I don’t know what exactly possessed Miley Cyrus to do this performance, or what possessed me to make a cartoon version of the spectacle. And yet, they exist. Later I’ll put it in color.
But you can get a postcard for $3.95.
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Art & Crit by Eric Wayne 
Hahahaha love this. Great picture.
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Glad you like it. I actually just reread your two posts dealing with this subject matter. The one about the video and the one about female performers. Notice I didn’t make any commentary here. I thought others such as yourself had already said it very well. I also think the drawing captures my stance. It was trashy, pathetic, and I felt sorry for her. I also think she’s a victim of showbiz popularity somewhat in the tradition of Michael Jackson.
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Definitely a victim of showbiz. Her agents, record execs and the army supporting/owning her have created this new image for her, I doubt very much she had a say in the matter.
You captured the performance in it’s entirety with this. Miley’s expression is priceless. That damn tongue of hers needs to be cut off!
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Yeah, when I was collecting some photos to base the drawing on (there’s no single image that captures all of that, and I made a photo montage first), I saw so many different pictures of her with her tongue hanging out. What does that even mean? The mainstream music industry is churning out crap. It’s all about creating a product and marketing it. Meanwhile the real music can’t compete for airwaves.
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People aren’t musicians or singers any more, they are brands void of genuine talent. What is sad is, Miley Cyrus can actually sing, her Backyard Sessions on YouTube made me realise she is not completely bereft of talent or skill. But sadly, she has pissed it away with whatever she is doing now (I am hesitant to call it ‘music’). As for the tongue… No idea.
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I remember a friend of mine saying Alanis Morissette looked like a horse. Why this stuck with me is that she’s fine, and why does a musician have to look like a model? Since I’m an artist I’m sensitive to the odds being stacked against one, and it’s easy to see that if one were a great musician, but not conventionally handsome or pretty, you could be eliminated for that reason alone, which has nothing to do with your music.
But, as you point out, the pendulum has swung so far that it’s more important to be pretty or connected than to actually have talent and something to say.
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That is why much respect is given to Adele. She calls a spade a spade and doesn’t give in to what is expected of mainstream musicians. Similar to Lena Dunham, and even Jennifer Lawrence with Hollywood.
I grew up on good old Alanis Morrissette and I am glad I was naive to that – the name calling and what not. It could have drastically influenced how I saw my self worth with relation to my appearance, but I was kept fairly ignorant to all of that until my mid teens, when I was wise enough to know that the two don’t necessarily correlate (not for everyone, anyway).
It is refreshing that we have real, authentic people like Adele, Lawrence, Dunham and even Pink -someone who manages to balance sexiness and talent quite well- to look up to. We just need more people like that to challenge the industry’s conventions.
And I agree, you are buying that person’s music, not their appearance… Likewise, if you purchase a ticket to see them live, you are buying music matched with a performance, ones appearance does not affect their stage presence.
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Well. You did it. You captured her beauty.
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