If you didn’t watch on Sunday night, you couldn’t have missed the tweets. And by now you’ve probably watched it at least three times. Miley delivered the most entertaining performance of the night, clashing cultures and stealing “Blurred Lines”. And it felt like most of the internet collectively hated it for different reasons.
The most frequent complaints I saw on Facebook, Twitter and real life were nothing more than criticisms about her presentation that you’d think were lobbed by grade school students at the new girl on her first day:
“look at her hair!”
“what is she wearing??”
“eww what’s wrong with her tongue she looks like a giraffe!”
It wasn’t a “good” performance, but it was entertaining and it was funny, and funny in the way it was supposed to be. I mean, Hannah Montana can’t stop singing about partying on Molly while twerking with teddy bears! (no one else thought that was funny?) At the end of the day, Miley won the VMAs. No she wasn’t given the opening or the closing slot, and she wasn’t given some made up award like the “Video Vanguard”, but for the last five days its been the ONLY thing from the VMAs that anyone has talked about, and these days that’s the currency pop artists trade in.
There are real concerns over Miley’s appropriation/misappropriation of black culture in her performance, most clearly written out here (h/t to the Girls in Hoodies Emily Yoshida, Molly Lambert and Tess Lynch). Whether the performance was offensive or not is up to the viewer, and I have to admit that I felt a little uncomfortable re-watching it after reading Tressie’s article when viewing it through that lens. I didn’t personally see her performance that way, but more importantly I don’t think Miley did either. That goes ditto for her crew:
Trinidad James co signed as well:
A lot of people claimed that Miley was too “slutty”; dancing on stage in a nude colored bikini while pretending the giant foam finger on her hand was a penis, and rubbing said penis on Robin Thicke’s crotch, which she then twerked on before kissing his neck, all with Thicke too frozen to do much of anything. But through their “shock and horror” they weren’t able to see the beauty, and dare I say genius of taking “Blurred Lines” and flipping the entire concept around on Thicke. Don’t follow? Watch Thicke’s video for “Blurred Lines” then re-watch the VMAs performance:
http://www.mtv.com/videos/misc/942064/we-cant-stop-blurred-lines-give-it-2-u-medley.jhtml#id=1712596 (sorry can’t embed the MTV video on WordPress)
If you shamed Miley and felt bad for Thicke on Sunday. you my friends, would be hypocrites.
Some people think Miley doesn’t belong in the rap game. That’s bullshit. Because she’s white? Because she’s a she? Because she’s a the daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus and goddaughter of Dolly Parton and grew up as Hannah Montana? None of that matters. Hip-hop doesn’t “belong” to anyone. I genuinely believe that this is who Miley is, a talented singer who likes to have fun and loves trap music and she’s not stepping in anyone’s space. Pop/rap/EDM is big enough for Miley and everyone else, but because of how hip-hop came to be a lot of people hold it very dearly and think that Miley weakens or dilutes the genre, but that’s simply not true. It actually adds longevity to rap and is a testament when you can have Lupe Fiasco, Kanye West, J. Cole, Macklemore, Future and Miley Cyrus sharing a common bond. Rap isn’t going anywhere folks, and Miley Cyrus is only picking up the pace, whether you like it or not. If you liked “We Can’t Stop” there’s “23”.
I kind of hated it at first but have to admit that it’s growing on me. Mike Will Made It’s beat is infectious like Mike Will Made It’s beats are, and I think I like Miley better as a rapper than I like Wiz Khalifa. And if you hated “We Can’t Stop” there’s “Wrecking Ball”.
Surprisingly soulful and intimate compared to everything we’ve heard recently, “Wrecking Ball” will be a smash hit.
And if you’re not convinced that Miley keeps winning there’s this. Are we sure Charlie Sheen didn’t father Miley? Is she somehow related to MJ? She’s already got the tongue wag down. I’m taking the “Black Skinhead” remix with a grain of salt because of who’s reporting it, but it wouldn’t shock me. Kanye would use Miley more as an instrument to convey his message and feelings rather than Miley conveying her own, just as he did with the few featured artists he had on Yeezus. If this happens I think I’ll go crazy and start twerking in a bikini in a Kings of Leon cover band.
Face it, Miley wins.
Ok, it’s time to tell you guys the truth… You guys wanna know what’s REALLY going on?? Miley was a diversion put on by the white house to distract America from Syria. It’s true – Michelle taught Miley how to twerk and Obama taught Robin Thicke how to stand and not be able to dance good. Hey, why’s the front door open? If they found out I leaked this th
Naked & Lame 