Woman of the Year - surely?
Tastemaker of the Year. Just imagine the party conversations: “What do you do?” “Oh, I make taste.” “Ooh, I love taste. How do you make it?” “It’s a gift, what can I say?”
Anyway, there was one noticeable exception from Harper’s roll call of honourees: Miley Best Celeb of the Year Cyrus . As far as I’m concerned a special award should have been created just for her and she should have been lofted onto the padded shoulders of the pinched-faced tastemakers (no offence L’Wren) and paraded around the streets. Why? Because the trouble-making, twerk-loving, tongue-flashing ex-Disney star has single-handedly made being famous interesting again.
She’s what being a young pop star is all about. Forget Bieber – his transformation onto the celeb black list involves being horrible to fans (reportedly spitting on them and charging $800 for a conveyor belt meet-and-greet ) which is never ever okay. Miley, on the other hand, slid into the physical and behavioural transformation chamber and marched out a walking talking controversy – which, in a land populated by news-fodder like Rihanna and Chris Brown, is no mean feat.
Her sexually-provocative videos and performances have sparked much-needed debate about the role of sex in music and how women are portrayed. Whether you agree with her VMA twerk display or not, this is a conversation that needs to happen – and it’s a conversation that just wasn’t as mainstream before. Yes, there were whispers of concern here and there – mostly to Ofcom after a particularly crotch-thrusting display on Britian’s Got Talent by Jennifer Lopez – but now everyone from your nan to your eight-year-old daughter has an opinion. The debate is important and the backlash is too. It’s forced people to realise how much influence pop stars have (which, considering Miley’s Wrecking Ball music video has been seen over 274,000,000 times is a lot) and to take women’s overtly sexualised portrayal in music seriously.
And, one of the main reasons Miley is being taken seriously is because her music is actually good. Twerking isn’t the be all and end all to her talent by any means, as proved when Wrecking Ball and her album Bangerz nabbed both the single and album number 1 slots in the UK simultaneously (this doesn’t happen to everyone who humps bears while wearing flesh-coloured pants, FYI). She can’t be dismissed as just an attention-seeker while her records are selling.
She’s young, fiery and interesting. She wears her heart on her sleeve, tweeting both inappropriate and emotionally charged stuff, especially since her relationship with actor Liam Hemsworth ended. Her tweet to Sinead O’Connor that referenced mental health issues negatively was absolutely awful, but again, it got people talking. The backlash against her flippancy put mental health in the spotlight and the onslaught of articles condemning what she said proved people care and started discussions on an incredibly important subject. As annoying as it is, sometimes it takes a celebrity of her, well, infamy to get these topics on the radar of people that otherwise wouldn’t think about them.
By saying she’s my celebrity of the year, I’m in no way endorsing everything she does, but I am saying I’m glad she’s doing it. She’s getting people het up about important issues which can only be a good thing. She may live to regret stuff she’s done, but that will be for her to decide. Meanwhile, she’s provoking spirited debate – and videos like the below – so thank you, Miley.
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