Miley Cyrus
Miley Ray Cyrus is an American singer/songwriter. In 2006 she became a world-wide teen idol in cooperation with Disney through her television series 'Hannah Montana'- to which she played Miley Ray Stewart, a school girl with an alter ego to play the secret celebrity life of worlds most teen iconic popstar Hannah Montana. Mileys successful programme led to the purity devoting teen icon to go on tour with 'The best of both worlds' which eventually led into the creation of film.
Being signed to 'Hollywood Records' in 2007, Miley created the solo album 'Breakout'- it was commercially successful.
2007- Breakout album: "7 things"
This is a concept/ performance based music video performed by Cyrus in a studio set. There are many different young girls between the ages of 13-15 looking solemn with many iconographic instruments such as bunches of flowers, large teddy bears and mobile phones- all symbolic for typical romantic gestures that we, as the viewer, understands were meant to be symbols from their past relationships.
Miley is looking glamorous and suitable for her age-group that she is reaching out for in this audience. This is evident through the girls we see featured in the music video, how they appear individually and when the rock-pop chorus kicks in, there are plenty of long shots to show how they are all together jumping around and helping eachother become happy again. This shows to the audience that Miley is like any other girl through her interaction with the other girls- all of them portraying a 'teen rock' image that suits with the style of music.
The background throughout the music video is a light grey, this is to focus on the facial expressions of Cyrus and the younger children. There are frequent mid shots of Cyrus and the other teenage girls staring directly into the camera to suggest they is speaking to someone specific whilst singing the song. This enables to viewer to register the emotion of the song to understand the deeper feeling of the song lyrics.
The footage is cut to coincide with the pace of the music, this means that there is a general up-beat feel to the music video. As this is a teen pop-rock track, the lyrics focus on a more generalised target audience (in this case young teenagers) to which the lyrics are easily relatable. This also means that the music video is excluded from Goodwins theory of the notion of vouyerism, as the girls are young and innocent, so they do not carry a sexualised image.
2009- Party in the USA
This video features a seemingly much more mature and outgoing Cyrus. This is entering her later teenage years so we see the implications of alcohol and beach parties. Cyrus and her friends arrive at a scene to which she attracts a large amount of male attention and flaunts this rather a significant amount. Her clothing has become more revealing and we are starting to gain a sense of vouyerism through the dancing she and her friends conduct.
This younger, rebellious and more mature Cyrus uses a larger use of locations all based in california, where the younger generation are supposedly more 'at home'. The general pace of the song is summery and the editing is reflected with the use of establishing beach like locations and cuts to coincide the pace of the music. The audiences feel jealous over Mileys youth and of where she is, which Miley starts to flout her wealth in doing so. This is more of a pop record that features a heavy use of performance within the video, Miley is surrounded by an audience of 17-20 year olds that admire her charismatic persons.
There are many long shots of Cyrus to show herself basking in the attention and sun, whilst showing off her figure and style, rather than her previous video to which focused solely on her emotions of the song. The lighting is bright and has an antique tint to amplify the traditions of a teenage life whilst enjoying the sun. Her make up, similarly to the '7 things' video is light and natural- this shows off her natural beauty which makes her more relatable to the teenage audience she is appealing to.
2011- Can't be tamed
This music video became a major success through the contraversy it recieved. It seemed that innocent Montana had disappeared and a new Cyrus has been created. This video was again in Mileys late teens, it was a narrative and performance based music video. We are given a short story before the music begins, as we see a show host telling his audience that they had caught the rare 'beast' that the audience understood was behind the set of spotlights and cage. The audience watch in awe as the cage is revealed and an evil and sparcely dress cyrus shies away into her birds nest. One press member photographs this cyrus and the light encourages her to confront the audience. A burst of CGI brings out giant black wings to add to her dangerous and edgy costume as seen below.
Mileys new costume is revelaing and shocking to her younger Montana fans. Throughout the music video the lighting is dark, which amplifies her sinister, daring character which is portrayed throughout. The spotlights enable us to understand that Cyrus is the focus of the music video to which the spotlight is on her. The caging suggests she is trapped inside, but sneaks through easily and begins to cause mayhem through the display.
Mileys make up is dark and extravigant to cooperate with her costume. This contrasts from the other two videos where she is sweet and natural. The lyrics "can't be tamed" matches the visuals, and therefore coincides with Goodwins theory. Her provocative manor is also shocking to the audience, as there are a larger amount of close ups to show this, as well as long shots to again display her figure and erotic, animalistic behaviour. The editing is quick paced to match the pace of the music as well as the quick paced action of the event in progress.
The main piece of iconography is the giant cage to which she remains in, suggesting that she is a wild creature that attracts attention from the media. We presume this is subliminal for her saying that she is a wild person, and the media can swarm around her but she will fight back.
Despite her changing personality throughout these videos, Cyrus has contributed towards many charity music videos- Such as the 2010 Haiti tragedy to which Miley contributed towards. This media attention has been diverged to focus on how she is encouraging the notion of vouyerism (Goodwins Theory) by being identified as a sexual object and attempting to shake off her Disney identity.
Miley Cyrus has changed her image from the bubbly disney star to the wild and bold twenty year old- and this is evident through her music videos over the years. Her clothing through the Montana years were- to an extent- stylish to the younger generation, with pink silk jackets and glittery boots. This amplified her 'cute' and 'bubbly' personality which she was so critically acclaimed for. her 'Party in the USA album' allowed her to be seen as a young, free teenage girl focused on parting and spending time with her friends. This allowed her fashion to change to darker and skimpier clothing, however the shock of 'Can't be tamed' entitled her album to be widely successful, and little singing Montana was now seen as an adult, sexualised Cyrus with extravigant and dark clothing.
These changes were made to entice the audience to know more about Mileys particular lifestyle- this cooperates with Dyers star theory of being moulded by the public to enable record labels to constantly earn money from a celebrity. The record companies may have recognised that there was a growing amount of teenage icons, whereas the more mature and 'free spirited' women had a gap in the market- therefore Miley was transformed to fill this gap, knowlingly being excused for her changes in life throughout her age.
Miley may have reinvented her image to collaborate with her changing personality through her age, the real media attention she gets is through her 'rebellious lifestyle', which, for a normal 20 year old would be fine, but as her teenage fans cling on to Hannah Montana, the gravitas of her actions arouses the media attention and makes her seem like the reckless, sexualised Miley Cyrus we so often hear about today.
Analysing Miley Cyrus' fluctauting media attention through her music videos has proven to be extremely useful in the ideas for what I will plan to do with my own chosen artist. A target audience is important to consider, as we will need to either cooperate with the artists usual media habits to keep the audience satisfied, or we will have to contradict what the artists statement is and shock the audience- gaining more recognition for the artist through media publications. I will also use natural and known locations to add a sense of belonging for the viewer, as after this analysis I feel it is essential for the audience to feel as though the artist is just an ordinary person like themselves. I feel that this analysis has helped me to decide on chosing an artist that is known for their unique and individual styles- therefore if anything is out of the normality of the artists characteristics, there will not be as much negative media attention like that recieved by miley Cyrus.
Being signed to 'Hollywood Records' in 2007, Miley created the solo album 'Breakout'- it was commercially successful.
2007- Breakout album: "7 things"
This is a concept/ performance based music video performed by Cyrus in a studio set. There are many different young girls between the ages of 13-15 looking solemn with many iconographic instruments such as bunches of flowers, large teddy bears and mobile phones- all symbolic for typical romantic gestures that we, as the viewer, understands were meant to be symbols from their past relationships.
Miley is looking glamorous and suitable for her age-group that she is reaching out for in this audience. This is evident through the girls we see featured in the music video, how they appear individually and when the rock-pop chorus kicks in, there are plenty of long shots to show how they are all together jumping around and helping eachother become happy again. This shows to the audience that Miley is like any other girl through her interaction with the other girls- all of them portraying a 'teen rock' image that suits with the style of music.
The background throughout the music video is a light grey, this is to focus on the facial expressions of Cyrus and the younger children. There are frequent mid shots of Cyrus and the other teenage girls staring directly into the camera to suggest they is speaking to someone specific whilst singing the song. This enables to viewer to register the emotion of the song to understand the deeper feeling of the song lyrics.
2009- Party in the USA
There are many long shots of Cyrus to show herself basking in the attention and sun, whilst showing off her figure and style, rather than her previous video to which focused solely on her emotions of the song. The lighting is bright and has an antique tint to amplify the traditions of a teenage life whilst enjoying the sun. Her make up, similarly to the '7 things' video is light and natural- this shows off her natural beauty which makes her more relatable to the teenage audience she is appealing to.
2011- Can't be tamed
This music video became a major success through the contraversy it recieved. It seemed that innocent Montana had disappeared and a new Cyrus has been created. This video was again in Mileys late teens, it was a narrative and performance based music video. We are given a short story before the music begins, as we see a show host telling his audience that they had caught the rare 'beast' that the audience understood was behind the set of spotlights and cage. The audience watch in awe as the cage is revealed and an evil and sparcely dress cyrus shies away into her birds nest. One press member photographs this cyrus and the light encourages her to confront the audience. A burst of CGI brings out giant black wings to add to her dangerous and edgy costume as seen below.
Mileys make up is dark and extravigant to cooperate with her costume. This contrasts from the other two videos where she is sweet and natural. The lyrics "can't be tamed" matches the visuals, and therefore coincides with Goodwins theory. Her provocative manor is also shocking to the audience, as there are a larger amount of close ups to show this, as well as long shots to again display her figure and erotic, animalistic behaviour. The editing is quick paced to match the pace of the music as well as the quick paced action of the event in progress.
The main piece of iconography is the giant cage to which she remains in, suggesting that she is a wild creature that attracts attention from the media. We presume this is subliminal for her saying that she is a wild person, and the media can swarm around her but she will fight back.
Despite her changing personality throughout these videos, Cyrus has contributed towards many charity music videos- Such as the 2010 Haiti tragedy to which Miley contributed towards. This media attention has been diverged to focus on how she is encouraging the notion of vouyerism (Goodwins Theory) by being identified as a sexual object and attempting to shake off her Disney identity.
Miley Cyrus has changed her image from the bubbly disney star to the wild and bold twenty year old- and this is evident through her music videos over the years. Her clothing through the Montana years were- to an extent- stylish to the younger generation, with pink silk jackets and glittery boots. This amplified her 'cute' and 'bubbly' personality which she was so critically acclaimed for. her 'Party in the USA album' allowed her to be seen as a young, free teenage girl focused on parting and spending time with her friends. This allowed her fashion to change to darker and skimpier clothing, however the shock of 'Can't be tamed' entitled her album to be widely successful, and little singing Montana was now seen as an adult, sexualised Cyrus with extravigant and dark clothing.
These changes were made to entice the audience to know more about Mileys particular lifestyle- this cooperates with Dyers star theory of being moulded by the public to enable record labels to constantly earn money from a celebrity. The record companies may have recognised that there was a growing amount of teenage icons, whereas the more mature and 'free spirited' women had a gap in the market- therefore Miley was transformed to fill this gap, knowlingly being excused for her changes in life throughout her age.
Miley may have reinvented her image to collaborate with her changing personality through her age, the real media attention she gets is through her 'rebellious lifestyle', which, for a normal 20 year old would be fine, but as her teenage fans cling on to Hannah Montana, the gravitas of her actions arouses the media attention and makes her seem like the reckless, sexualised Miley Cyrus we so often hear about today.
Analysing Miley Cyrus' fluctauting media attention through her music videos has proven to be extremely useful in the ideas for what I will plan to do with my own chosen artist. A target audience is important to consider, as we will need to either cooperate with the artists usual media habits to keep the audience satisfied, or we will have to contradict what the artists statement is and shock the audience- gaining more recognition for the artist through media publications. I will also use natural and known locations to add a sense of belonging for the viewer, as after this analysis I feel it is essential for the audience to feel as though the artist is just an ordinary person like themselves. I feel that this analysis has helped me to decide on chosing an artist that is known for their unique and individual styles- therefore if anything is out of the normality of the artists characteristics, there will not be as much negative media attention like that recieved by miley Cyrus.
