Are We Making Miley Cyrus Britney Spears 2.0?

She warned us she couldn’t stop, and Miley Cyrus certainly shows no signs of slowing down.
She’s 2013′s MVP (calling it: this year’s trendiest Halloween costume) because of her antics, outrageous performances and outfits, her split from ex-fiance Liam Hemsworth and the crazy shit a 20-year-old with a lot of money, fame and power says.
We’ve seen this before: the squeaky clean child star shedding her clothes and good girl image in search for answers to the age old questions: ‘Who am I? Why am I here?’ and ‘Who do I want to be?’ There are different rules in the “fame” world than basic bitches like you and I follow. Our breakups are private. We can make mistakes without the Internet holding that regrettable moment hostage indefinitely. We can say something stupid and not see it printed in Rolling Stone. After reaching a level of superstardom, you’re forced to forgo privacy you and I take for granted. That inevitably takes its toll through your very impressionable twenties, and it’s easy to lose touch with reality because reality for 99.9% of the world isn’t mass fame, yes-people and more money than you could possibly know what to do with.
And the snowball begins.
There’s this general consensus that people seem to be cool with: Women, take it off! Show us your personality in the recording studio and your bodies in the video. Miley made a really great point after her VMA performance with Robin Thicke – everyone flipped their shit because of HER chicken cutlets(?), HER foam finger-groping and HER twerking.

“No one is talking about the man behind the ass,” she told Billboard. “It was a lot of ‘Miley twerks on Robin Thicke,’ but never, ‘Robin Thicke grinds up on Miley.’ They’re only talking about the one that bent over. So obviously there’s a double standard.”

Obviously. So the logical explanation to defy the double standard is this? And for the record, yes, it was actually more grody of Robin Thicke.
It’s a road Britney famously traveled while Miley was still in elementary school. She saw stardom as a kid, burst onto the scene in pigtails, dated a famous guy, and broke up with the famous guy all while becoming a woman (no longer a girl) in front of the entire world. She oozed sex in her early twenties, and now she can’t run away faster.

“A lot of sex goes into what I do,” Britney said in a radio interview this week, “but sometimes I would like to bring it back to the old days when there was like one outfit through the whole video, and you’re dancing the whole video, and there’s like not that much sex stuff going on.” She adds she cut half of the scenes in the “Work Bitch” music video because of how overly sexual the footage looked.
“I just have to be true to myself and you know, feel it out when I do stuff.”

That experience comes from being a 15-year veteran in the game, but Miley seems to have it under control. She enlisted the same management as Britney who are familiar with the shenanigans it takes to be and remain relevant as a hot songstress in the cut-throat entertainment industry. Miley thinks she’s in complete control over her image, but has she stopped for a second to think that it’s us who actually call the shots? Her fuckery’s rewarded with record breaking views, album sales and $$$ because guess what… we can’t stop either. It’s a vicious cycle – the reward and adoration perpetuate the next stunt and it’s all they begin to know. But why should we care? It gives us some hilarious Buzzfeed articles to laugh at. Meanwhile, homegirl is left wondering why she put her vagina on blast. Things can get pretty sticky. Err…
Singer Sinead O’Connor, who’s publicly shared her experience with bi-polar disorder, wrote an open letter to the “Bangerz” singer because she worries for Miley’s well-being if she continues.

“Nothing but harm will come in the long run, from allowing yourself to be exploited, and it is absolutely NOT in ANY way an empowerment of yourself or any other young women, for you to send across the message that you are to be valued (even by you) more for your sexual appeal than your obvious talent.”
“The music business doesn’t give a shit about you, or any of us. They will prostitute you for all you are worth, and cleverly make you think its what YOU wanted … and when you end up in rehab as a result of being prostituted, ‘they’ will be sunning themselves on their yachts in Antigua, which they bought by selling your body and you will find yourself very alone.”

Granted it’s blunt and unwanted advice, but it rings a bell. The legendary Miss Britney Spears paid a price for being a hot (you betta) work bitch for so many years and is still legally held to that in her thirties.
O’Connor’s genuine sentiment was met with a no-fucks-to-give response from Miley, who referred to O’Connor as the first Amanda Bynes, publicly shaming both women who deal with mental health issues and who both sought out help.
“Sinead. I don’t have time to write you an open letter cause Im hosting & performing on SNL this week,” Miley Tweeted in between posting photos of her literally kissing herself. “So if youd like to meet up and talk lemme know in your next letter. ”
One thing Miley forgot to consider before firing off is her “SMS (Bangerz)” buddy, Britney Spears, deals with mental health issues that’s now handled with the assistance of a conservatorship. She’s chosen to keep that part of her life private, but O’Connor is an advocate.
Outraged, O’Connor wrote a second open letter.

“I am staggered that any 20 yr old woman of the 21st century could behave in such a dangerous and irresponsible manner as to not only send the signal to young women that its ok to act like prostitutes but also to the signal that those who have suffered or do suffer mental health problems are to be mocked and have their opinions invalidated. Have you no sense of danger at all?”

O’Connor must have considered Miley’s age before writing the initial letters, but she forgot being 20 means you don’t give a fuck what anyone says or thinks. Especially when you’re paying everyone’s bills. However, she officially can’t say she wasn’t warned.

“All I do is work, so I eat to live and to keep going. People are impressed with me ­because I can sleep for just 45 minutes — I’m used to it,” Miley told the Daily Mail last month. “I suppose I am a workhorse. I love being in the studio and when I take vacation I get so bored. I think of work as something that I have to do.”

She came in like a wrecking ball and we’re along for the ride. After all, it’s Miley’s world and we’re just living in it. Her talented, calculated, chaotic world.
Update: O’Connor wrote a third open letter after this article was published, including a Britney mention.

“You have no business abusing Amanda Bynes or anyone else. How do you think you made her feel yesterday? How do you feel when your friend Britney Spears is mocked and humiliated for having had mental health problems? I know I personally want to bash those who treat her that way. If she is your friend and more importantly if you are a true friend to her.. you ought apologise for joining those who mock and humiliate women who have been too nice frankly, to manage the music business without sensibly losing their minds.”