Pollstar: As we all know, Miley Cyrus loves being naked. The guys from The Flaming Lips are also pro-nudity, so it makes total sense that they’re teaming up for a naked concert in the name of quality music video-making. Oh, and the audience is going to be in the buff too.
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Looking at my artistic style and personal aesthetic, a person could believe that I would love this kind of thing. I love shows that include the audience in an interesting way. Sometimes I think I just like to test the audience as a way of making them an element in the production. And, I’m a huge supporter of progressive movements that challenge our culture’s possible prejudices about our bodies, sexuality, and relationships. However I am naturally an incredibly ironic artists. I love challenging these ideas because I think it’s the only way to move things forward. But, when asked to participate or even facilitate something like this, I freeze up. I become part of the problem in an instant. Being naked is something that seems super simple and straightforward, but actually requires a lot more than guts. I think you need to have the drive to make a statement, along with an incredibly impressive confidence in how your interact with others. I admire these artists mentioned in this article and I'm interested to see what results they get.
So, this is definitely just one perspective, and I don’t want to take away what Burke is saying because she has definitely noted some of the more positive aspects of this project, but I have a different take on the whole thing. Nudity, especially in the U.S., is something that pushes people’s buttons. Because of the taboo, nudity is both glorified and vilified all at the same time. You get one group of people in shock of the fact that there’s a naked concert, calling it wrong or amoral or foolish, and you get another group of people who are pro nudity and glorify it calling it liberating and expressive.
Now I don’t want to call either party right or wrong (they both may make valid arguments), but I believe that both of them are perpetuating the taboo by making such a big deal over it. Have we all seen a naked body, yeah we have, from a very early age. We probably see our own naked body every day in the shower. It’s nature, whether you believe in god’s creation of man or evolution, our bodies are on many levels no more significant (in either a positive or negative light) that a naked elephant’s.
So if Miley Cyrus really wants to strip down with her audience and bathe in a milk like substance while performing a concert, fine. We all have the right to view the issue in whatever way we see fit. If we feel it’s liberating, great, if we feel it’s exposing, great. But know that it’s one opinion, and considering all of the other things that are happening in the world, issues such as mass shootings, mass poverty, starvation, fundamentalist terrorism, just to name a few, I don’t really care about the issue of nudity. I know how I feel comfortable (not seeing swarms of naked Miley Cyrus fans would be in my realm of comfort). I just think there are so many more important things to talk about.
I really want to hear more about this concert. I actually do think that if the rest of the tour has been selling out without a problem that this show will as well. I can picture there being a lot of people who show up with clothes on, just a VERY small amount if clothing per person. At that point it has similar outfit appeals as a rave. And people really do go to raves, basically naked, just not technically naked. I also can’t tell if this is a good marketing/publicity move or if it is just weird. The flaming Lips are not as creepy, I personally feel, as Ms. Cyrus is. All her practically naked outfits are distasteful and really don’t do anything except let people know that she likes attention. The Flaming Lips don’t seem to give off the same “weirdo” impression. I may look up more about this concert in the future.
I used to watch Hannah Montana on Disney Channel, I’m not ashamed of that but I don’t think I could ever watch that show again because if the transformation Miley has made and labeled for herself. I just think that she does this for attention because no one talks about her outside of these crazy schemes that she does. Why would someone do all of this crazy stuff for attention? Why be labeled as the singer who did a naked concert? Is there nothing else in this life that she wants to do? Is doing all this crazy stuff her dream? I would love to see her be herself and just talk about her life and what she wants. I want to have a real conversation with her. Everyone has their own views in life and I’m sure if she heard about mine she would think I was crazy and boring but that is what life is, choices.
When Miley Cyrus first started "rebelling" and sexualizing herself I figured it was simply a ploy for publicity. Miley had a very long relationship with Disney as Hannah Montana. The only way she could break out of that and start a new (sustainable) career path was to, literally, show the world her tits. I don't really agree that she should have done that. I am saddened that she/her marketing team felt that this move was necessary due to ingrained perceptions of women held by a society that views female celebrities as sexual objects. But Miley could have toned it down by now. Instead of reversing the image of herself as a sexual misbehaved woman, Miley has only furthered the image. Over the last year or so her flirtations with taboo subjects have become more severe. It seems like the only thing keeping her career afloat is the public shock over her actions. I wish she didn't have to rely on outbursts like this nude concert to be successful.
On the other hand, if she is actually comfortable with this type of behavior and it helps her feel more in touch with herself, good for her. I just think its all a marketing scheme.
Let’s take a moment and think about what the props people are making this “milk like substance” out of. But seriously, a milk like substance that the performer is going to completely cover herself with before each show? What could you make that out of?
Miley Cyrus being nude on stage is nothing new. It seems like it happens every other week with her. Some might call this a revolutionary look into sexual and body stereotypes, and maybe it is, but I think this might probably just be a way to sell tickets.
In any case, I’m sure it will work. I’m sure the audience will be thrilled to be covered in a milk like substance and get naked with Miley. I’m sure it will get all sorts of national attention from groups on both sides of the board. I’m sure it will sell plenty of tickets. After all, wouldn’t you like to be able to tell all your friends you were in a naked concert with Miley Cyrus covered in a milk-like-substance? Actually no, I’d be happy to tell me friends that I never experienced that.
I happen to not like Miley Cyrus, and think she should maybe just take a deep breath, but if her music was better, this sounds like it could be a great show. If this show could be the flaming lips and someone else, I think it would be a much better concert but because of Mileys love of Nudity, she some how got herself into doing a concert with a band that has a talent other than just getting naked and having a father who had somewhat of a music career. I don’t really see any issue with Nudity, everyone get naked, everyone has a body, everyones body is different. It could be a really interesting event, if people don’t become douchey and grimy dirtbags. The covered in milk thing seems entirely wasteful to me, we waste way to much as is, no need to dump hundreds or even thousand dollars or some poor cows over produced milk over yourself, just hang out in your birthday suit.
As Lauren mentioned, I also expected Miley to have toned it down by now instead of going further down the extreme path. I remember back in my AP Lit class in high school we discussed why exactly is nudity so frowned upon and viewed as a shameful taboo by the society. Tracing down to Adam and Eve, we concluded that it's because mankind is afraid of mortality, and nudity reminds them of it since in order to reproduce, people have to be naked and reproduction is an attempt to fight against mortality. If it were just nudity alone, I would find this concert to be interesting and perhaps more meaningful. But the things that Miley has done ever since Hannah Montana was "murdered" seems to be merely aiming for controversy and thus attention - I can't see any purpose or even reason behind twerking and licking an iron sledgehammer in a music video except for attention. I'm not saying that I'm completely against Miley Cyrus, I just don't understand her.
I'm not much of a follower of Miley, but all the same I am not surprised that something like this might happen. It follows the trend of popular media, with an emphasis on the scandal or the risky behavior of it's figures. First with her video for "wrecking ball," dancing in a specific way at a concert, and now nudity...upping the ante each time certainly is getting her the publicity that her concert needs to sell seats. As the article proves, she is certainly getting the reaction that she wants. It reminds me of a radio show I heard that was discussing Lady Gaga's earlier craziness: she kept getting weirder and weirder, but her music kept selling and she was front page of the media for something like four years at the time. All things considered, maybe this is what a celebrity has to do in order to keep being noticed.
Good for Miley. If she's still trying to break out of the Hannah Montana image, I think she accomplished that a long time ago, but this will further solidify people's "bad girl" image of Miley Cyrus. If she's just doing it all for publicity or ticket sales, this will certainly accomplish that. I personally wouldn't want to be covered in not-milk in a crowd of naked strangers, but I'm sure there are countless people who would. If she's doing this all to promote body positivity and get people to stop being so terrified of nudity, then she's making a statement, though most people will probably just interpret this as a cry for attention. Personally, I think the concert and the ideas behind it sound awesome, no matter what it is intending to accomplish. I love Miley regardless.
Ugh. I don't like Miley or her marketing team very much at all. Right before Miley's initial rebellion, (when she cut off all her hair and started wearing costumes made of a single bear) she coincidentally hired a new manager, the same man responsible for the fame of stars such as Britney Spears (also had such a "transformation") and others. Miley's entire career has been built upon pandering, and while she couldn't really help that as a little kid/Hannah Montana, she could certainly do so now. I don't really care that she's doing a naked concert, I don't think it's revolutionary, I don't think it's cool, I don't think she's doing it to express anything other than "Look at how crazy I am!! Woo!" It's a gimmick. What really disappoints me lately is that every time a major artist does something crazy, it's a gimmick. I think the only non-pandering/non-planned move that has caused Miley any notoriety in her current persona was a few months ago, when Nicki Minaj called her out at an awards show out of the blue for being an idiot. That was awesome.
Well, non of this really surprises me. Everyone knows that Miley Cyrus has been all over the media in recent history because of her costume choices, and dance choices, and music choices. I am not someone who really watched her as a kid on Disney channel or heard her music, but I know she was completely different than who she is now. I would love to sit and talk with her though to see if this started as something to get attention as she was becoming a failing artist or if this is really how she enjoys expressing herself. I am not at all familiar with the Flaming Lips band that she intends to collaborate with but if I have any guess it is that the concert will be quiet a show. This definitely is not my style and worries me that maybe Miley could use some mental help but at the end of the day she is making more money than a lot of people and a lot of celebrities and if thats her goal, as sad as it maybe to compromise who you are, then good for her.
First off, this does not surprise one single iota. We all know that Miley Cyrus has become increasingly sensational, and seems to be making headlines for the sake of doing stuff that is headline worthy (not that most of these things are necessarily impressive or something you would tell your grandmother about). That being said, I think there is something mildly noteworthy about an individual who constantly pushes the boundaries of the status quo. This nude concert, in fact, opens up a larger debate about what level of nudity is acceptable, and how our culture reacts to nudity in different scenarios. Thought I’m not sure if Cyrus was seeking to raise a national debate on body image and nudity, I think its audacious to hold a concert where not only the performers but also the audience are entirely in the buff. I would like to note that the whole milk-substance-spewing on the audience seems too overtly sexual, and might just be that slight sensational tone Miley like to put on everything.
I'm a big Flaming Lips fan, and if you're not sure who they are they're an avant garde rock band who's been around for a while. I'm sure they've performed naked previously. they have a history of being okay with basically... whatever. performing on SpongeBob and doing other things perhaps more picky musicians would not. now to team up with pop artist Miley Cyrus- I'm sure this was her reaching out, on her quest to be as outlandish and "Coachella" as possible. something I've noticed with Miley is that she incessantly relies on the most outlandish, most "look how crazy I am" tactics to perform. maybe that's me having a double standard, where a lot of older artists I like, such as David Bowie did the same thing.
I think Miley Cyrus is a great example of market value capitalism. She is producing a product and people are buying it, regardless of if its for the shock and rebellious factor of it, or because they actually like the art she is producing, her work sells, and in the end isnt that all that really matters? If the controversy that she makes over the performances and videos that she produces brings in people to see and participate, It seems silly that everyone get their panties in a wad about what private individuals do with their time. I can understand that people do though. It raises a question of how much generational cultural change is built on the pop icons that just decide to do some out there and controversial, either because they just feel like it, want to change their image, or just want to stir the pot. Are our generations of artists defined by the people that come up with the idea that pleases crowds and gets people to buy tickets the most, or by really innovative and inspiring work?
Miley Cyrus never fails to make me question the future path of pop culture and just in general surprise me. At the end of the day I am happy as an artist to see another artist push boundaries and do the things that make us as a society uncomfortable, because when that happens we aren’t blindly excepting the world around us and living monotonous lives but instead being fully conscious of the world we all live in. And while I don’t fully understand how having a naked concert with a naked band and a naked concert is going to do anything but provide a different viewing experience. Also, I don’t understand how this legally avoids public indecency and how people are going get there. Are they going to have a changing out of closes room before one can enter and find their seat, because people can’t just arrive naked? Lastly, the article wasn’t very clear if these are just concerts in her tour and some will be filmed to be in a music video or if this is just a setting and filming shoot for a music video.
I really don’t understand how this girl can make it to become one of the most popular celebrities. This makes me really confused and questioned American pop culture since she started taking her first half nude post when she was still carrying the image of Hannah Montana. I think she is really sick my the further question is what do people, especially teenagers nowadays value and look for in someone to be their role model. One thing she and people may never realize is the impact of her expression effects the rest of the world’s teenagers. I can say this with confident I was one of the people who used to live so far away from here but growing up with Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan and at some point in your life you thought “This person is the coolest one on earth and I should behave and act like her”. So what is happening now to Miley Cyrus is “Oh, this is American most popular young celebrity, this is what I should do to be popular too. Let’s go naked and stick my tongue out every time I took selfie” It’s terrifying.
I mean I don’t get it, but I don’t have to. Miley has shown us that she is going to do what she wants to do, when she wants to do it, and people pay a ton of money to see her do it, so go ahead. I don’t think she’s trying to be dramatic to break out of her former Disney channel career, because I think the disassociation is pretty apparent at this point. I think this is honestly just how she likes to live. And honestly Miley fades out of the spotlight when she wants to, she was on a hiatus for a while before she hosted that award show if I remember correctly. She’s just out to live, and do it naked, and as long as people are more than willing to participate in whatever it is she does, and it’s not hurting anyone, I say go right ahead.
As humanity evolves into a culture that is much more accepting and people start to embrace others peoples quirks, I think that it is still important that we realize that people are consistently capitalizing on the change in culture. I think Miley Cyrus (or her manager) is a genius. She is "the wierd girl" and in a time when that is WAY cooler, than being the conventional girl Miley has decided that she is gonna go all the way. Who knows if she really wants to be naked all the time, or if this is just a way to get attention. But regardless, she is famous, and people love her, and if that's the way she wants to do it, or that's what makes her happy more power to her. I think it is important to note though, that I won't be attending a fully naked show any time soon.
I don’t get it. Why do a show in the nude? If there isn’t some kind of agenda involved then, what is the point? I can see where this could be some kind of benefit to raise money for gender/sexual equality groups or sexual abuse/violence groups. But “just cuz”? And what about the crew? Are they supposed to be in the nude as well? I can’t see stagehands working the show doing so naked, but I suppose anything’s possible. I wouldn’t be surprised if some kind of lawsuit came from this. I’m also betting that there’s some kind of special zoning or code for something like this. If the idea is to make quality music videos, why not just make quality music videos? What does being naked have to do with it?
What happened to Hannah Montana? My little quirky country girl dropped into California, just trying to find the best of both worlds? Well, her manager, or herself, it does not really matter, saw an opportunity in a dying Disney child star and turned her into a global, risk taking pop star. Miley Cyrus has capitalized on being that new "it" girl!
Though I am a huge fan, this article leaves me confused. Though it is brief, making such a large statement, like a nude concert, needs a little more explanation. The idea of an immersive video where everyone including the audience is covered in a milk-like substance sounds a little unsettling for me. However, I guess those getting themselves involved in the project are aware and excited for this "Immersive" (gross) part of the performance.
I am all for nudity in a performance... when it positively affects the production. I am not knocking the nude aspect yet, I am just eager and excited for how she will make it relevant in her piece.
All in all, I am a huge fan of Miley Cyrus, her career, her music, and her art. Her persona excites me, and makes me eager for whats to come next.
Whether or not I buy into the art or political statement that Miley Cyrus is trying to make is beside the point because she is obviously going to do what she wants to do when she wants to do it (whether or not it makes sense). What I wonder is what the logistics of an event like this are. There are public decency laws in most- if not all-cities, prohibiting full nudity at public events. Provided we ignore that fact, people definitely could not drive to the concert totally naked. Then, if they stripped in public, they likely would not want to leave their clothes in a place that would get this ‘milk-like’ substance all over it. This would mean that the venue would need to provide a clothing-check place and basic dressing rooms for every audience member. They might want to invest in locker room style showers as well so that people can wash off whatever the milky substance is before putting on their dry clothes that were stored in this mythological place.
Even if the naked concert had merit, which to be honest, I do not see an artist reason to do something like this besides simply being controversial, it seems like a venue nightmare and a lawsuit waiting to happen.
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