Critical Approaches to Gender and 21st Century Pop Music

Miley Cyrus is featured in Mike WiLL Made-It's new music video for "23." Caught my attention because someone posted this on Facebook, saying the following: "Miley Cyrus... No one wants to 'get like you.' Sorry sweetheart."

Ha! I love how much I agree with that person. I watched this video the other day and found it just awful. She says how she wants to shock people and I think with every video that comes out, she does shock that little bit more. But the shock isn't a positive thing. People are starting to get irritated with her more than anything, I know I am and eventually, the shock and irritation will make people lose interest in her. It is likely that people would have got bored of her had she stayed her usual Hannah Montana self, but at least she wouldn't have been irritating. No matter how hard she tries, she's always going to have a part of her Disney past to her name, similarly, no matter what she does, these publicity stunts she keeps pulling are going to be with her for even longer. The person she is now, she isn't going to want to be her forever and one day she will wake up and realise what an idiot she's made of herself. She'll also realise that this 'reckless persona' that she's made is going to be MUCH harder to shake off. Sorry, that turned into a little bit of a rant. I just have a lot to say on Miley Cyrus!

I agree with you Gina, but i think what the problem is, is that despite people becoming bored and irritated by her people want to see what see does next. Is it going to be more outlandish or shocking than the next? And that is what i think Miley herself counts on. Like she said in her new documentary trailer, she'd rather be talked about for two week than two seconds. So in turn i think that she see's any publicity, even if it's bad publicity, is better than no publicity at all.

An interesting article that tries to explain Miley's expansion on her new identity, in terms of pushing the "slut line."

I came across this article and it reminded me of the discussion in class where gender is fluid, it changes and what the meaning's on gender and sex were. According to article it describes a culture in Mexico where there are ''Muxes'', these are Zapotec indigenous men who dress and behave in ways associated with women. But Muxes are most commonly known as a third gender, rather than a sexual orientation. It is interesting to see that in the article the muxes aren't ridiculed in their hometown, but actually celebrated, for instance they have a party, and to the muxes themselves they see that it is ''important to have this party to rescue our culture, to rescue who we are and show the rest of the people in this city how we live our sexuality, how we exercise our rights''. On the other hand, mothers in the Juchitan area of Mexico encourage their sons of the muxe leanings because their think the ''Muxes are a blessing from God because their look after you when your sick.....''. All in all this culture in Mexico is very different and when many others see this type of identity as unusual or even disgraceful especially in more conservative places in Mexico.

This long - over an hour - but Dr. Dines discusses rape and porn culture and it's affect on society and the impact it has on women. I particularly thought her discussion of the Paris Hilton sex tape was relevant to our discussion about Miley Cyrus. She encourages people to "think about the trauma of being nineteen years old and that is circulating everywhere. Just for a moment what it must have felt like, and then, like most women who are traumatized," she had "two choices" to either "hide" or "decided...to embrace that trauma and 'own' it as your own....if you're going to call (Paris Hilton) a slut, then...(she'll) be the best slut you've ever met in your life". This all or nothing attitude that women in our "image based" culture must have to survive. Granted, this talk is about the porn industry, but I think a lot of it can also be used in discussions of women and pop music. Be warned, though, it does include some pretty graphic language. EDIT: Around 45 minutes in she talks about Miley Cyrus's photoshoot for Vanity Fair and the hypersexualization of young girls. It takes place before the VMAs, but she still talks about the transition from Hannah Montana to Miley Cyrus.

A discussion of Katy Perry's comment that she is not a feminist that she made while accepting the Billboard Woman of the Year award. Really, this article uses the comment to discuss feminism in women's pop music as a whole.

I personally viewed this article just as a reminder of the "meaning" and purpose of feminism and how celebrities fit into the feminist movement, if they do, how, and why.

Someone's...interesting view on Telephone.

Miley Cyrus's new video for "23"

But... but I already posted this... :(

You did! And your post was much better than mine!

The Rolling Stone's interview with Miley Cyrus in which she attempts to explain her reasoning behind her VMA performance, the Wrecking Ball music video and ratchet culture.  

This was mentioned in the article about the Katy Perry Movie. It's pretty amusing and gives you a closer look at some of the lyrics to "Last Friday Night". 

I laughed a few times while reading this. I enjoyed the line by line analysis and completely agree with the overall message he was trying to get across.

"Well how about that. Miley Cyrus is self-aware." Pretty self-explanatory; I liked this because I think it brings out a fresh perspective of Cyrus.

I liked this article because it gives the pros and cons of Taylor Swift, whether you like her or dislike her. The author does a great job stating straight facts about Taylor Swift. I thought that she has dated an outrageous amount of men throughout her career due to all of the breakup songs, but she really has only dated five guys in the past six years!

Similarly to Carolyn Gerig, I also find it irritating when people say they don't like Taylor Swift because she 'dates too many guys'. People tend to base this off the fact that a majority of her MOST POPULAR songs are break up songs and the fact that her relationships are all the media can seem to talk about. In this article, Gearig explains how people who have this view on her need to get their facts straight before making their judgement on her. If you don't like her style of music or you don't think she's a good singer, then by all means have it your way. But if your reasons for not liking her are due to her relationship habits, then you need to read this and have a rethink.

Get the scoop on Nicki, Miley and Charlie Sheen! It amused me that this came up on my newsfeed on facebook and it quite simply gives the real name of pop stars and their origins

The quote Miley uses "People are going to talk, might as well make them talk for two weeks instead of two seconds" Is a really interesting take on why celebrities have overdramatize things. 

This blog post talks about Lady Gaga's video for "Born this Way."  Horn believes that while Lady Gaga establishes herself as Queen Elizabeth I in the opening of her video, Lady Gaga is an "anti" Queen Elizabeth I because of the gender issues between the two.

Article that reviews "Katy Perry: Part of Me"

Post on the best "We Can't Stop" Cyrus parodies

It was something we touched on a few classes ago about Miley Cyrus being the centre of attention in the VMAs controversy yet Robin Thicke managed to slice through without much criticism. In this article it is suggested that sexism and discrimination are really the only reason anyone is still talking about Miley's raunchy performance at the VMAs last month.

'Miley Cyrus Vogue Cover Won't Twerk for Anna Wintour' Because of her atrocious display at the VMAS, The Editor-in-Chief of Vogue. Anna Wintour has decided to cut Miley's chance to appear on the cover of the most prestigious fashion magazine. This article explains more and how this once in a life time opportunity could have helped her career escalate, instead, it might just help ruin it.