are the World 25 recording. Lots of people went on about how Miley ruined the song and it was a disgrace that she was allowed to sing after someone like Barbra Streisand. The key to what this people say what I think is that they know it’s Miley before having heard her sing. Other people who had no idea who was singing were impressed by one line of the song. Then they find out it’s Miley and are surprised. I think she has a great voice, others won’t think so. People also hate singers like Celine Dion though and people call her the best singer in the world. So she can’t be liked by everyone.
There just is such a big hipocrisy in Hollywood, they somehow want every young celebrity to fit to the template of the perfect celebrity. At the same time however they want someone unique, well you cannot be unique without being yourself. Best example of these two-faced people are gossip bloggers like Perez Hilton. They will say they love her one day but won’t hesitate to call Miley a slut the very next day without provocation. I can’t imagine having to live with that, people going out of their way to tell Miley that they hate her or they think she’s a horrible person or just judge her on every little thing she does; in most cases starting with negative assumptions about her. That besides the ever present desire for her wanting to fail because then the bloggers have something to write about and people without any kind of sympathy to laugh about. Those people can think and say what they want (though I wish they weren’t and they shouldn’t actually be doing it), I think Miley is in it for the long run. So they better get used to Miley because I think she’ll be around for decades to come just by being herself.
Doesn’t mean I can’t be wrong about it though, it’s only the impression I get. Who knows I might be all wrong, I sincerely hope I’m not though.
Tags: Miley Cyrus
