Miley Cyrus On What Finally Snapped Her Out of Her ‘Rebel Phase’
Go back in time seven years and you’ll likely remember the shock and dismay by some Disney fans of Miley Cyrus skyrocketing from Disney princess to over-the-top pop star/actress. At this point, we’d seen our share of former Disney stars who’d gone on to more mature things. All of them pale in comparison to Cyrus pushing the showbiz thermometer mercury to beyond the red.
If this turned off many then, it also brought new fans. Nowadays, you can find a much more mature Cyrus who’s proved her worth as a major artist. Many of her old fans who shunned her then have also returned.
What snapped her out of her rebellious phase? She’s had some interesting things to say about it.
Miley Cyrus says her wild antics were by design
Even back when Cyrus went crazy with her provocative videos, stage performances, and open cannabis use, she claims now there was design behind the madness. During the time it happened, there was already a precedent set for doing controversial things to gain publicity. In 2013, the bar had already been set by others and it seemed no one could go any further without alienating fans.
Cyrus certainly bothered some, maybe more than we knew. On the other hand, a large portion of her demographic ate it up, as did the media. Latter coverage of her allowed her to have an open spotlight about virtually anything.
Her wild image came to a head when she appeared at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards. Her famous twerking moves on Robin Thicke with a giant foam finger is still the stuff of notorious legend.
For her conservative fans, it was the end of the world. In Cyrus’s mind, it was a chance to shine a light on the issues she wanted to bring forward.
Is Cyrus’s explanation true, or just revisionist history?
Maybe Cyrus isn’t very happy with how ostentatious and salacious she was back in the early part of this decade. A lot of artists who do daring things sometimes look back in disdain at what they were thinking when they were younger.
Nobody can say Cyrus is completely changed now since she still does and says daring things at times. Saying she did those stunts to gain more attention to her most important causes is something arguably up for debate.
You can’t say Cyrus wasn’t already receiving tremendous attention while still at Disney. During that time, she was making a massive fortune and had the full attention of the teen demographic thanks to Hannah Montana.
At the same time, she maybe wasn’t capturing the adult demographic who pull all the strings in making donations to important charities. Maybe Cyrus was right acting like a wild adult star made the adults sit up and take notice, including those who hated what she was doing.
Cyrus probably matured organically
If Cyrus managed to call attention to her most important causes like LGBT rights and helping others in general, going from wild young woman to more mature artist was perhaps a natural process.
Once she was able to prove herself as a top-tier musical artist who we all recognize on the first note, she didn’t have to do anything wild to be taken seriously. Plus, she’s had some things happen in her life to give her a new perspective on being more serious-minded about everything.
After she lost her home in the Malibu fires last year, she truly did sober up on numerous things about her life, including her marriage to Liam Hemsworth. One can argue when you face tragic loss in your life, you no longer live life on the edge anymore.
Whether it’ll tame Cyrus permanently remains to be seen as she continues ruling the world of music almost as much as Taylor Swift does.
