Miley's Pole Dance - Manufactured Controversy

Yesterday while perusing the usual music news blogs and websites I came across the recent story that teen star Miley Cyrus did a pole dance as part of her performance at the Teen Choice awards telecast. I of course could care less what this Disney product is doing and didn’t give it a second thought. Today while watching a prominent cable news channel, I was treated to a debate on Miss Cyrus’s pole dance. They where discussing the inappropriateness of her doing this when one of the commentators through in the suggestion, that this was a calculated move on her part, to signal that she is maturing as an artist.

Now first of all, the mere fact that something as irrelevant as a pole dance by Miley Cyrus is even news worthy (even in the context of asking if it is appropriate) is discouraging. But the commentator is probably right. I am sure that her managers/handlers/father sat had a meeting and said something to the effect that she is not getting any younger and we have to start transitioning her from teen star to adult star.....So let's go manufacture some controversy.

So they decide to have her do a pole dance on TV to show the world that their little girl/product is becoming a “mature” artist.

Never did it cross their minds that maybe she could instead sing a song of a more serious nature, perhaps songs that reflect a growing maturity…..but then she would have to be real music artist to do that.

My first assumption about Miley Cyrus, was that her songs are written for her by committee and/or men in their 40’s who write songs that follow a formula of topics that will appeal to young teen girls. I have been informed by knowledgeable parent, that she is listed as a song writer on most of the songs that are not released under the Hannah Montanna logo. And while I wont argue this, I do know that there has been a long history (The best known case being Elvis) Wherein pop stars are given a co writing credit (for songs that they did not write) in exchange for recording them. Maybe this is true for her too and maybe not. But so far, my opinion is that Miley/Hannah/Cyrus/Montanna isn’t designed to make young girls think, or to musically enrich their lives. She is designed to get money out of their parents wallets.

At last years Grammy awards telecast, Miley did a duet with another teen star Taylor Swift. I am not a fan of Taylor Swift either, but I recognize the distinct difference between the two. Taylor is the real deal. She is a teenage singer songwriter and a musician. She writes songs that communicate to teen audience because she is writing from her own experience. As she grows older and more mature, her song will reflect that. she wont need to do a pole dance, dress scantily, or bump and grind to show that she is growing up. I also feel very confident that she will never need to relay on pre-recorded vocal tracks or a team of dancers to pull of a performance.....unlike a lot of other pop stars.

My advice to parents: Choose the Taylor Swift album instead.