There has been a great upset in the world…no, it’s not so much Syria as it’s Miley Cyrus. It seems to me (just my opinion) that the evolution of the wild & overtly sexual female performer can be traced way way back to the late 70’s early 80s.
I think it probably started with the late great Wendy O. Williams. Punk was too dirty and scarey for me in my repressed-prissy-new-wave-mode with my diamond brooch and perfectly hair-sprayed bangs to be involved in such anger and outrageous behavior; although I truly loved seeing it in others (I longed to rebel). Wendy O. Williams was the epitome of cool and extreme and yet I still felt like we could be friends. Lost souls have always been an attraction to me. Wendy was sexy because of her body was hot and she had such an intense sense of dysfunction, you knew something was wrong, but it was part of the appeal. Her performances were a result of the 70’s feminist movement mixed with punk rock and maybe some childhood abuse(my hypothesis). Her barely there, or not there, outfits were so extreme it got her arrested and she didn’t care. It seems the timing of Madonnas premiere with her rebellious and sexy look took the next step up from Wendy.
Madonna seemed to be the first artist that loved her body and used it for empowerment. She was a strong product of all that came before her and she seemed to understand this. Madonna was pretty and fit into an ideal of an beautiful American girl, but not Americana. Wendy had a hot bod, but wasn’t exactly “pretty”. Madonna changed the world by knowing she could manipulate and psychologize her sexuality to her advantage. She took the post-punk look and made it her own and it went mainstream fast. She taught us that bra’s were not for hiding anymore and she could give a shit what your parents thought.
I feel the next big step was Mariah Carey. She had the voice and a body and the face, & knew it! She came out a bit plain at first but by the mid 90’s she was sexy sex. Mariah was probably the first big artist that had the voluptuous-old-school-playmate physique and exploited it. Her success was definitely in part owed to the breakthrough Madonna brought about in her sexual freedom. Mariah doesn’t need to show her cleavage, but she just likes to, and if you’d don’t like it she could care less- just get her some more champagne.
Mariah’s big influence was impressed upon the next huge voice to come about; Christina Aguilera. Christina grew up loving Mariah (& Madonna), and was a product of the 90’s where sexy supermodels like Cindy Crawford and Baywatch babe/Playboy centerfold sexy Pam Anderson were influential and defining images in the post-messy-grunge media. Christina rebelled from her Disney past when she came out with Dirrty! “Stripper” dancers and choreography were used and a bit of abject influence went mainstream. People were scandalized; similar to Miley’s current situation. Christina used words of female empowerment when showing off her curves (and some canyons), but took things a bit far when doing countless photo shoots showing off her ass and barely covered va-jay-jay…how is it empowering when your naked ass is floating up in Maxim? Things start to get extreme.
At this point pretty much everyone is showing their T&A. Impossibly small tops and low hip huggers are the rage. Then comes Lady Gaga. She has all that, but with a knowledge and savvy not seen since Madonna started. She has a bit of performance artist in her, as well as being a exhibitionist (which is a given now). She seems very comfortable in a bra & thong and has done countless performances, photo shoots & daily outings to show us how much so. The use of her sexual nature is one of comfort and privilege because the nude female body is now seen everywhere. It’s almost not interesting anymore just to show your boobs. What Gaga did with this is raise the bar in the creative department.
Ok, now comes Miley Cyrus. I don’t really know much about her, but I love that song “The Climb” and didn’t realize she sang it for years. She is text book rich girl rebel; “look at me and how crazy I am all of a sudden”. She’s a great singer but she’s a mall-rebel. I appreciate award show outfits that aren’t typical pretty dresses, but if Miley’s going to do this right she needs a stylist that knows where the evolution of her rebellion starts. If you’re going to be cheap, be Goodwill-couture – and if you’re wanting high end designer, find someone that can do it interestingly like maybe Jeremy Scott…but be creative, because the bar has been set high. There was a strong non-sexual aspect of Miley’s behavior. I say this because she seemed very at ease walking around in her pvc panties but needed tools to create a sexual element: rubbing the giant foam finger and grinding on that hot singer dude. None of the other ladies I mentioned needed that. If you were to see Mariah Carey standing on stage you would think how sexy she is…Miley has a boy’s body still (kind like Justin Beibers actually). She’s in great shape, but she doesn’t have much a womanly shape (yet). Poor Miley was doing what we all did in our rebellion; the, “I’m-not-a-kid-anymore-I’m-an-interesting-person” complex. I love it because everyone goes through this growing phase and it just shows that Miley is just like the rest of us. I’m sure one day she will look back on this and cringe and then laugh because she will see the next up & coming girl going through the same process in the search for identity. Go Miley, enjoy the journey!
She started it all!
You Get A Star 