Six ways Miley Cyrus went from VMAs punchline to a social activist pop star
Two years after the shock of former tween star twerking on stage at Video Music Awards show, Cyrus will host the 2015 edition on Sunday. Ahead of that, a reminder of how she's changed her image, and used her notoriety
The beginning of the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards. A giant teddy bear’s stomach opens on stage to reveal Miley Cyrus, sticking out her tongue. Miley starts twerking. There’s Robin Thicke. There’s Miley twerking on Robin Thicke. A foam finger is involved. No one will remember the rest of the show, but they won’t forget the opener.
It’s been two years since that VMAs incident, which spawned a thousand memes and culminated in a frenzy over the former Disney actress. Rolling Stone called her "a tongue-wagging, hard-twerking, all-grown-up pop star," adding that 161 people complained to the US Federal Communications Commission after her "pornographic" performance. Cyrus, of public fascination since she was a tween on hit series Hannah Montana, was suddenly elevated to a ubiquitous celebrity who simultaneously entertained and horrified people.
However, since that show in 2013, Cyrus has managed to do the unthinkable: keep people talking about her, but not only about that one performance. If anything, she’s made a true effort to advance beyond the label of "quirky pop star" by advocating for serious social issues. "All these things that I do get all this attention," she told Out magazine. "But then what do I do once I have everyone’s attention?"
As it turns out, Cyrus had a lot more in store than just her infamous twerking — and things have come full circle, as on Sunday, she’s actually hosting the 2015 VMAs. Here’s how she got there: Six things that took Cyrus from pop culture punchline to inescapable pop star and social rights advocate.
1. She was unapologetic about the VMAs performance.
"I know what I’m doing. I know I’m shocking you," she told Rolling Stone. She explained the same thing to MTV News, which said her performance was called everything from "hyper-sexualised" to "the nadir of American Civilization". She and Thicke wanted to make history, she explained, and viewers were really over-thinking it.
