Miley Cyrus has a difficult history with the VMAs. She was perhaps one of the last “MTV artists,” one of the last pop artists who really benefited from MTV, and whose career was shaped by her MTV appearances. But she’s also the woman who twerked on Robin Thicke, couldn’t keep her tongue in her mouth and became a national talking point. Oh, and let’s not forget the time Nicki Minaj called her out at the VMAs (the “WHAT’S GOOD” heard ‘round the world). All in all, Miley needs MTV and MTV needs Miley.
So Miley decided to make her first public appearance, following Liam Hemsworth’s divorce filing, at the VMAs. She didn’t walk the carpet, but she performed. She performed her new song “Slide Away,” which she released as a “it’s all Liam’s fault” argument, something about whiskey and pills. MTV agreed to show the performance in black & white, for artsy reasons. Something nice: her body looks great these days. Something not nice: her hair is a complete tragedy, made worse by the “wet look.”
An okay performance. The set design and the pared-down performance reminded me of some of Rihanna’s Grammy/VMA/AMA performances. After the VMAs, Miley was seen leaving with Kaitlynn Carter. Kaitlynn was apparently there, at the VMAs, backstage during the show.
Miley Cyrus and Kaitlynn Carter coupled up for some post-#VMAs fun! https://t.co/V2cqdrGXM3
— JustJared.com (@JustJared) August 27, 2019
Photos courtesy of Getty.
OMG that hair. Like a drowned rat. She is in amazing shape though, she must work out constantly.
She has one of those voices I just don’t enjoy listening to.
The hair is so awful. I agree with you about her voice, too. To each his own though.
Agreed, her hair looks as if she hasn’t washed it since the break up with Liam hit the news.
Yeah the hair is just urgh but while I agree somewhat with her voice she can sing and its not everyones cup of tea. To me her voice is very country, its not really suited to pop.
I think she has genuine musical ability and a very distinctive voice.
I can see that it might not appeal to everyone. For instance I cannot bear Celine singing but adore every other aspect of her. Music is subjective.
I thought this was a great performance and I loved her look. It felt very real to me.
Otherwise I’m bored by their story. I wish them both silence and wellness
I’m in the minority – I don’t think her bod looks good. She looks sinewy and has weird sagging, muscle-wasting and vein-popping in odd spots…. unfortunately that’s a sign of drug use because she is too young to have the arms of an elderly-woman-in-shape (which is what this looks like in some photos). Poor Miley.
Agreed. She looks unwell to me.
I think this is an absolutely incredible performance. She gave me chills. Her voice sounded incredible, it was very emotional. This live version is much better than the recorded version and this black and white performance makes for a better video than the actual video.
That said, the whisky and pills line seems gross and unnecessary and takes away from my enjoyment of the song. It seems cruel and petty. The song didn’t need it.
I think she is insanely thin these days and looking very washed out and possibly strung out; but that said, a lot of people lose weight and look washed out and strung out from stress and her relationship of the better part of the decade just broke up a month or so ago. Fair enough. I hope she takes care of herself.
That said, I think her body looks very toned and pretty amazing in this dress (sadly, overly thin films well). The dress is spectacular and her stance and makeup is spot on. The hair is… not great; but I think it might be an artistic choice. Like she’s emerged from the ocean (wet hair, glossy make-up and skin) and is heading back to the city life in her city gal dress and heels. Works for the song.
I really do love her intonation and vocal skill on this live version of this song (apart from the opening little woh wohs). And credit to her, she most definitely sang this live and absolutely nailed it. A lot of performers were lip synching some or all of their performances.
She did well. Must have been a tough performance and she killed it. I can’t get this song out of my head.
“Once upon a time,” Miley ? You mean 8 months ago when you posed for your wedding photos? I can’t.
Me neither.
Unfortunately I know of a few couples who were together many years, got married and were divorced in under 2 years (and in one case only made it to six months).
People think that marriage will change things, but if your relationship isn’t right a marriage licence won’t suddenly make it better.
Clearly these two fall into this category.
That makes sense, but it must work the other ways sometimes, like if one or both isn’t sure about the other’s sense of commitment and the “going thru with it” helps? I’m certainly not the expert! 52 and never even engaged 🙂
This is just such an obvious commodification of what should be a private matter, I can’t support it. She seems like she is being a bully, using her platform to blast her ex and make accusations that could seriously impact his career.
It just seems so cynical and callous to me, especially considering the timing and calculated, premeditated roll out. Accusing him of substance issues via song just seems really wrong from my perspective. And then using that song as a way to hype yourself? SMH.
I have a hard time feeling empathy about someone going “back to the ocean.” Life’s rough!
“This is just such an obvious commodification of what should be a private matter.” Artists often draw on their pain to create art but this feels different, and you’ve captured the reason. It’s the selling of her (probably false) narrative of their relationship’s end to deflect criticism.
I’m confused. They’ve not been married a year and she’s already written and recorded and released this song. When did she write it? The day after the wedding?
It’s not that hard to write, and, especially release the song ourdays. Drake released response for Pusha T diss track in a 24h.
And some press reported they had broken up month before they released their statements in July.
She has grown up since she pretended her bouquet was a penis!
Married for a year or not they have history since they were teenagers.
I watched a recent performance from June from a festival in Barcelona and she could barely get through the song Malibu. Judge her at you want but walking away from a marriage is not an easy thing. So when I watched this performance and heard her belt out “I’m grown now, so slide away” I felt that.
She is a performer and plays up for the camera for sure. He song “can’t be tamed” holds true to her personality but I just can’t pin her as the toxic person the media paints her to be.
I was thinking she looked strung out, but maybe I am missing the muscle definition. I hope she is doing okay post divorce filing.
Oh Miley, I want to root for you and your extra attitude. But your sanctimonious rants about how much more evolved you are than the rest of us plebeians makes it tough. I hope she finds peace and happiness.
Yeah I have to agree with this. Her body looks more drug related than Pilates to me.
I’ve had the same concern with her appearance. I spent a little time on her instagram after all this drama came out, and to me she looks like she’s on drugs lately. Like, hard drugs. I truly hope not.
Yeah, she does not look healthy to me. I understand there can be different forms of healthy, and maybe the hair is throwing me off… take some time away Miley, take a break.
Once upon a time.. she got married less than a year ago…
I actually think her appearance is a little concerning. Her body is thinner than usual and she looked a little dead behind the eyes. I don’t particularly enjoy her, but I hope she’s taking care of herself and doing OK.
That hair…no.
The “wet” look never looks good to me. It just looks oily and like she needs to bathe.
I really hate this wet look too. When I’m working out and my hair gets wet because of the sweat, I feel so gross, I can’t imagine having that wet hair for fashion purposes??
She is morphing into Madonna. 60 year old Madonna
About those whiskey and pill lyrics: even if they are true (which I’m highly skeptical) why are you so quick to put a man you loved for 10 years suffering from addiction on blast to minutes after you separate? Isn’t the person you love worth more than “your art”?
This is after the relentlessly spotlighting your rebound on your social media. It’s not up to Miley to fix Liam if he is partaking in substance abuse, but maybe give it a second before recording a preforming a song that claims this two seconds after the breakup. Especially as it is something she freely admits to also participating in just a few years ago.
Indeed. But people do strange and stupid stuff after a break up. Some even do revenge porn so…. Writing a song throwing your husband under the bus does not surprise me. She will probably regret later when she is past that stage of the break up.
I’m old. That’s all!
Well, I thought she did great. I frankly don’t care much about her and Liam so all I can talk about it her performance. Her vocals were amazing, and I really like her voice. Wish she released more songs like this one.
I’m always shocked how far down I have to read these comment threads to read something positive and supportive of Miley Cyrus. She’s one of the most viscerally talented in her peer group. The thing we have to remember is that women (people, but we need more of a reminder for women) don’t have to be likable, we never have an obligation for people to “like” us. Why would we? And to everyone? That’s impossible. All throughout the public image of her (still private) relationship, the general commentary ranted about how she should “grow up,” “tame” or “contain” herself. Why? For whom?
Miley included all of the LGBT guests from Taylor’s performance this year during her own performance in 2015. Honestly, if we’re rooting for normalization of shamelessly being WhoeverTF we want to be, her video for “Mother’s Daughter” deserves more praise than Taylor’s, at least it wasn’t as commercially-minded. She’s been an ally for years.
Miley is a SINGER and an extraordinary talent. She doesn’t have to be liked and so long as she continues learning from her actions about growing, maturing (in her own way, on her own terms( she really owes no one anything in terms of being an “example” of whatever impossible more people throw at her.
Yes, she can cool it with the appropriation, but I think she’s getting there…kind of like we all catch things about ourselves that need work and we all do our best to be better—with time.
Lastly, I think we can all take a hint from Sophie Jonas (is the name change real?) who gave her performance a standing ovation despite how much Miley may be publically disliked. This is where women supporting other women makes sense, when it isn’t easy and when all the woman in mind is doing is whatever she wants, however she wants to do it.
Love what you’re saying.
Miley put Sinead o Connor on blast by posting tweets from a mental health episode Sinead was having. Miley mocked her.
She doesn’t support other women. She supports herself and virtue signals every now and then.
And if Liam actually does have a drug problem then putting his problems on blast in a song is also pretty damn immature.
She confuses me. On one hand she seems completely fine with people not liking her, she “leans into the mess” as Lainey put it. On the other hand, she spent two weeks leaking story after story to blame Liam for their break up, basically denying any fault at all. All the mudslinging from her side makes me want to defend him. I guess you could probably say the same about defending her here with so many negative comments. She is very talented and I do like most of her music.
I tend to agree Leah. In today’s pop landscape, when so many “singers” sound like Camila Cabello and Taylor Swift (sorry, I said it), I really appreciate artists like Miley Cyrus and Ariana Grande who can actually SING. I don’t pay much attention to the drama behind the scenes because, let’s be honest, we’ll never know the whole truth, just the information that two dueling camps matriculate into the cultural zeitgeist.
Is that you, Madonna?
She wore a t-shirt saying she was touched by Terry R. mocking his victims. How is that supporting other women?
she also mocked Jodie Sweetin on Insta so she doesn’t get a pass from me. And she is making money with a song about her husband’s alleged addiction, which is just gross. So no support for her from my side (not that she cares).
There are examples over the years both of when she was supportive of women and of when she was not supportive of different women, like the examples 2bounce and Elisa brought up. The Shuhada Davitt situation (O’Connor’s new… transracial name) is not one of the better examples of her needing to be more supportive of women though. Davitt was using her respected position to blame bad male behavior on the way women dress and present themselves, as she has on more than one occasion. She also implied that sex workers are less than.
Leah, just as women don’t have to be likeable, women aren’t obligated to like other women they find immature, crass, or racist.
@MariahS: Thank you. I do find Miley immature, crass, vulgar and self-obsessed. I’ve been accused of being paternalistic, misogynistic and anti-feminist for my opinions but it is what it is. I will not admire or reward her for her supposed “wokeness” or outlandish “I gotta be me” idiocy. She’s simply using shock tactics like Madonna to acquire the attention she desperately seems to need.
And it’s all true. It has nothing to do with dislike though, and everything to do with motives, patterns, and how certain things are expressed.
@Leah – Bravo! I’m in Total Agreement. Not only did Sophie Jonas and many other artists in the house give a standing applause, but the applause from the audience was one of the loudest moments of the night. She is only 26 and she is one of the most vocally talented and hard working woman of any generation … “Mother’s Daughter” was female a power anthem featuring activist icons such as Mari Copeny, Angelina Duplisea, Lacy Baker, Aaron Philip and more, and her words “nasty and evil” were a direct FU to trump and his characterizations of any female who stands up to his BS. It is a pleasure to watch her become more empowered and in turn dedicate herself to empowering others. She embodies the real process of evolving which is inherently not the ridiculous expectation of so-called perfection.
Yeah, I enjoyed her performance too. I actually liked the song, thought her voice was pretty good and liked her entire look including her “wet hair.” She also has an amazing body.
Do not like her voice. And she always looks like she needs a hot long shower with harsh soap and a scrub brush.
There is a video of her singing Jolene, barefoot in her backyard. She does it so well.
She does have a strong voice, I just don’t personally like her tone and style. But she’s definitely not an autotuned fake pop star.
Her appearance makes me think she has her own ‘whiskey and pills.’
she cannot ABSOLUTELY CANNOT sing. her voice is like nails on a chipmunk high on helium. i strongly believe that the only way she stays “relevant” is by way of all these high school relationship dramas and good girl gone wild controversies. she needs a serious break away from the spotlight to reassess her life.
That hair is the classic break up bangs trauma!
People grow and change as they age. Some people can grow together, others grow apart. People are in your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime. The truly magical thing about love isn’t the love itself. It’s the fact that two humans feel the exact same way, at the exact same time and manage to make it work. I actually really enjoyed this song. I’m normally not a big Miley voice fan.
I was really surprised that I like this song
She has grown up in front of the world and to my mind she has a ways to go
BUT i will say that sometimes with an intense long term relationship (esp with a break in it) when you finally get to the “top of the mountain”or the thing you think you want (wedding) you realize Its really is done. Even a marriage can’t make it work. And that’s actually sad but not unusual. Look at Angie and Brad. They married after years together and were done not too long after…
I think she may be an a-hole sometimes, But i think all the sanctimonious comments are silly; she has always been loyd and obnoxious for better or worse. This is not new.
She is free to be herself now. Let her do that and if you don’t agree then “let it go”
Thats my take anyway!
Her tattoos just make her arms look dirty.
Honestly although I think she’s got a good voice, bit gratey but she can sing, I’m just totally put off by her antics over the years. I’d hoped she’d grown up but same old Miley, like a ricocheting pinball. So over it. She’s a bit irrelevant now too. I think she’s well passed her time.