A quick recap of the Cyrus Circus of the last few weeks:
August 26, 2013: Miley Cyrus performs at the MTV Music Video Awards – to generally negative reviews. Critics complain that her presentation is more lewd than sexy; that the song's lyrics devalue a woman's right to not consent to sex; and that Cyrus's costume, choreography and demeanor were so over-the-top, she was probably intoxicated onstage. Still, she's huge news for a couple of weeks.
September 24: Miley Cyrus appears on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine – she's naked (though positioned to not expose anything a bathing suit wouldn't) and, as in much of her MTV dance, showing off her tongue. The effect is certainly provocative.
October 2: Sinead O'Connor weighs in. Apparently, Cyrus has cited O'Connor as an influence and a role model in earlier interviews. O'Connor's open letter to Cyrus can be summed up as follows: Don't let your management and record company pimp your sexuality to sell records – you're talented enough that you don't need to go that route, and it's ultimately a career-killer. O'Connor explains that management's only care is making money – and if that means sacrificing Cyrus's career in order to make a truckload of cash right now, so be it. O'Connor's signature head-shave was a deliberate wrench in the sex-marketing machine that was gearing up to sell her albums back in the '80's.
Cyrus tweets commentary referring to O'Connor's intermittent struggles with mental health over the last couple of decades. O'Connor tweets back a threat of a lawsuit against Cyrus, and writes several more open letters demanding an apology for the sake of those suffering from mental health issues.
October 4: The new, heavily-promoted Miley Cyrus album 'Bangerz' is released, debuting at Number 1 on the Billboard top 200.
I can't tell you anything about Miley Cyrus as an artist – I've never listened to her music, and I have zero interest in doing so. I saw about half a song's worth of her MTV performance, and the music was unremarkable at best. I do own three Sinead O'Connor albums, and I'm happy to give them a listen once in a while.
So why am I blogging about this?
I respect Sinead O'Connor as an artist, and I hope she's right about Cyrus not needing sex to be noticed – but I'm not sure she is.
The music industry was never a saintly business, to be sure. Most of the 'suits' and probably a lot of the artists would do anything to anybody (including themselves) in order to have a hit, whether now, twenty years ago, forty or sixty...but the lay of the land has changed between O'Connor's 1986 debut release ('the Lion and the Cobra') and the new Miley Cyrus album.
As I've pointed out in previous blogs, the record industry is now run by three major labels, all parts of massive multi-media, multi-national corporations. Indie artists have a little more of a foothold in the market now than they did in the '80's, but the Majors still have massive promo power and market share. The larger the corporation, the more beholden it is to its stockholders. If you, as a member of management, don't bring a quick, easy profit on investment, you're out of a job. Your choice now is: do you develop Cyrus as an artist, enable her to bring forth an album of artistic vision, try to market it accordingly and hope her unique musical statement resonates with the record-buying public (thereby saving your job)...or do you quickly hammer together a dance-album, get the 'artist' to put out as sexual an image as she can (without crossing into porn) and guarantee yourself one hit album? Cyrus herself is expendable, in case the public tires of the sex-banshee image – better her than you.
It's also entirely possible ('though perhaps not likely) that Cyrus herself sees things this way. She may well have noticed the sea of independent 'integrity' artists out there against whom she'd have to compete – and that would require some mighty strong songwriting as well as some very capable marketers at the label. Still far less work to have Robin Thicke hump you onstage.
It may also be possible (and even less likely) that the sexual creature is Cyrus the artist. Whether this is a drug-inspired mindset is debatable, but it's not impossible that being an object of lust brings her some gratification, if not fulfilment (at least for now). It's been pointed out that Madonna played the sex card often enough, and she is generally regarded as an empowered woman – so why can't Miley? People are sexual creatures, so shouldn't sexual expression be a significant component of any artist's palette?
Of course, sex grabs our attention, just as fat, sugar and salt grab our appetites. We're designed to seek out all of the above – and they all zip to the pleasure centres in our brains by the quickest, most direct route. What's on prominent display at the grocery store check-out? It certainly ain't vegetables and current events periodicals. Candy bars, and gossip magazines, the latter of which always has a hefty dose of sexual content (of comparable quality to the nutritional value of the accompanying Crunchie bars) are all you'll find now. You won't even see Time or McLean's there anymore. Whether this is the case because Time wasn't selling as well as National Inquirer, or because corporate interests would prefer to keep Joe and Jane Average distracted with irrelevant sensationalism, is immaterial to this discussion – the result was the same at the VMA's, and with the former Ms Montana's career. Sure, if Miley Cyrus wants to express her sexuality through song, more power to her – but the crap music betrays her intentions. This isn't about artistic expression, it's about grabbing your attention and your wallet. Everything's a come-on.
So did O'Connor give wise counsel? That depends on if the recipient has an artistic soul. An artist must express honestly, and Cyrus's sell-out may have just precluded her chance of doing that for a living, however remote the chance was. If the intent is to make a quick buck before a quiet career-change, O'Connor's advice is of no use to Cyrus...yet it may well be of use to young artists contemplating how best to distinguish themselves in a sea of other artists; and it probably didn't hurt O'Connor herself, who finally received a bit of positive press after years of near-obscurity. Well-played, Sinead. Miley – I'll have to get back to you later on this one.