Miley Cyrus’ new album, Bangerz, is here, and it’s a beautiful disaster. While it was released only 2 days ago, it has already achieved unbelievable success, reaching #1 on iTunes in a matter of two minutes, but not for the reasons you would think.
Before Bangerz, the last album Miley released was back in 2010. It was titled Can’t Be Tamed, which was kind of cute and endearing, seeing as this was her way of trying to prove to everyone that she had grown out of the Hannah Montana phase — but no one bought it, literally. The album flopped because no one could take her “rebel” image seriously. Almost every song on that album seems to borrow its shell from another pop diva, like Lady Gaga or Britney Spears, in which case, it all seemed inauthentic because outside of her performance she still looked like America’s Sweetheart. But that all changed in 2012 with one haircut.
After disappearing for a few years to pursue her acting career, Miley decided to pursue music again. This time, however, Miley was determined to be in control of every part of its production, promotion, and marketing plan in order to make sure it represented herself truly and uniquely. Putting the throttle down on her “bad girl” image in August 2012, she chopped her hair off and shaved one side, leaving something that resembled a blonde David Beckham. We were all stunned, but more importantly, intrigued. She recaptured our attention and made sure we didn’t look away. She accomplished this especially by making herself omnipresent in the social media world, constantly talking to her fans via twitter as well as uploading personal videos to Youtube. Yes, I’m referring to Miley’s first twerking video released in March 2013 that features the star donning a Unicorn onesie. My point here is that Miley saw how much of an impact social media could have on her career, so she took to her already incredibly deep fan base to promote it in every way she could.
Before Cyrus released “We Can’t Stop,” she had been tweeting about the track a month before its release, updating her fans on every part of the production process. And when the video for it dropped on June 17, she shocked us all — just like she had planned. Some people were disturbed, others surprised, and a lot even unnerved, but what they all had in common is the fact that they were talking. Everyone was talking. She had her dedicated fans talking. She had newscasters all over the country talking. She even had grandmas talking. Miley Cyrus and “We Can’t Stop” were the only things America could talk about for the entire months of June and July. She was trolling America in order to gain the attention necessary to promote her new album, and she was doing it well, in full control of the situation.
Using similar tactics to “We Can’t Stop,” Miley announced and promoted Bangerz. One integral part to the album’s promotion was undoubtedly her racy VMA performance. We thought we were shocked by her music video for “We Can’t Stop,” until we watched her grab her crotch in a nude body suit with a giant foam finger. She took things to a whole separate level, challenging all kinds of conventions, norms, and expectations — all to keep America talking. CNN even ran news of her performance as their headline over the war in Syria. Therefore, due to her promotional genius, it came as no surprise when Bangerz went #1 on iTunes within a mere 2 minutes of its official release. And after listening to the entirety of the album for legitimately 2 hours on repeat, I think it’s safe to say she follows through with her bad girl image, breaking many racial and gender norms in the process of exploring atypical genres for a white girl who grew up as the face of Disney. In fact, many critics have put down Bangerz for this exact reason. To which I say, shame on you. Shame on you for writing off an album as “totally schizo” (I’m looking at you DailyBeast) because it explores so many genres that it can’t be considered just one. That’s taking the easy route, the one that doesn’t consider each track as its separate piece of work. I respect Miley for stepping out of the box and not worrying about close-minded critics who are going to write a shitty review because they can’t categorize it and, therefore, fail to figure it out. With Bangerz, because Miley was in control of the entire project from production to promotion, she gave us something raw and real and what she felt like reflected exactly every part of her complex identity. Whether you agree that her album is amazing or terrible, one thing I think we an all agree on is its ability to capture our attention.