Skip to content
Support Us

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Tammie Arroyo/AFF/EMPICS Entertainment

Lisa McInerney It’s patronising to say Miley Cyrus is being exploited by evil executives

Sinead O’Connor has written to Miley Cyrus expressing concern that she is being manipulated – but Cyrus is an industry veteran with who understands very well what she’s doing, writes Lisa McInerney.

OH, BUGGER. I hoped by now we’d all be finding Miley Cyrus and her antics a teensy bit tiresome, but it turns out there are plenty of people still very invested in the emotional wellbeing of the good (ole) girl gone bad. Not least our own Sinead O’Connor, who has just published an open letter to Miley after the latter cited O’Connor’s ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ video as an inspiration for her own ‘Wrecking Ball’ promo. You know, the one in which she performs fellatio on a hammer.

Sinead’s letter is at once heartfelt, exasperated and stern. She pleads with Miley to open her eyes and see that she’s being exploited by decision-makers in the music biz. She alludes a number of times to prostitution. She refers to a woman vs man struggle within the industry, rather than an artist vs executive struggle. Through it all, Sinead is earnest. She is concerned. She speaks “in the spirit of motherliness and with love”. Which is really helpful because the vehemence with which she demands Miley cover up would otherwise seem pretty dictatorial.

Swinging the spotlight

In recent weeks, Miley Cyrus has worked us all into a lather by jumping around the place in her knickers with her tongue hanging out, which is more a reflection of pop culture barrel-scraping than it is of Miley herself. Don’t hate the player and all that; Miley’s figured out a way of swinging the spotlight, and we can’t blame her for how well it’s working.

It’d be easy to claim that Miley’s tactics centre around female sexuality, unashamed sensuality or peekaboo sensationalism, but we really need to aim lower. Think more along the lines of cartoon erotica. Only less Jessica Rabbit than… an erotic Roadrunner fanfic in which the protagonist only stops speeding long enough to hump a novelty foam hand and waggle its arse at voyeurs. In short, she’s making a bit of an eejit of herself. And it’s lucrative. So very lucrative.

The making of a female pop star isn’t always a positive process, so that Sinead O’Connor is concerned for Miley Cyrus is no surprise. We’ve seen it countless times before – an ingénue packaged by a marketing department into something that will hit the spot with an audience whose tastes are in constant flux. Britney was the doe-eyed, snake-hipped virgin. Christina was the X-rated Britney. Rihanna is couture S&M. Katy Perry is Technicolor froth who’s not averse to wearing rubber. And so on and so forth.

Miley Cyrus, breaking away from her Hannah Montana persona and keen to continue working in a fickle industry, has become the bonkers Spring Break girl. It’s a drastic reinvention, but a drastic reinvention is very much necessary when one has had one’s face plastered on lunchboxes and duvet covers since 2006. And Miley’s squeaky, saccharine back catalogue doesn’t lend itself to an adult audience.

Miley is an industry veteran

As much as we like to give pop princesses the benefit of the doubt, it’s patronising to suggest that Miley Cyrus is being wholly exploited by evil suits cackling in a boardroom somewhere. Miley is very young – twenty years of age, still a baby to most gnarled onlookers – and she’s not immune to the uncertainty and awkwardness that define the transition from teenager to adult.

But she is also an industry veteran, someone who has not only worked hard throughout her formative years, but is the daughter of a platinum-selling (yeah, I know) country star. Miley Cyrus is not some bumpkin hastily styled to satisfy a whimsical horde. Miley Cyrus has a much better idea what she’s doing than we do.

Sinead O’Connor knows what she’s talking about too. She’s had a long, successful career and has suffered and shared plenty of crises. But while the industry may not have changed since Sinead’s chart-topping days, the expectations of aspiring popstars certainly have. Going to Number 1 used to be the goal; now, going viral is even more important. Talent is secondary to canny self-promotion – in a sense, it always has been – and whether Miley Cyrus is OK with this is beside the point; she certainly knows it.

Telling Miley that the industry is shamelessly profiting from her willing flesh is a waste of breath, because there’s no doubt that she is well aware of the plot she must follow and its pitfalls. Maybe she’s not entirely sure what she’s letting herself in for. Maybe hindsight is 20-20. Maybe she’ll be in rehab before she’s 25. Maybe she’ll have comfortably retired by the time she’s 30. No one can say. What we can say is that Miley Cyrus is on the front cover of Rolling Stone magazine and she didn’t get there by accident. Like Britney, Rihanna, Beyoncé and Katy before her. And Sinead O’Connor.

She doesn’t wish to be left alone

OK, so maybe when Sinead grabbed headlines it was because she was naive about broadcasting her principles, though there are plenty who think her Pope-ripping antics were a personal, not political, statement. And it could well be that Sinead’s earnestness is preventing her from seeing the game Miley’s playing. Indeed, a large part of her letter is devoted to appealing to Miley’s sense of responsibility to her fans and to her gender.

I fear that it’s wasted energy. Miley Cyrus has figured out that playing the skanky fool will keep her in the spotlight, and no voice of dissent – derisive or motherly – can shout louder than that. And far be it from any one of us to demand that the masses leave Miley alone. She does not wish to be left alone. She does not wish to be given a break to work out her artistic trajectory.

A legend like Sinead O’Connor wringing her hands on Miley’s muse is no wake up call – it’s more fuel for the fire, and Miley’s only roasting in it.

Read: Sinead O’Connor writes amazing open letter to Miley Cyrus
Watch: Hedgehog parody of Wrecking Ball is the best yet

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
115 Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Right Wing Steve ©
    Favourite Right Wing Steve ©
    Report
    Sep 26th 2013, 9:30 AM

    We could just keep digging up Tom Mc Feely’s house until we’re out of debt

    201
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nigel O Keeffe
    Favourite Nigel O Keeffe
    Report
    Sep 26th 2013, 9:33 AM

    fair play to the plumber…dont know if I would have been as honest !
    Mortage cleared in a bag…tempting.

    85
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Right Wing Steve ©
    Favourite Right Wing Steve ©
    Report
    Sep 26th 2013, 9:36 AM

    Yeah you gotten wonder did anybody else find anything and keep quite. Did he forget he had it under there or what?

    40
    See 8 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nigel O Keeffe
    Favourite Nigel O Keeffe
    Report
    Sep 26th 2013, 9:42 AM

    Maybe bertie set the precedent in memory loss..28k winnings and couldnt remember its name…dunno about you steve..but I,d know what it had for breakfast that morning..

    42
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Right Wing Steve ©
    Favourite Right Wing Steve ©
    Report
    Sep 26th 2013, 9:44 AM

    The 60 k was only resting under my floorboards, doesn’t all this money mean he basically lied at his bankruptcy hearing?

    55
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Brian Ward
    Favourite Brian Ward
    Report
    Sep 26th 2013, 10:11 AM

    Nigel the fact that Feely was an ex-PIRA hunger striker may have had some bearing on his conscience.

    29
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute gumbridge
    Favourite gumbridge
    Report
    Sep 26th 2013, 10:26 AM

    Lied his arse off.

    21
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute margaret
    Favourite margaret
    Report
    Sep 26th 2013, 10:27 AM

    Maybe the plumber knew who he wad dealing with.

    26
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Bill Butler
    Favourite Bill Butler
    Report
    Sep 26th 2013, 10:34 AM

    It is great the way they say its government debt when its the little people and children who are not even born yet debt .shame on the politicians

    25
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tony Skillington
    Favourite Tony Skillington
    Report
    Sep 26th 2013, 11:37 AM

    You’d be looking over your shoulder for the rest of your life..

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nigel O Keeffe
    Favourite Nigel O Keeffe
    Report
    Sep 26th 2013, 1:24 PM

    Brian
    you think he has a concience? Maybe he hid that as well!

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute gumbridge
    Favourite gumbridge
    Report
    Sep 26th 2013, 9:49 AM

    Those charts should be sandblasted into Bertie Aherne’s face.

    54
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute De Badger
    Favourite De Badger
    Report
    Sep 26th 2013, 9:48 AM

    Er has anyone noticed we’ve quadrupled our debt in 5 years

    52
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Damian Moylan
    Favourite Damian Moylan
    Report
    Sep 26th 2013, 11:20 AM

    “Why Ireland is Buried under Debt”
    The ECB is responsible for the Eurozone area and banking regulation. The ECB failed to regulate banks. The Commodities Futures Modernization Act 2000 (USA) and the repeal of the Glas Stegall Act 1999 (USA) legalized dodgy banking practices. Larry Summers & Timothy Geithner (USA) ensured these practices were exported to other regions including the Eurozone via the W.T.O. Financial Services Negotiations 1). Result: an inter-connected world of dodgy banker paper, seruritization of people’s homes, re-selling of mortgages many times over (re-hypothecation), CDO’s etc etc. A race between banks for short term profit exposing home owners to risk as the banks took more and more risk driving up house prices creating the property bubble which burst. Result: negative equity & complete collapse in the construction industry-which is needed.

    2 Problems: a) unemployment & tax collapse and b) bailout of the banks. Both a) & b) caused the figures above along with c) no spending by people in massive negative equity just about ‘hanging on’.

    The ECB (Trichet) forced Ireland to bail out Anglo Irish Bank which was not systemically important in order to get Deutche Bank’s & BNP Paribas money back.

    The ECB did not ask Latvia to bail out “Latvijas KrajBanka” (LKB) which was allowed to go bankrupt in 2011 because there was no German money in it. The ECB still allowed Latvia to join the Euro (JAN2014) commending their low debt rate.

    The massive debt spiral then increased as taxes are increased to fund the debt but because of a collapse in disposable income spending collapses, tax revenues decline, and unemployment costs increase.

    1) http://m.vice.com/en_uk/read/larry-summers-and-the-secret-end-game-memo

    32
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ryan Carroll
    Favourite Ryan Carroll
    Report
    Sep 26th 2013, 3:42 PM

    All of those banking deregulations are still in place, most of the too big to fails have gotten bigger and are taking worse risks than before.

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute richardmccarthy
    Favourite richardmccarthy
    Report
    Sep 26th 2013, 10:43 AM

    This disasterous level of debt is the result of policies persued by Fianna Fail while in government,they then rewarded themselves with massive pensions that they themselves approved under the benchmarking scam of public funds,150.000 euro per year pension for the rest of his life,thats the bill that Berti has left the Irish taxpayers for ruining this country.

    28
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Conor Gallagher
    Favourite Conor Gallagher
    Report
    Sep 26th 2013, 10:37 AM

    Did it forget the huge Pension Liability that the State has? (And I presume on the assets side, it ignored the state’s oil resources since it intends to just give it away).

    19
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Emilio
    Favourite Emilio
    Report
    Sep 26th 2013, 10:19 AM

    But the graph says Mmm – pie! It has to be good, right? Pie is ALWAYS good!?

    16
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Donal O Neil
    Favourite Donal O Neil
    Report
    Sep 26th 2013, 10:18 PM

    Pye. 3.14192839444444 etc

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Fergal Reid
    Favourite Fergal Reid
    Report
    Sep 26th 2013, 9:46 AM

    Any chance of a quid pro quo with the troika for sticking to their 3.1bn target?

    14
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute margaret
    Favourite margaret
    Report
    Sep 26th 2013, 11:08 AM

    Yes. The quid pro quo is the government gets e700;000;00.00 so that the public section pension stream is not interrupted by , perish the thought!, shortage of funds. It’s all good fir those on the government teat, bad for everybody else, particularly those not even born yet.

    25
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Kate Ellen Egan
    Favourite Kate Ellen Egan
    Report
    Sep 26th 2013, 7:28 PM

    Yes Margaret the state only looks after itself and its employees , forgets the rest ,,

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jim Flavin
    Favourite Jim Flavin
    Report
    Sep 26th 2013, 12:28 PM

    So after 5 years of Austerity – we are worse off , and the govt still do as they are told – to get the rotten German and Irish capitalists their money back

    ”While in 2007 our liabilities were made up primarily of short-term debt and bonds, that type of liability is much less of the overall pie now as we can’t access funding from the normal lending markets in the way we used to.”
    -
    - Is this because of the rating agencies who have no credibility anyway
    ”the American corporate ratings agencies, which “downgraded” Greece to “junk”. These same agencies gave triple-A ratings to billions of dollars in so-called sub-prime mortgage securities and so precipitated the economic collapse in 2008.”
    the whole thing is a monopoly game played by the big capitalists and the Plebs put up with it .
    But there is no getting away from fact – that Germany rules this country .
    .

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Richard Sweeney
    Favourite Richard Sweeney
    Report
    Sep 26th 2013, 1:12 PM

    who rates the rating agencies?

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Daire Kennedy
    Favourite Daire Kennedy
    Report
    Sep 26th 2013, 1:58 PM

    We do, we do.
    Who keeps the metric system down?
    We do, we do….

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ed Appleby
    Favourite Ed Appleby
    Report
    Sep 26th 2013, 1:31 PM

    “government’s liabilities ” you mean the ‘Irish people’s liabilities’ since the last government turned the banks debts into sovereign debts that landed the people of Ireland with the debts. Governments come and go, the current instalment of chancers will give way to another bunch in a couple of years and the merry-go-round will continue, one thing that won’t change is the fact that, unlike the parasite politicians, the debts are not going to go away with big fat tax payer funded pensions. Those debts are there for your kids and your grandkids to pay for long into the future. They will be paying back debts that they had nothing to do with whilst the ones who actually caused the disaster in the first place are sat back laughing their heads off as the quaff champagne in sunnier climes and safe in the knowledge that in the republic of no accountability they are untouchable.

    10
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Connaughtabu
    Favourite Connaughtabu
    Report
    Sep 26th 2013, 10:39 AM

    Just wondering what we are supposed to do with this information, other than cry that is?

    ps: Ireland Debt Clock is way behind (http://www.financedublin.com/debtclock.php)!!

    10
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Kerry Blake
    Favourite Kerry Blake
    Report
    Sep 26th 2013, 12:07 PM

    €208 billion in debt quick someone send the government a PIP number. They need it.

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Martin Jones
    Favourite Martin Jones
    Report
    Sep 26th 2013, 4:44 PM

    Yet people still shout for no more austerity,staggering level of debt for such a small country and we don’t even have military spending to blame this on.

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Seanjohn O Connor
    Favourite Seanjohn O Connor
    Report
    Sep 26th 2013, 11:45 PM

    Now this is very good info for the shiners The other shower f’cd the country & the present shower have just added more debt & put us. In the biggest rescission 20 years .
    Who in gods name is going to save us .

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ryan Ash
    Favourite Ryan Ash
    Report
    Sep 26th 2013, 1:13 PM

    “The Council wants the government to perform a €3.1 billion adjustment in the Budget next month but as we know that is the subject of much wrangling among the coalition partners.”

    Surely this is the main part of the story rather than the graph.

    1
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds