A high-profile singing career and iconic blonde hair are just about the only two things that Miley Cyrus and her former Disney identity have in common these days. Miley has traded in her long wig, guitar and sequined outfits for nude-colored, latex underwear and the suggestive dance moves to match, which has caused people all across the country to question how this once seemingly innocent Disney darling has strayed so far from her good-girl image.Â
It’s safe to say that post-haircut Miley has gone a bit off the deep end and twerked her way out of the hearts of her once adoring younger fans. Suddenly her pole dancing escapades from the 2009 Teen Choice Awards don’t seem as bad as we once thought. Will she ever be able to recover from her less-than-classy VMAs performance, or has she already done too much damage to her squeaky-clean, country girl persona? Either way, it’s clear that Miley could really learn a thing or two from her former alter ego when it comes to dealing with the stressful life of a world famous pop star.Â
1. Image Isn’t Everything
Remember when Hannah swapped her blonde wig for a red one, ditched her signature sparkly outfits for black leather and mesh and went through what can only be categorized as a major Hannah identity crisis? Cut over to modern-day Miley, and that’s what we call life imitating art. Hannah thought that she was “losing her edge,” so naturally her only option was to revamp her entire image, which ended up completely backfiring on her (hmm, sound familiar?).Â
If Miley could take away one life lesson from this episode, “Yet Another Side of Me,” it would be that image isn’t everything. You don’t need the crazy dance moves, risquĂ© outfits and over-the-top song lyrics for your fans to love you or to get attention. Just be yourself!Â
2. Life is all About BalanceÂ
The life of a world-renowned superstar can be pretty tough. Constantly being in the spotlight doesn’t leave much time for a girl to do normal, everyday things like go to lunch with her BFF without being blinded by the paparazzi or get a haircut without it trending on Twitter.
Miley should really take a page from Hannah’s book and learn how to balance being famous with living a normal life. Of course, unlike Hannah, she can’t take off her wig and suddenly disappear off of everyone’s radar, but she can set aside time, away from the spotlight and the fame, to hang with her family and friends and act like a normal girl for once. You don’t need to hit the clubs every weekend to have a good time! Maybe instead of twerking her way through NYC the night before the VMA’s, she should have done something a little more productive, like rest her voice for her big performance or watch a few episodes of Hannah Montana.Â
It sounds to us like Miley is in serious need of a girl’s night in, or at least a relaxing mani/pedi before she decides to get back out on the stage. Or she could always check out Her Campus and learn how to do cool nail designs herself! Now that’s what we call having the “Best of Both Worlds.”Â
3. Nobody’s Perfect
Just like Miley, Hannah has been known to make more than a few mistakes in her life. Whether it’s choosing boys over friends, using her emergency credit card to buy a totally cute pair of shoes or accidentally kissing her annoying neighbor Rico, Hannah has definitely made her fair share of bad decisions, so Miley’s not alone in this one.
While Hannah’s bad decisions are a lot more PG than any of Miley’s (getting caught smoking salvia and grinding on Robin Thicke are a little more risqué than accidentally buying yourself some new shoes), the same principles still apply. If Miley could take a cue from Hannah on how to deal with life’s everyday mishaps, it would be how to take your mistakes and learn from them. She’s already tongue-flailed on national TV once; no need to do it again.
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4. Surround Yourself With True Friends
Miley has been facing a lot of backlash over the past few weeks from every corner of the media, so it’s important for her to surround herself with a close group of trustworthy friends (and no, that does NOT include Robin Thicke). Miley needs to find her own stable support group to help guide her through life, be there for her when the criticism is too much to handle and tell her when it’s really time to start cutting down on the blonde hair dye.Â
Nicole and Paris aren’t exactly known for their good advice, Amanda Bynes isn’t too easy to contact these days and Taylor and Selena don’t seem to be Miley’s biggest fans considering they laughed their way through her VMAs performance, so it seems as though she’ll be better off searching for a new BFF outside Hollywood.
But let’s be real; no one will ever compare to the dynamic duo that is Lilly and Oliver. Â
5. Don’t Let Success Get to Your Head
Miley’s steady incline in fame over the past few years has gone straight to her head, and she’s not afraid to show it. Her musical success has caused her ego to swell to massive proportions, and it doesn’t seem like it’s coming down any time soon.Â
She left the VMAs before they were over because she knew she was most likely not going to win the “Song of the Summer” award, and then sent an angry, passive-aggressive tweet when the award ended up going to the hotties of One Direction. She later deleted the tweet after receiving an onslaught of angry fan tweets. Thank goodness for screenshots!Â
Miley should really follow in Hannah’s footsteps and be more humble about everything that she’s accomplished in her career. Even if she didn’t take home the award for “Song of the Summer,” she should have stayed and supported the people who did win. It’s called good sportsmanship! There will be plenty more award shows to attend and plenty more awards to win.Â
Being proud of yourself is great; being cocky is not. No need to be a diva here.
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It’s safe to say that Miley will never be the same Hannah Montana who we once knew and loved. Even the valuable life lessons learned in the last five minutes of each episode are not enough to keep Miley from becoming the latest young starlet to go a little bit crazy. Despite all of our advice and high hopes for Miley to get her life back on track, we think it’s pretty obvious that “We Can’t Stop” the girl from doing her thing.Â