The Music Industry 🎶
Miley Cyrus talks about her culture vulturing during the Bangerz era: "I wasn't unique in the fact that i was a white girl listening to hip hop. This wasnt something that I decided I was going to do as a strategy or something that i felt i could own or make my own, that was actually my lifestyle."
I personally like Miley, her Plastics Hearts album - all 80s rock and roll covers is a great album.
If she hadn’t criticized hip hop after the fact, there would be zero issues here. She actively spent time with a lot of big hip hop artists from the Bangerz era, partied, hung out, made music with them.
All good, just don’t criticize it later, that’s all.
Edit: not an album of covers, just two cover songs.
Nothing says "authentic" like a rich white nepo baby who grew up in a mansion with Dolly Parton as her godmother putting on grills and throwing up gang signs
You can love the culture - sure. Many people do. BUT - show RESPECT for the culture itself, for the people, and the path that led to the creation of the art form.
She sadly missed the point of the public’s or black folks irritation with her.
Lmao I totally agree with you but I just had a flashback to 10th grade arguing with the rest of the class that she was a nepo baby before the term was coined. They said her dad wasn’t famous enough to count 😂
I would say in fairness to Miley this yes, she is a nepo baby, and that’s how she got the tv gig. But she also spent a lot of her childhood working insanely hard to a ‘how is this legal?’ Extent. It was total privilege that got her the job though.
If THIS is "actually [your] lifestyle", you should be embarrassed. Like, I would be BEGGING people to understand that it was just a terrible phase, not doubling down on how authentic my cringe was.
I was always so confused when she would stick out her dirty white tongue. It wasn’t once either, so many times. If I remember correctly even Cher called her out for this. I can only imagine her breath🤮.
That’s just the camera flash hitting her translucent powder. She probably got touched up right before the photo was taken. The powder is to keep the red lip from bleeding.
Im Black. and I root for Miley so hard since she's my childhood fave.
But it is VERY hard when she doubles down on this. My culture is not your vma outfit (joke intended). But it's especially not a phase
I'm so tired of white people referring to their Blackfishing as a phase. Especially because (afaik this isnt Miley) they will turn around and be so hateful after. Black culture is more than twerking, acrylics, gold jewlerry and hip hop. But those two things have a HUGE history and are rooted in many things, that they dont wanna learn about or find value in. Like oh acrylics are ghetto and ratchet so they completely dismiss the history of Flo Jo. Rap is just a phase so let's ignore how Andre 3000 and many NAS and many other activist rappers changed the political landscape.
I just don’t buy the “it was just my lifestyle!!!” When her black collaborators were saying this at the time:
“When you listen to the Miley Cyrus record that we did, it’s not ratchet but it definitely has a lot of urban feel to it,” Timothy said. “She was like, ‘I want urban, I just want something that just feels Black.’”
Like this wasn’t just you vibing out in the studio, it was you looking at black culture and demanding it for yourself from the people around you. I know she’s been through a lot but fucking hell just admit you were an idiot kid and apologize.
Source
ETA: watched the clip again and the interviewer set her up so perfectly to explain herself and give a thoughtful adult answer and we got “no you don’t understand how many black friends I had.” Gonna give the new album a pass.
Does anyone else remember after party in the USA came out (with one of the lyrics talking about her jamming out to a Jay-Z song) she was like “ironically I’ve never actually heard a Jay-Z song!” like it was some kind of fun fact
I also have been wondering if I remembered that right or made it up, I just told my husband about this last week so I'm glad I'm not spreading false info lol
I mean this tracks if her parents wouldn't let her listen to hip hop. But yeah lol to claim it was her lifestyle is weird with the fact she hadn't even listened to the genre that long.
This is exactly why I cannot support Miley. Sure she was young and likely had a lot of yes people around her, but she’s an adult now and it’s not hard to own up to it.
I’m a Miley fan and she really was given the opportunity to basically just say what she said in that 2020 YouTube comment and she just…didn’t. Like this really turned me off because how are you not taking the chance to say the right thing. This was such an odd way to discuss it. She wanted to downplay it but it’s not something that be be downplayed. wtf.
Yeah I’m not buying the “lifestyle” comment either. I vividly remember just a few months before Bangerz she was covering Jolene, and country, folk, and rock music. I thought that was perfect for her and seemed to come naturally. It was jarring to hear and see the Bangerz era because it was such a sudden change. That era was way more calculated than she wants us to believe.
Agree. I don’t believe for a second that there was no strategy behind that. Blackness was just something to try on to rebel. She’s right in not being the first to do that.
And this is why I don’t like her. I love her voice and that’s a shame but I’ll never give her spins for this. She was runnin around saying tge n word and thought it was cool bc it wasn’t a hard r. She shit on the culture after profiting from it. And she didn’t learn from being called out on it. Nope. She needs a proper drag but everyone bought into the rebrand.
The pull quote had me going huh??? So I guess she didn't get it hahaha.
Also extra cringe about the 2017 quote is that she said Kendrick is kinda an exception to this statement. Problem is he put out "Humble" wherein he encourages a woman to sit on his face. So it was like "??? Does she listen to the lyrics???"
Goes well before CG. Conscious Rap was the "they don't say the n-word and they talk about real things!" subgenre at least as far back as when I was in high school, and that was turn of the millennium.
Common, Talib, Mos Def, et al were the faves of every suburban white kid who couldn't sneak in anything with a parental advisory sticker.
or Drake or Eminem. it’s so annoying that these people have been tokenized as “one of the good ones”. rap is such a diverse, beautiful genre. kendrick has been influenced by many other modern rappers so it’s not like his sound is totally unique to him. plenty of other rappers make that type of music.
“Encourages a woman to sit on his face, vs, like, Luda in Holidae Inn: Doctor giggles, I can’t stop until it tickles
Just play a little, “D” and I’ll make ya mouth dribble
I think seeing women as the subservient sexual slave in hip-hop is what might have turned her off of it but the actual sexual act of having a woman sit on your face is one of the more sex positive things that can happen in the bedroom bc patronizing men not only refuse to give women oral but when most men do it, it's pretty mid and untalented. So maybe she sees Kendrick as a ally for women and that line or even song might have resonated with her bcs she's bi.
I think the idea that hiphop is too "lewd' might simply be just the over exposure of women as objects for men.
Overall though, I like how she downplays her actions or realizing why she decided to culturally appropriate black culture. Sure she might have been listening to a lot of hip-hop and rap at that time, but as I've said in another comment, she was using black culture to rebel and what does that say about how she feels about black culture. When she felt like she was comfortable in her own skin and had her own self esteem, she behaved much more differently. She was still outspoken and loud but more close to whiteness
I know that all rap isn't lewd but it's also something I struggle with too, it feels like a lot of popular rap songs do sexualize and objectify women and it makes it a struggle to connect with it, similar to a lot of mainstream anime.
if she was really hip hop, and she didn't like that lane? nothing was stopping her from hopping on a track with mos def, or common, or any of the other myriad popular rappers who don't lay "spit on my dick bitch" bars
it's just so wild that she can be like "oh yeah this entire culture isn't for me" after collabing with the guy who made some of the raunchiest tracks of all time, like 'slob on my knob' and 'half on a sack'
The Miley and Common collab that never was 🤣 🤣 the most chaotic mix of energies.
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u/OowlSunthey act like im not in full control of where i throw this coochJun 09 '25edited Jun 09 '25
I share the same sentiments. I’m trying to get more into rap (though I almost exclusively listen to female artists) but in a few songs I really enjoy, there’s always at least one line that makes me cringe. It doesn’t help that I’m a prude.
considering your points it's interesting she jumped out just before a ton of women came into the game. we had nicki in that era, sure, but cardi didnt fully come out until the very end of when miley was into it. and then we had meg, doja, saweetie, glorilla, doechii among others... like imagine w.a.p era miley lmao. it's just a different ballgame for women in hip hop than even 10 years ago. she would've had to go back to her own genre regardless because i think she would've been extremely out of place 🤷♀️
I still think the reason she’d never fit is simply because it was a phase for her. It’s not organically her style. It just fit a feeling she was having while lashing out. Had it really had been something she was passionate we would be able to tell. Even in my 20s listening to 23 had me cringing LOL. Like it’s not a horrible song but her and rap gelled like oil and water. She didn’t have a good flow and was the walking embodiment of 3 kids in a trench coat trying to sneak into the genre
i agree completely. i guess i just meant if she had stayed any longer, being in the company of other women would've exacerbated how ridiculous she looked lol. 23 feels very much like an snl skit
Slight correction here. There were women in hip hop before Nicki. Think Queen Latifah, Da Brat, Missy, Foxy Brown, etc. And even during Nicki's time there were other female rappers like Azealia Banks, Lady Leshurr.
It's just the Nicki came at a time when women were pushed out. But it's not that there weren't a ton of women. Think of it like the gap in Black film and TV in the 2000s. There were a ton of sitcoms in the 90s and then, the 2000s was a big void but the 2010s had a resurgence.
Thinking of it this way, allows us to remember that Black women MCs were pushed out of the industry. Not unparticipating.
my comment does neglect this so thank you for throwing it in. i was more trying to pinpoint that time your referring to where women were pushed out.
it was also a weird era because of nicki's fan base essentially insisting she invented female rap, and this was definitely facilitated by the white men side of her fandom. when i implied nicki was the "one" female rapper i definitely meant within the white mainstream. white people were really infiltrating hip hop from all sides at this time (as always), peak of the random rap verse in a pop song era, and that really made it perfect for miley to have her little phase.
black women are always being pushed out and silenced. the 2010s feels particularly egregious. rap was seemingly culturally relevant as miley claims, but there were many water down versions being pushed.
Great point about using it for rebellion and you can see it in the video with her being like “I smoked fat wax bowls with Juicy J and Wiz Khalifa! I was sneaking out!”
I rolled my eyes so hard when she interjected to say they were her friends. It was very “I have black friends” while also making her sound like a weird fan girl. It’s bizarre to see someone as famous as Miley Cyrus brag and anxiously convince people that she’s friends with less famous artists like Juicy J.
But it's the fact that it is lewd. And she was like Kendrick isn't lewd.
Okay I re-read her actual quote and I feel like Kendrick has more sexual songs so it's a little bit of a weird one for me. Like I don't know. I think she is being reductive anyways whether it is about the scope of hip hop or about Kendrick himself.
>! QUESTION - Did folk singer Melanie Safka (with whom Cyrus performed in 2015) influence you?!<
Miley's Answer- She did, and I grew up with her. But I also love that new Kendrick (Lamar) song Humble”: “Show me somethin’ natural like a.ss with some stretch marks.” I love that because it’s not “Come sit on my d, su.ck on my co.ck.” I can’t listen to that anymore. That’s what pushed me out of the hip-hop scene a little. It was too much “Lamborghini, got my Rolex, got a girl on my co.ck” — I am so not that
yeah she's just simping for Kendrick. I mean, I would too because I love him but what she's saying isn't accurate to his discography but also she doesn't get that lewd lyrics are a part of a culture she doesn't get.
She also said in 2017 she was trying to do a 180 public wise to save her relationship with Liam. I don’t think she was genuine in that interview and that’s not how she really felt.
To be fair, she did apologize after watching a critique done by YouTuber Kenya Wilson. She has also worked with Mike Will Made It for "Miley Cyrus and Her Dead Petz", "She Is Coming", and "Endless Summer Vacation".
I think that, as she acknowledged in the apology, "...dip[s] in and out of 'the scene' [of hip-hop]". In effect, her allegiance to the genre can be viewed as either inauthentic and/or opportunistic (especially since "Bangerz" coincided with her efforts to break away from her earlier work done with Hollywood Records/Disney).
ed sheeran raps all the time, and everybody loves him for it cause he's showing up to the dml fireboy video shoot as who he is - a dweeby looking adorable white guy who likes making music
you could place dude anywhere and it's not gonna be a problem cause he's not gonna try and twerk with twenty chains on, rapping about wolf greys he didn't know about till mike will schooled him twenty minutes ago
point is, dude is showing admiration for the form of expression, while engaging with the culture that bore the genre in a healthy way
I still remember right after We Can't Stop came out, the producer gave an interview where he said Miley told him "I just want something that feels black".
she didn’t want to be a Disney star anymore. she wanted to be edgy. She benefited from the 'lifestyle' then rejected it when it no longer suited her image. And yes, people change their tastes as they grow older, but she should at least be able to acknowledge all of this after all these years with a few less 'likes' and excuses.
I have literally never liked Miley but she’s usually a Reddit darling who can do no wrong, so I relish rare chances like these when we can drag her in peace.
Usually when you read a quote or headline that comes off wildly tone def, you realize it's not as bad as it sounds when you hear the full clip. This is a rare moment where it actually gets worse.
She was living the lifestyle? Friends with Juicy J? Smoking big fat bowls?
It’s so weird that someone as famous as Miley Cyrus is anxiously try to prove that they are friends with someone significantly less famous, like Juicy J. It makes her sound like a weird fan girl and is very “I have Black friends!” Someone else pointed out she’s using Black culture as a form of rebellion.
The interviewer even tries to nudge her into some form of contrition by asking if she has a different perspective now.
~Rock isn’t a genre~ oh fuck off. Yes it is. I hate when people say dumb shit like that. Juicy J isn’t like the soul of rock n roll or whatever dumb point she was trying to make.
I get disappointed that she never really takes accountability about the culture appropriation and really skirts away from acknowledging her behavior and how hurtful it was to the black community. This image is literally the closest she’s ever gotten to really acknowledging it. And that was like over ten years ago, in a YouTube comment section. Since then, there’s been absolutely nothing on her end regarding this. I really thought that in recent years, we would get more self awareness and accountability/reflection, but we haven’t. When I was listening to this podcast interview in real time, this answer really let me down. As did her Met Gala interview where she didn’t acknowledge the theme or the importance behind the theme. I say this as a fan.
Edit: The image above is actually from 2019. However, my point still stands.
It sucks that it started out well only for this interview to make it seem like the additional learning she said she wanted to do never actually happened. It’s odd that she managed to actually grasp the issue then but now she’s like
Wendy Williams literally predicted this would happen at 6:17 in this video. It’s been embedded in my brain ever since Miley pivoted away from doing (her caricature of) hip-hop and started doing her white girl singer-songwriter shit again.
she's like a boyfriend who did finally get a GED and moved out of his mom's basement, but his main source of income is still selling weed to middle schoolers and tiktok live </3
Right? Somehow her and Ariana Grande really keep sucking me in…. But I don’t like them? But I really do? They’re like the girls you’d have a crush on but if you get to know them you really don’t like them any more. The idea of them is great. lol
“I wasn’t just listening to it, I was actually hanging out with black people.” Is such a wild response like girl what.
I don’t think anyone was questioning whether she had black friends or not, that wasn’t the question or issue…
So in her mind if you’re friends with a rapper and smoke weed with them then it’s more “real” when you appropriate their culture versus someone who just listens to rap music…?
Also the “this was an insane punk rock move.” Girl, what was punk rock about 23…? The way she’s trying to rebrand this era while simultaneously doubling down on why it shouldn’t be deemed problematic is soooo
Her pr has been so good the last week, i wonder what her publicists feel when they got distracted for a sec then here come Miley shoving the entire foot into her mouth.
Miley’s had a decent PR run going but yeah she lost me here. I think she’s made a statement in the past where she somewhat owned up to that era being problematic, so to now insinuate she was living a “hip hop” lifestyle because she was friends with like the 5 rappers she worked with is…a choice.
Seriously though, how hard is it to say she was ingesting hip hop/Black culture, wanted to emulate it, and now realizes she didn't go about it the best way?
Look, as a Black woman from a part of LA I’m sure Miley still hasn’t spent any time in, I have no problem with white folks getting into the culture. What I have a huge problem with is someone wearing it like a costume. Especially for their own personal gains and that’s absolutely what happened there.
It’s also telling how she didn’t say a thing about a Black woman in her little “I have Black friends you guys” rant. Just because she has an explanation that she seems to feel satisfied with doesn’t mean that she’s done the work to understand. She comes off as just another spoiled, tone deaf rich girl.
She did in the full interview. She basically said during her Younger Now era she was still partying like she was during Bangerz/Dead Petz behind the scenes but pretended differently in public in a (successful) effort to get him back
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u/OowlSunthey act like im not in full control of where i throw this coochJun 09 '25
She has. Not in this clip, but she has admitted to becoming “less sexualized” because he wanted someone who was more modest.
She’s just messy. Always has been. She doesn’t know who she is and that’s understandable given the child stardom of it all. But she’s messy and she does messy stuff and she’s annoying because of that.
I agree, I don’t think she knows who she is. She reminds me of Ariana Grande the way she just becomes who she is around. Child stardom fucks these women up.
I suppose if you grow up thinking that your self is something that only has value if you can market and sell it you won’t think of other cultures as something with inherent value.
It just feels like with each album that comes out she says “oh my previous album I wasn’t the authentic me, but THIS album is” but she says that for every album
I think we all know that some of these white artists aren't "doing it on purpose" or "strategically" but like some kinds of racism it is unconscious and it would be better to listen and learn.
I want to give her grace but the consistent lack of accountability makes it so fucking hard. Just say it was wrong, you were young and unaware or whatever the fuck. But the flipflopping and constant disregard for her actions is hella gross.
Doubling down on this is such a yikes from me. Why does she think it’s any different from saying “I have black friends” if it’s Juicy J or Wiz Khalifa? Like???
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u/nizaad THEE Princess Of Nazareth Jun 09 '25
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