Wed 13 Aug 2008 @18:06
Back in June [when I was going to post this...] I saw Sally Field [Yeah, I like her!] on The Tonight Show. Among other things, they discussed the infamous Miley Cyrus photos in Vanity Fair.
Ms. Field explained that all young people in the public eye have requests to which they should probably say, “No,” but that it takes experience and maturity to do that. As an example from personal experience she told about an appearance around the time she was starring as The Flying Nun. [I think she said she was a presenter for the Emmys when this happened, but I have searched in vain for any documentation or a copy of the clip they played.] Anyway, they had asked her to fly onto the stage and, just learning to assert herself, she agreed but refused to do so in costume. She would wear her own clothes — a pink pants suit that her mother made for her as I recall. And Jay Leno [super mogul that he is] actually had the clip of that event!
The next day, I happened to see a video of [country music phenom] Taylor Swift’s performance on the ACM Awards show. Now, I don’t watch awards shows. If you watch the video, the vocal performance isn’t very good [they never are on awards shows...] but the visuals are… interesting. Mute it if you have to to make it to the end. Here:
When I saw it I immediately thought about Sally Field’s comments and was sure that this performance was dreamed up by the show’s producers [because it seems that producers always have the sensibility of adolescent boys] and perhaps this was something that Ms. Swift should’ve said no to. After all, the very tall, very thin, and very young Taylor Swift is the embodiment of many young boy’s [and several dirty old men's] dreams. And this… um… might be termed a wet dream. [smirk]
A week or so later I learned that the idea for the waterfall was something that Taylor came up with when she was in middle school [well, I got the adolescent part right anyway] and that she had asked the producers if she could do it. Hmm.
Oh, and [if you've stuck with me this far] you may be wondering what reminded me of all this. One of her other songs is part of a soundtrack “created to inspire and support U.S. Olympic Team athletes as they pursue their Olympic dreams in Beijing”. Of course.
August 13th, 2008 at 18:46
Would, um, you be one of the aforementioned dirty old men? Hmmmmmm?
Once these kids get sucked into the marketing machine, it’s mostly over for saying NO anyway.
August 13th, 2008 at 20:13
well, being young, tall, thin and blonde seems to be about all she had going for her with that performance. her voice was off pitch and the way she stomped around in that dress was completely ungraceful. the waterfall added absolutely nothing to the song except for titilation factor …which perhaps was the point in order to distract from the rest of the performance which was so lacking.
oh, i am such a harsh reviewer aren’t i?
August 13th, 2008 at 22:30
If I might add a comment, though: Wouldn’t tearaway clothing like that be handy in multiple situations? Like if you were a bank robber. RRRRRRRRRRRIPPPPPP. Or if you wanted to impress your date. RRRRRRRRRRIIPPPPPPP.
You could wear many layers of clothes and have an outfit for every possible scenario. Of course, it would help to have cloddish back-up dancers follow you around to rip your clothes off whenever you wanted.
Mainly, I was distracted by the crappy lyrics and a nagging feeling that she was going to be electrocuted on stage.
August 16th, 2008 at 10:26
Who is this chick? Never heard of her but then again I’m not up to speed on the teeny boppers. But I’m with Jenn.. crappy lyrics.. “Should have said no..!”
August 18th, 2008 at 11:40
Yeah, the waterfall idea is a little much. She probably saw it in some sexy movie and thought of herself in that scene. I undersatnd where Sally Field is coming from b/c when celebrities are so young, it’s hard for them to stand up to these corporate types. But, I think that Miley Cyrus seems to be established enough that her parents and her manager/agent should’ve been able to step in and say that a nude photo was inappropriate for a 15 year old.