Plus, a tremendous amount of her appeal is visual. She is, quite suddenly, a 360-degree pop star. From her chopped, bleached hair to her white nail polish to her VFiles fashion choices to her Terry Richardson-directed videos, she’s leaped to the front of the pop class in terms of presentation. Her apparent fearlessness has more to do with the rejection of how Old Miley looked than how she sounded.
Those bold choices have helped Ms. Cyrus fill the current void of a female pop idol. Her closest competition now isn’t Lady Gaga — who appears eager to abandon pop stardom in favor of cheap experimental theater — but probably Katy Perry. No matter how candy-colored Ms. Perry’s image is, though, her insides are milk white.
Of course, Ms. Spears doesn’t fully understand Ms. Cyrus, who’s closer in spirit to Madonna, of all people — the stadium-size provocations, the image malleability, the willingness to cause a commotion to make a point (or for the commotion to be the point). But Madonna had no Madonna of her own to react against. Ms. Cyrus is channeling, chewing up and digesting several generations of transgressive pop divas. Her spectacle isn’t about the size of the shock, but the unexpected twists and turns on the way. It’s sloppy and invigorating and, at its best, interesting. She’s experimenting with the shape of pop stardom — let her live.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/ar...pagewanted=all
dead they probably don't acknowledge the success of APPLAUSE.
