Miley Cyrus has been a household name since her debut on Disney Channel's hit show, Hannah Montana. Cyrus was, to the public eye, just a sweet little girl who many children looked up to. That's why when she began growing up, everyone was thrown for a loop.
I'm sure everybody can recall the infamous video that came out back in 2010 of an eighteen year old Miley Cyrus smoking salvia (a synthetic drug that was legal at the time but has since been banned). The video was obviously recorded (and more than likely uploaded) by someone who appeared to be a friend of Cyrus'. I believe that it's fair to assume that Cyrus didn't want the footage to be released due to being at the peak of her career, and was probably pretty distraught about the whole incident. This knowledge, however, didn't stop her from recieving many comments about how she was a terrible person for letting down her millions of child fans.
When Cyrus decided to start recording music for a more mature audience, she was also met with heavy critcism- especially regarding her song, "Can't Be Tamed". Despite the song being extremely catchy and a huge success on the charts, once again Cyrus received ample amounts of harsh words from angry parents.
These incidents alone are why, in my view, Miley Cyrus' present image is completely justifiable. I'll admit, my jaw dropped when I saw my childhood hero's 2013 VMA performance. The short blonde hair, the teddy bear leotard, the weird tongue actions, the twerking- none of it was reminiscent of the girl I felt as though I had grown up with. All the same, it became very clear to me as time passed that Cyrus' extreme 180 was nothing more than a desperate attempt to prove the angry parents of her former fans that she wasn't that "teenie-bopper" Disney star anymore.
Yes, Cyrus' stage presence is more than a little risque. Yes, the whole wiggling her tongue around every time she takes a picture is a little odd.
But face the facts, her music is still good. She has her party anthems like, "We Can't Stop" and also her meaningful hits like, "Wrecking Ball" and "Adore You".
More than that, she's a human being and a good one at that. She donates tons of money to charities and even runs her own (The Happy Hippie Foundation) to help homeless youths in America. She even proved that she cares about her fans more than money, releasing her latest album (Miley Cyrus and Her Dead Petz) for free on SoundCloud.
Despite her appearance, Cyrus is a very composed and mature person. This can easily be seen in how she handled being called out by fellow recording artist, Nicki Minaj, during the VMAs last weekend. Instead of responding with harsh words and starting a potential fight, Cyrus graciously accepted Nicki's comments and let the unfortunate encounter roll off her back, as she seems to do with most things. Just watch her segment on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, in which she goes around Los Angeles undercover to ask random people their opinions on her. Most of the opinions were pretty negative, however, Cyrus laughed them off.
Not one of us can imagine the stress of growing up in the public eye; yet people are so quick so jump on celebrities for every little thing- especially child actors/ actresses who dramatically changed as they grew up.
Miley Cyrus may not be "kid friendly" anymore, but she's still a fantastic artist and a caring, genuine person. So to emulate YouTube sensation, Chris Crocker, LEAVE MILEY ALONE.
