#TheYOUTH

words.

"Ms. Cyrus has been widely lambasted for her sonic choices, as if appropriation of black culture weren’t the default state of white culture, as if it hasn’t been that way for generations. She may have come by her taste honestly, or she may be carpetbagging — it hasn’t been that many years since she insisted she’d never heard a Jay Z song — and she may be playing fast and loose with signifiers with no larger understanding of their historical meaning.

Whichever the case, it’s clear that the rules that she’s breaking belong to an earlier generation, not her own. (That goes for her post-erotic take on sexuality, too.)

...Plus, a tremendous amount of her appeal is visual. She is, quite suddenly, a 360-degree pop star. From her chopped, bleached hair to her white nail polish to her VFiles fashion choices to her Terry Richardson-directed videos, she’s leaped to the front of the pop class in terms of presentation. Her apparent fearlessness has more to do with the rejection of how Old Miley looked than how she sounded. Those bold choices have helped Ms. Cyrus fill the current void of a female pop idol. Her closest competition now isn’t Lady Gaga — who appears eager to abandon pop stardom in favor of cheap experimental theater — but probably Katy Perry. No matter how candy-colored Ms. Perry’s image is, though, her insides are milk white.

The thrill of Ms. Cyrus is that it’s virtually impossible to know what her insides look like.

...Ms. Cyrus is channeling, chewing up and digesting several generations of transgressive pop divas. Her spectacle isn’t about the size of the shock, but the unexpected twists and turns on the way. It’s sloppy and invigorating and, at its best, interesting. She’s experimenting with the shape of pop stardom — let her live."

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Get Back, and Just Let Miley Cyrus Grow Up