It’s been well over a month since Miley Cyrus showed up in Brooklyn for the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards, and went beyond just singing to pulling off the kind of moment that blew up on Twitter in numbers that would rival last February’s Super Bowl.
We have all heard or read about how everyone has taken sides on Miley busting out those twerks. We’ve also read about how Miley benefited, both in good and bad ways, from what she did. And we’ve also seen, or at least read about, how Miley is compounding all that with her heavily-watched video for her latest hit, “Wrecking Ball,” which has not only been tearing up on YouTube, but also went straight to the top of the Billboard charts.
Aside from all the popularity she continues to have, even as she has grown up from her days when she starred as Hannah Montana, there are many who think that “Wrecking Ball” describes how Miley’s career has devolved lately. And that leads me to ask if anyone has ever thought about whether any of Miley’s over-the-top antics wouldn’t have happened if she had picked up her guitar.
Given how Miley’s currently riding that wave by being as over-the-top as she is, I don’t know if she’s going to pick up her guitar anytime soon. But if it comes to the point in which just the name “Miley Cyrus” becomes associated in many people’s minds with anything from “train-wreck” to “fading star,” I would suggest that she at least consider a little picking, shredding, or whatever type of guitar playing she can be most comfortable with.
As a prime example, since Miley has been known in some of her past concerts to sing a few Joan Jett tunes, like “I Love Rock & Roll,” which she also sang on the audition tape that led to her getting the Hannah Montana role, wouldn’t it be just as fun if she did those songs while playing her guitar? For another example, if pop’s Mother of Reinvention, Madonna, can mix some live guitar playing into the song-dance-and-spectacle that has been associated with her for three decades, why can’t Miley do the same?
Many parents think of today’s Miley as a bad role model. It would stand to reason that having her play at least some guitar on stage would be a big step toward her regaining some measure of the positive image she once had as Hannah Montana. Let’s hope Miley has it within her heart to pick up her guitar and give that guitar girl approach a try.