|
Miley Cyrus In Hartford Thursday Night (SHERYL NIELDS / November 4, 2009) |
Parents, consider yourselves warned: Miley Cyrus is determined to put some daylight between herself and Hannah Montana.
Cyrus' fall tour, which stops tonight in Hartford, features only a handful of songs by her clean-scrubbed Disney Channel alter-ego. It also features risque choreography and a lot of outfits involving hot pants.
The latter facts have prompted regretful recaps from parents in other cities, who didn't expect the eyeful they and their children got.
"I was frankly disgusted with the ... Cyrus concert," wrote one parent, posting on a message board attached to an online review of the show by the Columbus Dispatch in Ohio. "She seems to be going down the Madonna/Britney Spears path of performing. The bumping, humping and grinding she did was inappropriate for the audience of mainly young women who look to her as a role model. I'm certain I'm not the only mom who was appalled."
Doubtless. It's not such a surprise, though: Teen stars don't stay malleable forever. Just ask Spears, Christina Aguilera or Lindsay Lohan, each of whom got her start as a fresh-faced naif through one Disney vehicle or another. (By contrast, Mandy Moore overcame her sugary teen-pop past to receive positive notices for her acting and for a pair of adult-contemporary albums.)
That's not to say that Cyrus is headed for Britney territory, but she is almost 17, and apparently determined to act like a grown-up with the hope of passing for one. She faces the additional pressure of coming of age in an industry where grinding on a stripper pole and showing plenty of skin are seen as attributes for young women.
Even relatively innocuous things blow up on her: a photo in Vanity Fair of Cyrus looking like a bedraggled refugee from the set of " Les Misérables" sparked outrage because she wore little more than a strategically wrapped sheet. And some fans griped when she deleted her Twitter account, apparently at the request of boyfriend Liam Hemsworth.
All the fuss over her every move is a far cry from her character on "Hannah Montana," where she portrays an ordinary teen girl who leads a secret life as a rock star.
The show made Cyrus a hero to little girls in love with the idea of a super-cool double life; and to Disney, which has reaped untold millions of dollars from one girl with two personas: Cyrus has released four albums as Hannah Montana, and two full-length studio albums and an EP under her own name, including this year's seven-song Wal-Mart exclusive, "The Time of Our Lives."
As she and her tween fans outgrow Hannah, it seems clear that her focus will tilt ever more toward brand Cyrus. She got a writing credit for eight of the 12 songs on last year's "Breakout," and has mentioned liking music by Melissa Etheridge and the Killers, each a potential path forward. All the same, Cyrus has been vague about what direction her life may take.
"Hopefully I'll be settled: making movies, living in a house, maybe even married," she told Glamour magazine in April, when asked to envision herself in 10 years. "I think my mom did everything pretty close to perfect, and I want to be the cool mom that the kids run home to. For now I'm still learning who I am."
So are we, and not all of it is flattering.
In another image-based flap this year, Cyrus drew the wrath of an Asian-American advocacy group for pulling her eyes sideways into a slant-eye shape while posing with an Asian friend.
"I regret what it became," she told Glamour. "I was embarrassed and I apologized. And I am sorry. I am going to be more careful in the future, but I know this won't be the last mistake I make. The minute I stop making mistakes is the minute I stop learning."
•ERIC R. DANTON is reviewing the Miley Cyrus concert at the XL Center tonight. Look for his review on line after the show at www. courant.com, on his blog at www.courant.com/danton and in The Courant on Friday.
Miley Cyrus • performs tonight with Metro Station at XL Center, 1 Civic Center Plaza, Hartford. Tickets for the 7 p.m. show are $79.50, $59.50 and $39.50, plus a $3.50 facility fee and additional service charges. Information: 860-727-8010.
Cyrus' fall tour, which stops tonight in Hartford, features only a handful of songs by her clean-scrubbed Disney Channel alter-ego. It also features risque choreography and a lot of outfits involving hot pants.
The latter facts have prompted regretful recaps from parents in other cities, who didn't expect the eyeful they and their children got.
"I was frankly disgusted with the ... Cyrus concert," wrote one parent, posting on a message board attached to an online review of the show by the Columbus Dispatch in Ohio. "She seems to be going down the Madonna/Britney Spears path of performing. The bumping, humping and grinding she did was inappropriate for the audience of mainly young women who look to her as a role model. I'm certain I'm not the only mom who was appalled."
Doubtless. It's not such a surprise, though: Teen stars don't stay malleable forever. Just ask Spears, Christina Aguilera or Lindsay Lohan, each of whom got her start as a fresh-faced naif through one Disney vehicle or another. (By contrast, Mandy Moore overcame her sugary teen-pop past to receive positive notices for her acting and for a pair of adult-contemporary albums.)
That's not to say that Cyrus is headed for Britney territory, but she is almost 17, and apparently determined to act like a grown-up with the hope of passing for one. She faces the additional pressure of coming of age in an industry where grinding on a stripper pole and showing plenty of skin are seen as attributes for young women.
Even relatively innocuous things blow up on her: a photo in Vanity Fair of Cyrus looking like a bedraggled refugee from the set of " Les Misérables" sparked outrage because she wore little more than a strategically wrapped sheet. And some fans griped when she deleted her Twitter account, apparently at the request of boyfriend Liam Hemsworth.
All the fuss over her every move is a far cry from her character on "Hannah Montana," where she portrays an ordinary teen girl who leads a secret life as a rock star.
The show made Cyrus a hero to little girls in love with the idea of a super-cool double life; and to Disney, which has reaped untold millions of dollars from one girl with two personas: Cyrus has released four albums as Hannah Montana, and two full-length studio albums and an EP under her own name, including this year's seven-song Wal-Mart exclusive, "The Time of Our Lives."
As she and her tween fans outgrow Hannah, it seems clear that her focus will tilt ever more toward brand Cyrus. She got a writing credit for eight of the 12 songs on last year's "Breakout," and has mentioned liking music by Melissa Etheridge and the Killers, each a potential path forward. All the same, Cyrus has been vague about what direction her life may take.
"Hopefully I'll be settled: making movies, living in a house, maybe even married," she told Glamour magazine in April, when asked to envision herself in 10 years. "I think my mom did everything pretty close to perfect, and I want to be the cool mom that the kids run home to. For now I'm still learning who I am."
So are we, and not all of it is flattering.
In another image-based flap this year, Cyrus drew the wrath of an Asian-American advocacy group for pulling her eyes sideways into a slant-eye shape while posing with an Asian friend.
"I regret what it became," she told Glamour. "I was embarrassed and I apologized. And I am sorry. I am going to be more careful in the future, but I know this won't be the last mistake I make. The minute I stop making mistakes is the minute I stop learning."
•ERIC R. DANTON is reviewing the Miley Cyrus concert at the XL Center tonight. Look for his review on line after the show at www. courant.com, on his blog at www.courant.com/danton and in The Courant on Friday.
"try too hard." stinky
Prima_facie (11/12/2009, 3:25 PM )