Let me start with Miley Cyrus’s cover of Heart of Glass at iHeart Festival. The comeback that we have all been waiting for, followed by her release of Midnight Sky to really cement Miley’s comeback message and power in her new image; mullet, diamonds, Louboutins and all. (And if you have yet to watch the cover, I highly, highly recommend you do.)
As I am sure many of you can relate, I spent the majority of my childhood watching Hannah Montana, the series and then the movie of course. We have seen Miley embark on a journey from Disney Channel star, to lead in one of the biggest rom coms, to the Bangerz era and finally, to a current time, where she is releasing her inner rock artist and collaborating with icons such as Stevie Nicks.
Miley is a force to be reckoned with and an incredible role model, inspiring generations to embrace change; a valuable life skill that seems to be resonating with her fans as Miley is creating a whole new ‘rock inspired’ image with the release of her new music.
It is hard to comprehend the journey that Miley has been on, altering her style and sound whilst receiving criticism and scrutiny from a myriad of people and publications, most of it amounting from the cheating scandal surrounding her divorce with Liam Hemsworth.
In a recent interview with Vogue, Miley claimed she had been ‘villanised’ in the process resulting in wide-spread criticism. Throughout the interview, the singer showed immense strength and self-confidence as she stated ‘I am the happiest and healthiest I have been in a long time’. This happiness and relief is evident in her new-found confidence, fashion statements and music choices. She has truly become an icon for freedom of expression and self-love.
Miley’s carefree attitude and confidence is something that resonates with a large majority of her fans and millennials. A recent conflict on Twitter showcased her self-assertiveness around her desire to establish her new image when Miley’s 2010 song, When I Look At You, from her movie The Last Song, was trending as a challenge on TikTok during the summer. Many users were attempting to match Miley’s vocals resulting in the song rejoining the US Charts.
There were multiple tweets expressing fans’ excitement over this, many reaching out to Miley herself to gain her attention over the song’s traction, despite this event happening during the release of her new song, Midnight Sky. As expected, Miley’s reply was iconic: short and to the point as she returned to Twitter to state that the fans were ‘Streaming the wrong song’. This bold confidence and attitude is something we have all grown to love and respect and I personally think there would be some immense value in implementing a little bit of Miley’s attitude into all our lives, it is the self-confidence boost that we all need.
Figures like Miley Cyrus are crucial for our generation as we rely on icons to instigate change within fashion, music and popular culture. Miley has reminded us that growth and change can happen at any time of our lives and that there is no time limit on experimentation and self-expression.
Further expanding her influence on the music industry, Miley’s new song Plastic Hearts was released last week and perfectly categorises her aesthetic and confidence as Miley herself states she was ‘born’ to make the record she has just released. Play it loud everyone!
Image: primavera19_250 via Wikimedia Commons