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Tag: Miley

  • Miley Cyrus’ Something Beautiful Deluxe Likely Only Has Two Additional Songs On It Because One of Them Is Thirteen Minutes

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    Move over Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey, there’s a new pop star in town with a track that’s somehow even longer than “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)” and “Venice Bitch.” And it’s none other than Miley Cyrus with “Lockdown.” Even more clout-laden still is the fact that David Byrne has joined her on the song, which clocks in at thirteen minutes and thirty-one seconds. This now bumps up the length of the original (a.k.a. non-deluxe) version of Something Beautiful from fifty-two minutes and five seconds to sixty-nine minutes and twenty-five seconds. That makes a seventeen-minute, twenty-second difference. In other words, approximately the length of what Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine went from (35:26) after becoming Eternal Sunshine Deluxe: Brighter Days Ahead (55:21). The latter featuring five new songs (because also counting the “extended” version of “intro [end of the world]” as six new songs feels inaccurate). Meaning that Miley achieved a “deluxe length” with just two tracks thanks to the robust duration of “Lockdown.”

    While some speculated that the track might be about the so-called lockdown that occurred during the pandemic (though it was hardly a “lockdown” in the U.S. compared to the more intense restrictions that other countries imposed), Cyrus’ lyrical motif is instead centered on the notion of a “secret” love. And, since “secrets” are a running theme of the two tracks that appear on the deluxe edition of Something Beautiful, it’s only right that she should mention that word again on “Lockdown,” singing, “I won’t lie, baby, you’re my secret/Oh, your love stays on lockdown.” A phrase not to be confused with what Kanye once said on 2008’s “Love Lockdown,” “So keep your love locked down/Your love locked down.” A.k.a. guard your heart and don’t open it to anyone. Cyrus, in contrast, is trying to keep her relationship both locked down and on lockdown—away from the prying eyes and opinions of others. So it is that she commences the song with the lyrics, “Oh, your love stays on lockdown/Can’t tell my friends, ‘cause they all talk now.” And what they’re likely to talk about is whether or not they “approve” of Cyrus’ romance.

    However, it doesn’t take David Byrne (who has been having quite a moment in terms of being embraced by female pop stars [/rockers, depending on who you ask] of a younger generation this year) long to weigh in on the matter from a supportive standpoint. A view that comes from a place of understanding for Cyrus’ situation—her desire to exist in a “love bubble,” as it were. Hence, “I don’t know if it’s day, I don’t know if it’s night/I don’t need to go out, I wanna stay inside/Come on over, love, and we’ll be lost and found/Come on over, love, and we can lock it down/Lock it down, down, down, down, down, down.” After Cyrus then delivers another round of the chorus, the song returns to its more experimental instrumental form. The one hinted at in the beginning, but that wasn’t quite “processed” by the listener due to how quickly Cyrus materialized with her vocals. But by the two-minute mark, the production comes into full focus.

    Amid the trippy horns and generally psychedelic aura (to that point, there is definitely something very Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz about “Lockdown”), Cyrus occasionally interjects with some minimal repetition of the same phrases. To create this transportive portion of the track—the part that takes up most of the thirteen minutes and thirty-one seconds—Cyrus clearly needed some co-production assistance. And she got it from Jonathan Rado, Maxx Morando (her still-current boyfriend), Max Taylor-Sheppard and Shawn Everett (with both Everett and Rado in particular working on most of the songs from Something Beautiful).

    The musical meandering of “Lockdown” changes tones and tinctures as the track goes on, eventually brought back to where it started around the ten-minute, forty-six-second mark, with Cyrus returning to the kind of vocal delivery that could actually be played on the radio (at least on an “indie” station) as she sings, “You bring out an animal feeling/Why’d you leave me waiting so long?/I’ve been drowning in your love beneath me/Drink my breath away ‘til it’s gone/Put me on your carousel, chandelier/Fairy tale, atmosphere/Marigold, fields of gold/Icon, centerfold/You’re the only one I chose/No one has to know, you know.” And so it is that Cyrus brings back the notion of “secrecy” into it, of keeping her “special relationship” away from anybody else to see, therefore judge (which is probably what would have made it a good song to play during Sex and the City’s “Secret Sex” episode, if only this single had existed at the time).

    Byrne then rejoins her to repeat his verse about not knowing if it’s day or night—this being a phrase that captures what it feels like to be caught in a kind of “sex haze” (a.k.a. honeymoon phase) with someone. Locked inside at all hours of the day because you’re still not sick of the other person (or the various orifices they have to offer). Of course, Byrne isn’t exactly referring to this, instead inviting his would-be lover over to join him in feeling lost together so they can, thus, be found (this echoing Addison Rae’s “Lost & Found” interlude on Addison, during which she repeats, “I lost myself and found myself again”).

    The length, “unwieldiness” and “incohesiveness” of the song all further point to what Cyrus suggested throughout interviews about Something Beautiful, which is that this might very well be her last attempt at bothering to write an album for the mainstream. Indeed, it’s clear she’s been gagging to go more full-tilt experimental for years (and yes, it all goes back to Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz). Even so, it’s also apparent that Cyrus continues to have a knack for creating “easily accessible” singles like “Secrets” (not to be confused with Madonna’s “Secret”), the first additional track on the deluxe version of Something Beautiful that helps listeners “ease in” more gently to the complexity of “Lockdown.”

    Or rather, “complexity” by the current standards of an “average” pop song (which scarcely clocks in at two minutes anymore). Luckily, Cyrus is still toeing the line between both “guises”: “experimental” and mainstream pop icon. Thereby making those who know and prefer her in the latter incarnation more amenable not just to her in the former incarnation, but also to the former genre itself.

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    Genna Rivieccio

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  • Miley Cyrus Will Keep Your “Secrets” (So Long as She Can Do It in Haute Couture)

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    In a bid to remind people of what a still-underlooked masterpiece Something Beautiful is (in truth, among her best albums to date), Miley Cyrus has returned with a new single, “Secrets,” from the deluxe edition of the record. Perhaps unfortunately timing the release to coincide with the advent of Cardi B’s Am I the Drama? and Lola Young’s I’m Only F**king Myself, it’s possible that her new iteration of the album might get lost in the proverbial shuffle, but, hopefully, listeners will at least pay attention to the fact that “Secrets” exists, if not the fact that a deluxe album does. And that, more importantly, it’s Cyrus’ “peace offering” to her father, Billy Ray Cyrus (as in, the man that made her a nepo baby).

    That said, in captioning a clip of the video on her Instagram account, Cyrus was sure to say, “This song was written as a peace offering for someone I had lost for a time but always loved. In my experience, forgiveness and freedom are one and the same… This song is for my dad” (though, as alluded to, it’s as much for her as it is for him, because it means being free of the toxic emotions that come with resentment). Accordingly, the single, co-produced by Cyrus, Jonathan Rado, Shawn Everett and Michael Pollack, bears an extremely nostalgic sound—one that’s drenched in the vibe of 1980s-era Fleetwood Mac.

    So, naturally, why shouldn’t Cyrus have Lindsey Buckingham and Mick Fleetwood accompany her on the track (though, noticeably missing is Stevie Nicks—even if she seems to have reconciled her differences with Buckingham earlier this year)? Indeed, it’s their contributions that help make the song sound more distinctive and unique despite lyrics that are frequently ripe with banalities that have already been well-played. Namely, Cyrus’ assurance, “Anywhere you go, you know I’ll follow/I’ll follow anywhere you go.”

    This, of course, smacks of Peggy March’s “I Will Follow Him,” when she sings, “I will follow him/Follow him, wherever he may go.” Worse than that, it mimics The Calling’s only hit, “Wherever You Will Go,” when Alex Band promises, “I’ll go wherever you will go/Way up high or down low.” Regardless of Cyrus reemploying this cliché, she makes it all her own, especially with the haute couture-drenched visual that accompanies her earnest pledge. Fittingly dramatic in its presentation—while also embodying the aesthetic of one of Cyrus’ many high-fashion brand commercials/print ads of the moment (e.g., Gucci and Maison Margiela)—the newly “matured” singer roams an empty space while outfitted in an all-white getup (complete with the kind of headpiece Madonna was rocking at the 2021 VMAs afterparty), presumably Maison Margiela. And yes, she even has the audacity to insert a Katy Perry-coined phrase when she announces, “We’re chained to the rhythm.”

    But whatever baggage she was previously chained to when it came to her relationship with her father, Cyrus has decided to not only let it go, but to rebuild with this song. One that Billy Ray was so touched by that he even felt compelled to write of it on his Instagram account, “For my birthday, Miley gave me the gift of music and wrote me a song called ‘Secrets’ and got my favorite musicians Fleetwood Mac to play on it! I love you Mile.” And yes, it’s not lost on anyone that Cyrus has further layered the song’s weight and meaning by including these two heavy-hitting musicians from a previous generation. The intent being to “bridge the divide” by joining forces. Of course, that doesn’t mean that Lindsey or Mick were about to appear in the video with her.

    Instead, Cyrus carries the song all on her own in this regard, walking through an empty theater at the midpoint of the video in a perhaps even more dramatic ensemble, this one featuring a bejeweled black mask she wears while sitting down in one of the red fabric-upholstered seats. Slowly, she pulls the mask off, as though to symbolically mirror that she’s now decided to let down all her defenses when it comes to dealings with her father (would that Lana Del Rey could say the same about her mother). This echoing her surrender to vulnerability in the very first verse of the song (the verse that happens to contain the most original-sounding lyrics), “Secrets, I wanna keep your secrets/Like sunlight in the shadows/Like footsteps in the grass/I won’t ever break my promise/Like a songbird in the silence/Like stones against the glass.”

    This urging on Cyrus’ part for her father to fully grasp that he can trust her with things/information he might have previously been afraid to share (especially based on the reactions that Miley set a precedent with) is meant to be a sign of her growth. A show of newfound strength and resilience when it comes to handling family matters she previously couldn’t. In other words, the family matter pertaining her parents’ divorce in 2022. At the time, Cyrus heavily took sides with her mother, Tish, but, in the present, she’s learned to accept both parents’ choices and the individual lives they’re currently leading (with both having moved on to new partners).

    After lying down on the floor of the theater to sing, “Can I be your hero?/Call off all your forces/A white flag in the war” (an image and vocal timbre that recalls “End of the World,” itself a song written for her mother), Cyrus seems to purge something from within herself.

    So it is that she emerges from the theater bearing an aura that suggests she’s been “transformed,” with the marquee outside displaying the lyrics, “Anywhere You Go Know I’ll Follow” as though they’re a movie title. And, in the movie that’s been Cyrus’ life thus far, that little platitude hasn’t always been the case (except when it came to Liam Hemsworth—and we all saw how that turned out). If it is now, it’s only because Cyrus has gone through the emotional work to make it so. At least for select people in her orbit.

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    Genna Rivieccio

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  • Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” Is A Direct Assault on the “Purpose” of Men

    Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” Is A Direct Assault on the “Purpose” of Men

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    As Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” continues to dominate charts and shatter records in 2024, it bears reflecting on the why of its enduring success. And the longevity it will likely have even decades from now (depending on whether or not humanity can still access streaming services at that point). Over one year on from its initial release—January 13, 2023 (a.k.a. Liam Hemsworth’s thirty-third birthday)—“Flowers” remains not only resonant, but eerily evergreen…in terms of men being, well, rather useless to women. Particularly when it comes to seeking validation and particularly when it comes to representing them as elected officials.

    If 2022 was “the year men flopped” (as if they haven’t been doing just that since time immemorial), 2023, the year that kicked off the Reign of “Flowers,” commenced as the year men were proven totally unnecessary. Granted, this might have already occurred on a more scientific level with the advent of artificial insemination. But, increasingly, the “need” for a man for “emotional support” (or much of anything else) is being called into question by women…well into 2024. Cyrus’ sologamist anthem provides no better example of that. To heighten the sentiment behind the lead single from Endless Summer Vacation, during the same week, there was also Shakira totally eviscerating her ex, Gerard Piqué, via her collaboration with DJ Bizarrap (unofficially called “Pa’ Tipos Como Tú”). It’s a track that addresses not only how he cheated on her with a much younger woman, but his many shortcomings as part of the male species.

    That both singles were released in the same week is telling of a generally “hostile” climate among the collective female psyche that keeps asking: what “purpose” does a man actually serve in my life? Or perhaps more politically correct clarification is required in the present: what “purpose” does a “straight” man serve in my life? But it’s crystal clear to anyone who observes pop culture that the hetero male has been on the shit list for quite some time—no further sexuality exegesis needed. Just say “man” to a woman and it’s enough to evoke all manner of rancor. To a degree that is rarely on par with a man’s reaction to women. Possibly because men are “allowed” to exhibit venomous attitudes in systemic and passive aggressive ways all the time thanks to patriarchy, therefore they’ve channeled their unrepressed rage and chauvinism rather regularly. Regularly enough not to shudder at the mention of the opposite sex, only quiver and cower when that sex puts them in their place. As has been happening with more celebratory frequency (see: the Greta Thunberg-Andrew Tate exchange of 2022). 

    Talking of jubilations, that’s precisely what Cyrus engages in on “Flowers,” which is an unabashed celebration of the self. And all the ways in which it can both survive and thrive without a man around to make a woman wilt rather than grow. To the point of surviving, “Flowers” also adds to the burgeoning list of post-breakup anthems, and goes one step well beyond the mainstay sonic trope for thumbing one’s nose at male callousness: Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive.” Unlike this classic in the canon of songs that champions female empowerment and the resiliency to be able to move on after a man arbitrarily decides to abandon a relationship (as was the case in Shakira’s situation), “Flowers” doesn’t necessarily suggest any intention of wanting (or needing) to pursue another romance after recovering from the last. This marks it as a very singular contribution to the post-breakup song arsenal in that it defies the convention of suggesting that not only will she move on, but she’ll move on to a new and theoretically “improved” dude. In “Flowers,” Cyrus inherently suggests that she is the only person she needs to simultaneously “get by” and thrive, and that no one (read: no man) will ever be able to love her as well or as caringly and sincerely as herself. 

    While some would counter that the song is targeted primarily at her enduring muse (/ex-husband) of the past few years, Liam Hemsworth, there’s no denying her intent in rendering the lyrics as universally applicable as possible. Catering to the masses of women in this world that Cyrus knows have had or are having or will have the very same revelations after yet another botched attempt at seeking intimacy with a penis-packing human. For even Cyrus has fallen prey to the trap (more than a few times) of believing that she “needed” a man to validate her worth (whereas, at present, she merely wants one [Maxx Morando] for the presumable thrill). And she’s supposed to be pansexual, so what does that say about the “full-on” straight women who give far more credence to straight men than they deserve?

    What’s worse still is that men could easily “keep” a woman if they just made a few slight improvements to their behavior. But a general unwillingness to budge on even the most basic things accumulates into one big pile of bullshit, eventually forcing a woman to put an end to her masochism. Among such basic acts is the occasional ability to express care through a token gesture. Like, say, something as cliche as giving flowers. A trope that Cyrus wields within the chorus, “I can buy myself flowers/Write my name in the sand/Talk to myself for hours/Say things you don’t understand/I can take myself dancin’/I can hold my own hand/Yeah, I can love me better than you can.” Yet she also seeks to decimate the notion that a man is “required” at all to receive flowers. This by declaring that not only is she capable of buying her own bouquet, but that she can also do the other things a man is “supposed to do” (per the established norms of societal, literary and filmic indoctrination)—especially since there’s so few other purposes they can serve in the present apart from at least providing the every-so-often romantic display. 

    Cyrus is not the only one of late in the pop arena to use flowers as a larger metaphor for male inutility. In 2021, Billie Eilish was equally as scandalized by the fuckboy behavior implicated in not even bothering to offer up some goddamn flowers. This being evident on the Happier Than Ever single, “Lost Cause,” during which she laments, “Gave me no flowers/Wish I didn’t care/You’d be gone for hours/Could be anywhere.” This comes after Eilish highlighting the fact that she had to be the one to give him flowers, stating at the beginning of the song, “I sent you flowers/Did you even care?/You ran the shower/And left them by the stairs.” In other words, while she exhibited care for him and their relationship with this thoughtful expression, he, in turn, displayed his total lack of care by not even tending to the flowers—choosing to “water himself” instead. This being a grander allegory for the intrinsic selfishness of the male gender. With the latter lyric, Eilish also seemed to be loosely referencing the 1999 hit from Blink-182, “All The Small Things.” A track from a man that specifically calls out his own appreciation of “little gestures” (so why can’t he understand hers?). Among the few non-repetitive lines in that single being, “​​She left me roses by the stairs/Surprises let me know she cares.” And the least a man can do to return that care is put the fucking roses on display right away. 

    In a more pronounced form of repurposing a male song from the female response perspective, Miley’s “Flowers” overtly reworks the chorus from Bruno Mars’ “When I Was Your Man,” in which he sings, ​​“I should have bought you flowers/And held your hand/Should have gave you all my hours/When I had the chance/Take you to every party ‘cause all you wanted to do was dance.” Of course, these “insights” tend to come when it’s already too late, and a girl like Cyrus is explaining, “I didn’t wanna leave you/I didn’t wanna fight.” But, in the end, she had to leave for her own sense of self-worth. Which Cyrus can only truly find without the man she ephemerally thought would “complete” her. Thus, her braggadocious flex, “Yeah, I can love me better than/Yeah, I can love me better than you can.” 

    Apart from Eilish realizing this before Cyrus via a flowers analogy, so did MARINA that same summer of 2021, with a song also entitled “Flowers” from her Ancient Dreams in a  Modern Land record. Referring to her five-year long relationship with Clean Bandit member Jack Patterson, MARINA comes to the conclusion, “I would rather not/Betray myself just to keep/Your love at any cost.” The cost so frequently being ignoring the “little things” that add up to one big revelation: he ain’t the one (a similar epiphany had by Drew Barrymore as Julia Sullivan in The Wedding Singer). 

    MARINA expounds, “With every careless action, you let me slip away/If you just bought me flowers, maybe I would’ve stayed.” The flowers, as usual, are emblematic of something more telling: care. Consideration. Or rather, the absence of it. So, instead, she left Patterson and bought flowers for her damn self, posting a photo with a bouquet in April of 2020 on her Instagram account and captioning it, “I ordered flowers to: myself from: myself And let me tell you, it felt surprisingly great.” Cyrus, it appears, would tend to agree. 

    MARINA was, in fact, so determined to stay true to herself and her standards for how she should be treated that she even broke up with Patterson at arguably the most vulnerable time to do so: during the lockdown phase of the pandemic. Thus, at one point in the promotion cycle of the record, she declared, “I’m not seeing anyone at the moment, but I’ve always enjoyed my own company. I’m pretty good, fortunately, on my own.” As are many women (more and more) at this juncture—for it’s just so much less disappointing than trying to make it work with a man. More often than not, a toxic presence in a woman’s potential for “blooming.” As MARINA phrased it, “The seeds we planted grew/But not like roses do/We had the thorns and leaves/But the buds, they never bloomed/And now my future gleams/With colors bold and bright/In a home that’s filled with love and hope/And a life that just feels right.” “Just right” because, as Miley has pointed out more bluntly, “I can love me better than you can.” 

    To be sure, not every woman—far from it—will be so eager to jump on the anthemic single’s message in practice as opposed to theory (part of that theory translating to dancing one’s ass off alone in their room to it). Most especially the women who are not in the same income tax bracket as the likes of Miley, Billie and MARINA. For the feeling of “radical independence,” in this society, is inextricably linked to having money, and mounds of it. This being the obvious reason for why men have been so determined for so long to keep women out of the game as “exceptional earners” (to use a Britney phrase). As that glass ceiling persists in being shattered, the question of a man’s relevance to a woman’s existence will continue to have an easy answer: he’s not. 

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    Genna Rivieccio

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  • Between Anitta’s “Use To Be” and Miley Cyrus’ “Used To Be Young,” It Has to Be Asked: Are the Thirty-Something Women Okay, Perception-Wise?

    Between Anitta’s “Use To Be” and Miley Cyrus’ “Used To Be Young,” It Has to Be Asked: Are the Thirty-Something Women Okay, Perception-Wise?

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    There was a minute there when it seemed like society, or at least the representation of it through pop culture, had come a long way from reiterating the message that women are “dead” at thirty. Or, more accurately, their youth is. This was perhaps most succinctly encapsulated by Lily Allen’s 2009 track, “22,” on which she sings such chirpy lyrics as, “When she was twenty-two, the future looked bright/But she’s nearly thirty now and she’s out every night/I see that look in her face, she’s got that look in her eye/She’s thinking, ‘How did I get here?’ and wondering why.” This is followed by the chorus, “It’s sad, but it’s true how society says her life is already over.” And yes, it’s sad but it’s true how even “modern” women are still thinking this way. Especially if we’re to go on Anitta and Miley Cyrus’ latest single releases, both of which have the phrase “used to be” in them. A term that easily connotes some form of lament.

    For Anitta, she’s slightly less sad-sounding about the fact that she “used to be a ho” and now she “ain’t no more.” Because, if we’re to go by the accompanying music video’s narrative, she’s getting married, and she needs to put her former “ho life” ways to rest. Although Anitta might have had the masses thinking this could be about Simone Susinna for a brief second after being spotted with the Italian actor/model all over Europe, she soon after declared, “I’m not dating anyone, I’m single. I’ve always been single.” Or rather, a serial “dater” (read: fucker). Which puts her much more firmly in Selena Gomez’s camp, the latter having released “Single Soon” the same day as Miley’s divergently-themed “Used to Be Young.” But where thirty-one-year-old Gomez seems to be embracing her “single girl life” without a tinge of sadness just because she’s now “over the hill,” Anitta and Miley are patently entering their thirties with something like a white flag. Surrendering to the notion that they have to “grow up” and fall in line, adopting a more “zen” state that only “old ladies” can. Anitta conveys this through images of herself getting married so as to shirk her erstwhile life of ho-ish “sin.” Repenting in her chorus with the lines, “I used to be a ho, but now I ain’t no more/Been swimmin’ through the water, now I’m back to shore/I look at who I did and I’m like, ‘Oh, my Lord.’”

    In the first verse, Anitta then switches to Spanish, singing, “Una perra de raza muy dura de matar/Pero ahora soy mansa y ya no muerdo má’/Rompí mucho corazóne’ y a mí no me lo rompieron/Pero ya yo no quiero, ‘toy tranquila y ya.” The Spanish lyrics translate to, “A very tough breed [more specifically, breed of dog] to kill/But now I’m gentle and I don’t bite anymore/I broke a lot of hearts and they didn’t break mine/But I don’t want to anymore, I’m calm and that’s it.” As though a “switch” has been flipped within Anitta as a result of entering her thirties and now she’s decided it’s time to, as Selena Gomez (and her bestie, Taylor Swift, for that matter) also said, “Calm down.” Or “settle down,” as some prefer to call it. Because, despite all the work Madonna did to negate the idea that you’re expected to put yourself out to pasture by the age of forty, now it seems women are admitting even earlier to being “old” as opposed to “being a slut and doing whatever they want” at any age. As so many women who came before fought for them to be able to (though again, mainly Madonna…and Cher). 

    Instead, things feel like they’re going backwards vis-à-vis women and aging. For example, the existence of a recently-circulating meme featuring Margot Robbie with the phrase, “Life doesn’t end after thirty, she’s proof of that.” It makes one want to positively vomit. As though we need a thirty-something representation of Barbie to assure us that one’s thirties (as a woman, mind you) aren’t a death sentence. A form of thinking that is so fucking retro that we have to wonder if we’re even actually in the twenty-first century, and any progress has truly been made with regard to women’s viewpoints about their own age. Some, of course, will try to say that it’s actually “positive” for women to have candid conversations about getting older, but, once more, it has to be emphasized that talking about being old at thirty only serves to reinforce the false belief that youth is a commodity reserved strictly for teens and twenty-somethings when that simply isn’t the case. The adage, “You’re as young as you feel” ought to be brought up more regularly. Especially for a generation—millennials—that has been so often accused of having Peter Pan syndrome. Now, it seems, they’re only too willing to pass the youth torch on to banal Gen Z despite not being anywhere near “old” at all. Alas, not if we’re to go by the current trend in pop culture to brand people in their thirties and forties as “elderly.”

    Although there did seem to be a blip of evolution, the culprit for this regression toward branding thirty as “old” is, undeniably, TikTok, which is overrun by thirteen-year-olds who are the “tastemakers” of society at this moment (and possibly for the foreseeable future). So, of course, they’re going to view women in their thirties as “old,” never imagining that they themselves could reach that age from their cush vantage at thirteen. Ergo, the callous ability to come up with a trend based on Lana Del Rey’s “Young and Beautiful” that compares celebrity women in their current state to photos of them when they were younger, as though to highlight that their “jig is up” because they’ve committed the “sin” of aging. And yes, Madonna herself stated (with her sardonic tone) in a speech for the 2016 Billboard Women in Music Awards, “Do not age. Because to age is a sin. You will be criticized, you will be vilified, and you will definitely not be played on the radio.” Nor will you get as much film work if you’re an actress. Something Charlize Theron, at forty-eight, is starting to contend with as she, too, puts up a white flag and surrenders, “I’m old” the way Anitta and Miley seem to be alluding to already at the outset of their thirties. As though women themselves needed to give narrow-minded patriarchal perspectives about aging any more clout. And yes, it’s all still rooted in the primal idea that a woman is “old” once she’s not of “child-bearing age.” But with the advancement of science, we’ve seen that women can have children well beyond their thirties. Even if they’re not nearly as embraced for doing so as men like Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. To boot, with the rapid progress of cosmetic products and surgery, we’ve seen Aaliyah’s “age ain’t nothin’ but a number” aphorism realized. And both Anitta and Miley (but especially Anitta) have enjoyed their share of expensive ways to physically “enhance” themselves. 

    This is, in part, why it makes it even worse that they should go to all that trouble to stay looking young and yet still slap themselves with an “older now” demarcation. After all, “The confluence of celebrity culture and the ability to manipulate every casual selfie has created the sense that we are not meant to look old at all.” So why should women who look young cause a further mind fuck by declaring that they’re old? It just seems sort of counterproductive to a positive self-perception. Because when the likes of Anitta and Miley arrive in their forties and fifties, what will they say about themselves then? That they’re crypt-keepers? And all while women who are actually in their forties and fifties work far harder to appear in Anitta and Miley’s age bracket. Including someone like Kylie Minogue, whose recent hit, “Padam Padam,” highlights lyrics that are decidedly “too youthful” for a woman in her mid-fifties. Meanwhile, Anitta and Miley are looking the gift horse of their youth in the mouth by casually writing it off as being “old.” With Cyrus essentially insisting that she can no longer be “crazy” or “fun” because those things have been buried with the teen and twenty-something Miley. As though all such traces of “wildness” ought to be if a girl is to “transcend” fully into a woman (not that Britney ever chose to, still overtly holding on to what she said long ago, “I’m not a girl, not yet a woman”). 

    Maybe Cyrus thinks she’s doing a service to the women her age by “mourning the loss of her youth” at thirty, giving them permission to finally “mature” and “let go of childish things” such as drinking, drugging and ho’ing (as Anitta more or less calls it). But, in the end, it serves to underscore the already damaging idea that only those who are “Lolita age” can be classified as young (and yes, that entails fairly perverse implications about our society).

    Carrie Bradshaw, who existed most potently in the 00s—a time now known for its deeply problematic worldviews—once said to Samantha Jones, “It’s time for ladies my age to start covering it up. We can’t get away with the same stuff we used to” (cue Madonna gyrating to “Hung Up” in a leotard in her fifties as a big “fuck you” to that statement). And “getting away” with such “stuff” is only going to be made even more of a challenge for those women who don’t want to “button up at thirty” thanks to vibrant thirty-year-old women like Anitta and Miley playing up the notion of being “aged” once a girl’s twenties have concluded. 

    Like her aforementioned contemporary, Lily Allen, Amy Winehouse also had her own choice words for “sad women” that dared to turn thirty. And they appear via the lyrics, “Don’t get mad at me ‘cause you’re pushin’ thirty, and your old tricks no longer work” (Winehouse, as we know, wouldn’t live to thirty herself to find out). Perhaps still taking such a message to heart, Anitta and Miley are using the “trick” of running an offense on being automatically perceived as “irrelevant” just because they’ve hit their thirties. A maneuver that itself seeks to make it harder for other women (even “normal” ones in addition to famous ones) to be seen as relevant just because their birth year is no longer keeping them in the “right” decade.

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    Genna Rivieccio

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  • “Single Soon” Is In Direct Contrast to “Used to Be Young”

    “Single Soon” Is In Direct Contrast to “Used to Be Young”

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    With Miley Cyrus releasing her “admitting to aging” anthem, “Used to Be Young,” at a time when admitting to aging as a woman somehow seems less acceptable than ever, Selena Gomez has opted to veer in an entirely different direction with her own ditty (released the same day as Miley’s on August 25th): the far more upbeat “Single Soon.” In contrast, to the lament of “Used to Be Young,” which focuses on letting go of “frivolous things” and overall folly, “Single Soon” seems to be Gomez’s bid to ignore the idea of any sense of aging whatsoever. For, at almost exactly the same age as Cyrus, Gomez is ready to hit the bars drinking and the clubs dancing. Something that belies Cyrus telling British Vogue back in May, “[This songwriter had brought me] like, you know, the standard fucked up in the club track. And I was like, ‘I’m two years sober. That’s not where I spend my time, you know. You’re more likely to catch me and my friends literally walking through rose gardens or going to a museum…’ It’s not about being self-serious. I’m just evolved.”

    Not to say that Gomez can’t be “evolved” either just because she’s still setting her videos in clubs and portraying puerile scenes of jumping in pools, running through alleyways and having “girlie” sleepovers. She just happens to be “evolving” in a slightly more “resistant-to-aging” way. Hence, lyrics like, “I know I’m a little high/Maintenance, but I’m worth a try/Might not give a reason why (oh well)/We both had a lot of fun/Time to find another one/Blame it all on feelin’ young.” The operative word being feelin’. And it seems appropriate that, as though to reflect the inability to “act one’s age” that most women in the public eye suffer from, Kim Kardashian would also post a video of herself jump roping on the eve of the “Single Soon” release with the caption, “I don’t know how to act my age; I’ve never been this old before…” Famous women, of course, have an especially challenging time dealing with this “issue.” Which should really be a non-issue if we actually lived in a non-judgmental, non-patriarchal society. Alas, we do not…and that’s why we’re met with this schizophrenic reaction among women vis-à-vis aging. The split persona that results in a pop star like Britney still playing the Lolita coquette or someone like MARINA saying “fuck it” and letting her hair go gray (for a while, anyway). The divergent reactions women can have merely to entering their thirties is telling of the weighty societal pressures placed upon them from an early age to “stay young” forever. Even though that ends up getting them condemned, too (see: Madonna).

    While Cyrus seems to be running an offensive on being called “old” by branding herself with the euphemistic label “used to be young,” Gomez is on the defensive by embracing the idea that being single in one’s thirties is nothing to be ashamed of. Ergo, drawing on an homage to the premier single girl show, Sex and the City, for her music video. Except, rather than mirroring Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Gomez chose to lip sync some of Samantha’s (Kim Cattrall) dialogue (in a teaser for the single) from the season one episode, “Three’s A Crowd.” Even though she might have done the “Who is this?” line one better by quoting Samantha saying, “If you’re single, the world is your smorgasbord.” That’s what comes across, for the most part, in the video for “Single Soon,” although we never once see Gomez with any “variety of men” to prove that smorgasbord point. Rather, she plays up the kind of sologamist angle that shines through in Ariana Grande’s “thank u, next,” ultimately a clip show collection of tributes to Grande’s favorite “00s teen girl” movies, including Mean Girls, Bring It On, 13 Going on 30 and Legally Blonde, that involve no sign of her enjoying her singledom in ways that involve men. 

    As for Cyrus, the absence of anything whatsoever in her video apart from herself also speaks to the current landscape of self-obsession posing as “self-love.” Indeed “the self” appears to be the primary fixation of the twenty-first century (which certainly makes it easier to be single). A reality solidified as social media mutated into what it is today. Not only a powerful platform for narcissism, but also hatred and bullying. Something Gomez was reminded of when devoted Selenators came for Hailey Bieber earlier this year after Gomez posted a TikTok of herself saying she had accidentally over-laminated her eyebrows. Hours later, Kylie Jenner, “bestie” to Hailey, posted a photo of herself with a heavy filter that featured a caption placed directly over her eyebrows that read, “This was an accident?????”

    Immediately presumed to be shade at Gomez’s looks (because, unlike Stefano Gabbana, not everyone can just come right out and call Gomez “brutta”), Bieber was triangulated for being “@’d” in the story by Jenner with a picture of Bieber’s unkempt brows screenshotted from a FaceTime call. If it was, in fact, as calculated as everyone insisted, not only is it tragic how underhanded things have to be “nowadays” (as opposed to a good old-fashioned, on-blast feud like the one between Joan and Bette), but it also serves to both affirm and undercut Gomez’s message about being single. 

    Sure, on the one hand, you don’t become a petty, possessive little bitch like Bieber, but on the other, those petty, possessive bitches like Bieber view you as a threat because of your single status. As was the case for Carrie Bradshaw in “Bay of Married Pigs,” during which she’s exiled from her married friend Patience’s (Jennifer Guthrie) Hamptons house because her husband, Peter (David Healy), strategically chooses to walk around without any underwear on in the hallway so that Carrie will be able to see his “pepper mill-(sized) dick.” When Patience finds out, she sends Carrie packing, prompting the latter to continue her thesis for that week’s column: “Married people don’t hate singles. They just want us figured out.” And so long as they stay single, they never will be. Thus, the enduring divide.

    As for Miley, she seems on the Charlotte (Kristin Davis) track at the moment with all this talk of putting aside “silly (/slutty) youthful behavior” and perhaps focusing on a more stable life. Whatever that might actually mean for a Sagittarius. As for Gomez, a Cancer cusping Leo, it would seem her own security-craving sign betrays any genuine desire to be single. So maybe, in the end, they both mean the opposite of what they’re saying out loud…

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    Genna Rivieccio

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  • Miley Makes Us “Jaded” By Offering Tired Visuals Amounting To a Dolce Glow Ad That Kind of Rips Off Britney’s “My Prerogative”

    Miley Makes Us “Jaded” By Offering Tired Visuals Amounting To a Dolce Glow Ad That Kind of Rips Off Britney’s “My Prerogative”

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    Giving us the third visual in five months from her Endless Summer Vacation era, Miley Cyrus’ “Jaded” video is not all that much different from “Flowers.” But, to the latter’s credit, it was at least far more dynamic (and so was the “River” video, for that matter—even if another instance of being overly derivative). Directed, once again, by Jacob Bixenman (though it’s hard to view “Jaded” as being very “directed”), the scene opens on a shot of Cyrus’ hands placed daintily on her white bedsheets (to accent her bronze skin tone, duh) as the opening guitar notes segue into her lamenting verse, “I don’t wanna call and talk too long/I know it was wrong, but never said I was sorry/Now I’ve had time to think it over/We’re much older and the bone’s too big to bury.” Obviously another song that addresses her complicated on-again, off-again relationship with Liam Hemsworth (culminating in un peu de divorce), Cyrus mimics the same sentiment from 2019’s “Slide Away” (“Move on, we’re not seventeen/I’m not who I used to be/You say that everything changed/You’re right, we’re grown now”) about being “too old” to deal with this shit anymore.

    What she’s never “too old” for, however, is imitating Britney Spears, which a lot of this video’s bed romping does. Spears, of course, learned most of her bed romping tricks from Madonna, who launched herself to mainstream fame by posing on one in bridal wear for the album cover of Like A Virgin. Thenceforward, audiences saw many other occasions when she was wont to loll around in a boudoir setting (e.g., her Blond Ambition performance of “Like A Virgin,” the “Justify My Love” video, the “Take A Bow” video and, more recently, her smattering of Instagram photo sessions featuring her “at home” bedroom stylings). And actually, about four years after the release of the Jake Nava-directed “My Prerogative,” a Rolling Stone article even called out the bed writhing similarities to Madonna’s during her “Like A Virgin” phase. Perhaps Miley could recognize Spears was paying tribute to M’s vibe as much as Britney’s, thus appearing in a jeweled cone bra number at one point in the “Jaded” video.

    However, before that moment, Cyrus is content to one-up Madonna and Spears’ provocateur levels by appearing topless in jeans (as opposed to topless in a blazer à la the “Flowers” video) as she does her rolling around. This transitions into her wearing a high-cut metallic gold one-piece bathing suit that manages to come across more obscenely than any two-piece ever could. In matching gold heels, Cyrus then serves “Hung Up” video vibes with her “practicing in the studio” aura, as complemented by a wood floor and wood-paneled wall backdrop. Bixenman then cuts to Cyrus outside in a setting that looks a lot like the Farralone House (which also more recently cameo’d as Amy’s [Ali Wong] vacation abode in Beef) from the “Flowers” video. But the palm tree backdrop indicates it’s a different home altogether. One she’s ostensibly carved out for herself without the “jaded” ex she refers to throughout the song. Either way, there’s still a pool. And one prolonged scene in particular of Miley sort of floating/standing as she stares at the camera in what’s supposed to be a “sexy” way actually comes across as super creepy, and could easily be soundtracked by a slowed-down, demonic-voiced version of the song.

    Billed as “dreamy” and “raw”—polite euphemisms for lazy and ill-conceived—the main purpose of the video appears to be for Cyrus to peddle her ongoing collaboration with Dolce Glow, a sunless tanner (because the 00s are never really over) created by “friend of Miley” Isabel Alysa. Hence, her “unfinished,” “au naturel” look. Complete with brunette hair for added “authenticity” (for, as Madonna showed during her Like A Prayer and American Life album cycles, a female pop star is taken more seriously as a “brownie”). Despite the Madonna influence, it’s Britney who emerges as the clear affecting presence. Indeed, it’s no secret that everyone rips off Britney at this point, but Miley has been a consistent “homage payer” to the Princess of Pop (as her own husband apparently likes to call her) being that she was the proverbial “voice of a generation.” Namely, Miley’s.

    Accordingly, the video concludes with a shot of Miley back on the bed looking “candidly” into the lens. In effect, it’s the same shot Britney opted to use for her final scene in “My Prerogative.” Except at least she did those scenes in black and white for a “tasteful” impact despite “ho’ing it up.” Cyrus hasn’t done that here. But it’s not because she isn’t willing to go full-tilt on emulating Britney, so much as the fact that a selfless tanner’s results don’t exactly translate well in B&W.  

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    Genna Rivieccio

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  • It’s Raining Heteronormativity: Miley Cyrus Gets Wet With “River” Video

    It’s Raining Heteronormativity: Miley Cyrus Gets Wet With “River” Video

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    One thing about Miley Cyrus is that she wants you to know she’s down for whatever and, accordingly, whoever. Among those who would like everyone to be aware of her “pansexuality.” And yet, in the years since that grand announcement, we’ve seen Cyrus dabble primarily in men (more to the point, men who look like they were sculpted out of marble). Oh yes, and then there was a brief dalliance with Kaitlynn Carter (long after an even briefer one with Stella Maxwell). So, yes, like the song from Katy Perry she inspired, “I Kissed A Girl,” Cyrus’ “leanings” toward the female sex feel primarily geared toward the thrill of the “novelty.” And while there’s nothing wrong with Cyrus playing mostly straight, it’s just that, by putting a big pansexuality sign over herself, she’s “unwittingly” (apparently) placed a larger responsibility on her shoulders to convey imagery and messaging that isn’t so, well, traditional.

    While it’s still “progressive” for a woman to show herself being pleasured by multiple men (a jarring thought for the patriarchy who want the concept of harems all to themselves), there is nothing new or exciting in what Cyrus is showcasing throughout a video that is, theoretically, meant to be drowning in sexual innuendo. That video, of course, being “River,” the second single from Endless Summer Vacation, and one that is in direct conflict with “Flowers” (save for the correlation that water does tend to make flowers “bud” and flourish). But that’s all in keeping with the many mixed messages on the record, all of which speak to the “pan” personality of a Sagittarius (unless you’re of the fairly consistent and straightforward varietal of the sign à la “The Archer” known as Taylor Swift).

    Shot in black and white, the video channels elements of Madonna’s “Cherish” (providing far more wetness, to be honest) and “Vogue,” but most especially her 2012 single, “Girl Gone Wild.” In it, she is surrounded by muscular men aplenty as well. The difference is, they aren’t so fucking butch. More to the point, the members of Ukrainian boy band Kazaky are among the male backup dancers wearing tight pants and heels as Madonna plays up the notion that boys can be girls gone wild, too (particularly when they’re gay). No stranger to less intelligently emulating Madonna, in fact, it’s a wonder Cyrus didn’t decide to call the song “Like A River.”

    As the video opens with “impressions” of Cyrus, followed by her silhouette (at one point in “superhero” pose), we then get a glimpse of just how much she looks like a young(er) Tish Cyrus (“must be somethin’ in the water/Know that I’m my mother’s daughter”), after which the camera pans out to reveal Cyrus on a runway-type stage with a bevy of spotlights on her. The decided “backstage”/“behind the scenes” photoshoot vibe of it all is compounded when Cyrus then appears against a giant white backdrop where she proceeds to mug for the unseen camera as she offers, “You could be the one/Have the honor of my babies/Hope they have your eyes and that crooked smile.” Not exactly a compliment/talk about using someone as a glorified sperm bank for bequeathing the desired attributes to one’s progeny.

    With regard to the lost potential for a concept centered around the “WAP” allusions of “River,” Cyrus places the most “gaze”-oriented emphasis on the male body (as they start to slowly creep in around the one-minute, twenty-second mark) rather than the female one (apart from her own, of course). Again, this indicates noticeably opting out of representing any other women in the mix that would indicate and make good on her pan(or at least bi)sexuality declaration. What’s more, because it’s the female “organ” that actually gets wet (subsequently providing wetness to the appendage that enters it) with river-esque proportions, it seems a waste that Cyrus should avert the viewer’s eyes from the very thing she’s actually referring to, even if it was done in a “subtle” manner (as subtle as Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion). Granted, male bodies like these are sure to incur the “river” “down there” that Cyrus is talking about…for straight women (and gay men alike). To drive home that point, Cyrus goes full-tilt “it’s raining men” (meets that famed scene from Flashdance) by the end of the video.

    All of that said, it’s rather undeniable that the song itself had far more potential to be “played with” than what Cyrus provides here. As for the defense/saying, “There’s beauty in simplicity,” that’s not quite the case with the visuals for “River,” which could have shown far more (to give another Madonna nod) girl(s) gone wild. Complete with them doing so amid the presence of an actual series of renowned rivers. Even the L.A. one, to be ironic…considering its near-constant state of dryness.

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    Genna Rivieccio

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  • Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” Takes the Sologamy Message of “thank u, next” To A New Level

    Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” Takes the Sologamy Message of “thank u, next” To A New Level

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    At the beginning of 2019, Ariana Grande was coming out of a whirlwind romance (complete with an engagement) to Pete Davidson. No one was all that upset about the breakup. After all, it had yielded an iconic meme involving a lollipop and, then, as Arianators were to find out, the best album of her discography. Called thank u, next, the eponymous first single took a candid, clear look at her relationships past, listing out the men by name as follows: “Thought I’d end up with Sean/But he wasn’t a match/Wrote some songs about Ricky/Now I listen and laugh/Even almost got married/And for Pete, I’m so thankful/Wish I could say ‘thank you’ to Malcolm/‘Cause he was an angel.” Obviously, not “angel” enough to make it worth it for Ari to stick around and endure his drug addiction, but hey, one can’t speak of ill of the dead. The point is, “thank u, next” was not only the sonic equivalent of Lindsay Lohan’s “fuck list,” it was also a slow unveiling of Grande’s revelation about how the relationship one has with herself is ultimately the greatest love affair of all.

    As far as societal messages geared toward hetero women go, this has always been deemed extremely dangerous (which is why it still remains rare). With every fairy tale and rom-com peddled, women are repeatedly told that, sure, you can pretend to be “content” with singledom for a while—have your fun on the dance floor, relish random one-night stands, etc.—but, eventually, you’re going to equate your self-worth and value with “finding a man.” In short, “it” follows. That ever-lingering, deep-seated mantra that goes: fall in “love,” get married and have kids. When someone like Grande—all “cute” and mainstream—briefly appeared to be quashing that mantra, it was a momentous occasion in pop culture. For, although she could have made yet another breakup with a man who couldn’t “get the job done” (least of all intellectually) come across as “heartbreaking,” she decided to render the single into a joyful celebration of the self. This being most manifest in the lyrics, “Plus, I met someone else/We havin’ better discussions/I know they say I move on too fast/But this one gon’ last ‘cause her name is Ari/And I’m so good with that.” Yes, that’s right—Grande effectively declared herself as her lifelong soul mate (Lana Del Rey once did the same, albeit in a tweet). Britney Spears has lately done something similar on her Instagram account by dressing in a wedding down and declaring she’s married herself… despite being married to the hologram known as Sam Asghari. In short, sologamy has become less and less of a “joke” (as Carrie Bradshaw sort of made it so that she could get her friend to replace her Manolo Blahniks by establishing her “gift registry” at said store). Instead, it’s starting to make all the sense in the world.

    Alas, that message felt a bit hollow when Grande married Dalton Gomez two years after “thank u, next” (yes, she really does move on fast). So now, Miley Cyrus has come along to pick up the slack and more confidently walk her talk. All while continuing to shade former flame/husband, Liam Hemsworth (e.g., “We were right ’til we weren’t/Built a home and watched it burn”). What’s more, it is absolutely no coincidence that Miley chose to drop the single and video for “Flowers” on Hemsworth’s thirty-third birthday. For those wondering how or why Cyrus could still be so “petty” by continuing to reference Hemsworth in her music (he being the dominant “muse” for the last few years), know this: women don’t forget their romantic slights. Their Love Is A Battlefield wounds. They can talk about it for the rest of their life (especially if it’s profitable), spend ages dissecting what went wrong or what caused the about-face in a man’s attitude toward her. Taylor Swift has created arguably the most enduring career out of it. And the obvious answer to “what went wrong,” of course, is that the girl in question “got too comfortable.” Was made to believe that she could ever truly be accepted without some form of veneer. But men, whether “cognizant” of it or not, need the veneers they swear mean nothing in order to stay “interested.” Miley is done playing that game, providing the first single from Endless Summer Vacation (a Del Rey-sounding project, to be sure) that firmly plants her in the sologamy camp. Indeed, she’s planned the release perfectly not only to shade Hemsworth, but for the imminence of Valentine’s Day a.k.a. Singles Awareness Day. Cue the tie-ins of various flower companies playing the song.

    And yet, with the video that Cyrus has made for “Flowers,” she’s essentially building on what Red Hot Chili Peppers said long ago: “Sometimes I feel like I don’t have a partner/Sometimes I feel like my only friend/Is the city I live in/The City of Angels.” Her tone, naturally, is far more jubilant as we see her strutting through the streets (and bridges) of L.A. (because, as she stated, Endless Summer Vacation is a “love letter” to that city). To help capture the sun-soaked isolation of Los Angeles, Cyrus secured model-turned-creative director Jacob Bixenman to helm the video. And, despite formerly loving Troye Sivan (another Ariana Grande favorite), Bixenman can still clearly appreciate the female form as he proceeds to showcase Miley swimming in her backyard and then performing some of the intense workout methods that have clearly given her the toned body we see before us. Indeed, some of her very deliberate positions (no Ari allusion intended) come across as a direct taunt at anyone who would ever dare to leave her and/or force her to leave them by treating her “less than.”

    From the series of backyard exercises to the tranquil shower session, it’s evident that all these blatant forms of self-care are a means to emphasize to the viewer that what Miley says is true: no one will ever be able to take care of you (nay, give as much of a shit about you) as well as you can. Especially if you have millions of dollars to aid with that care. Emerging from the shower in what can only be called a power suit (complete with dramatic shoulder pads) with no shirt on underneath, Miley then whole-heartedly confirms she can take herself dancing as she engages in some solo choreography inside her house that reminds one of Cameron Diaz’s moves as Amanda in The Holiday.

    By the end, as Miley finds herself on her roof with a helicopter looming above (again, it’s L.A.), she’s proven herself to be the new Queen of/Spokeswoman for Sologamy. Because, no, Ari didn’t much stick to her guns with the underlying message of “thank u, next” (she is, in the end, a self-proclaimed “needy” person a.k.a. a Cancer). But if anyone could stay consistent on this front, perhaps it’s Miley. Maybe she’ll end up truly being the exemplar of sologamy…rendering it no longer billable as the symptom of a “sad, ‘old’ cat lady,” but a hot puta who knows her worth and isn’t willing to compromise it for the so-called sake of not being “alone.”

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    Genna Rivieccio

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