By Sorilbran Stone
What the heck was that?
Don’t play coy. You know what I’m talking about. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Now, she’s not my child, but I have a daughter entering adulthood and such behavior on a global stage would surely have sent me into a Florida Evans-inspired, punch-bowl-dropping frenzy.
Sometimes kids see it coming
After years of listening to my daughters watch episodes of Hannah Montana in their bedrooms, my oldest daughter came to me one day – maybe 4 years ago – and resolved that she was “So through with Miley Cyrus.”
Where was this coming from? Miley/Hannah was the reigning queen of cool in my house at the time. We even had that annoying Christmas Hannah doll that sang Christmas carols.
“Why? What’s up?” I asked. This most certainly had to be good.
“She just showed her bra strap in a video. And I think she was getting high.”
“Whaaat?” I didn’t believe it. And more, I thought my daughter was overreacting. I mean, she didn’t even know Miley Cyrus in real life, but she was behaving as if Miley had spit in her face. I suppose to some extent, she had. Up until the bra incident, Miley was my daughter’s hero. I reminded my daughter that people are flawed and human and it’s not fair to expect perfection from anybody, whether famous or not. My daughter wasn’t trying to hear me though.
Fast forward four years and lo and behold, my shorty was right. I think I’m through too, Baby Girl.
We all go crazy sometimes
It’s not a new story. Britney Spears went through her crazy period. Kanye was storming award show stages years ago. Lindsay Lohan is still trying to make it back on this side of the line. Heck, I didn’t even recognize a picture of Lil Kim that made its way into my Facebook feed last night. Honey, I thought it was Latoya Jackson! We’ve all been there. Whose mother didn’t have to choke them out a time or two for getting out of line? Mine did. My grandmothers choked out half a dozen daughters each and their mothers choked and their mothers choked and so on.
Rebellion happens. We all go through it. I watch as one of my girls works her way through her rebellious period while her younger sister is on her way into one. But most of us are blessed that our rebellions didn’t happen on stage… or on film (Girls Gone Wild regrets anyone?). In fact, that’s part of the training that goes into raising a girl these days. “Whatever you do, keep your face off the camera and don’t send it to the cloud.” I suppose what makes this whole Miley Goes A-Twerkin’ phenomenon a little off-putting is the fact that we are watching it go down in living rooms across American and across the globe.
Insert sad face emoticon.
Let’s not and say we did
There’s a disconnect for me on what Miley does and what the YouTube video girls do. Somehow, Miley’s twerk seems… inauthentic. Ho-hum. Coerced. I believe she’ll make it back to us though. Miley is a talent I adore, but just can’t seem to stomach right now.
See you when you make it to the other side, girl.
