It was an interesting week, what with Washington bullets and the chaos surrounding the ridiculous shutting down of government services in the US, but you know, I have said more than enough about Obama and his difficulty in actually leading, in the past. As each month passes, he gets closer and closer to the "dead duck" status of a President hitting mid-life (crisis?!) of a second term, where all the focus and attention shifts to someone else.
That someone else being Hilary Clinton, natch, who he fought with aggressively to get to the White House in the first place. It's already time for a change; a sentiment with which most of America agrees, I am sure, given the current excuse for a "government". I said back in 2009 that there would be no JFK+Jackie O legacy left behind by the Obamas, not least because in their case there were no brilliant politics nor even any serious risk-taking behind their hype and celebrity. Trying to please all the people all the time does not a President make, and when one spends almost an entire first term focused on a second term? Well, that story is already written, and current events are an accurate summary of it.
From the previously sublime to the totally ridiculous, I couldn't help but watch the online feud between controversial Irish singer Sinead O'Connor and precocious American pop starlet Miley Cyrus that exploded on all our media this week. Right from the get-go, I couldn't help but chuckle at the mere concept of a wacky 50-ish former (female) star lecturing some currently hot 20-year-old on her behaviour. Does Sinead even remember her own 20's? We do!
Now, I don't doubt that some of Sinead's comments did come from a "motherly" place, in the recent open letter to Miley that she published online. But there is one very key point to make here from the start - Miley does have a mother. And a father. It's their job to continue to try and guide their former little girl, now that she is all grown up and a young woman.
It's not because Miley confessed to have been inspired by Sinead's very touching (and admittedly very classy) video for "Nothing Compares 2 U", that Sinead O'Connor has some special right to criticize the young woman and accuse her of being a de facto prostitute for the music industry, and being pimped out to it by either management, or even God forbid, by herself.
Now don't get me wrong, I understand the ongoing fuss about the current female elite in pop appearing on stage and in videos wearing less and less, and being sexualized more and more. I get it. But you know, this was all done before, and caused a bigger fuss in even more conservative times. Madonna is still the one they are all trying to emulate in one way or another, and Madonna is older than even Sinead is today!
We have heard the warnings regarding all the starlets who followed Madonna, and that includes Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Lady Gaga, Rhianna and bla-bla-bla. It only takes one hot starlet to show more skin or pull some controversial attention-grabbing move, and the other girls see the response (and the increased income) and then try to do one better. It's not that different from high school, it's just on a public stage with massive amounts of money involved.
I think it's actually naive of Sinead to assume they are being totally "pimped", and have been brainwashed into it by some svengali music biz types, who use them and abuse them, then go off to their "yachts in Antigua" on the spoils. Give me a break - the music industry has been milking talent dry for decades and squeezing every dollar out of them - there's nothing new about that. Apart from the fact that in 2013, managers and their acts have way more control of their destiny and revenue streams than ever before, and acts do not need to be "prostituted" to make music anymore.
It might even be insulting in the extreme to suggest that a rather savvy young businesswoman artist (and that is what she appears to be) is being totally controlled, and none of the decisions regarding her music, performances and image are being made by herself. I doubt that this is the case. But, she is all grown-up from being Hannah Montana, and like almost all ex-Disney child stars, she seems to be going through a semi-rebellion against all that, occasionally acting out as a way of separating herself from her past persona and stamping a new reality on her brand. Quite frankly, the skimpy tops, exposed skin and knowing innuendo are quite typical of adolescent girls in general, on your typical high street in summer, and it's not a phenotype restricted to female starlets.
Tell me, what more do you expect of a 20-year-old who was formerly seen as all innocent and prim-and-proper, who now wants to play with the big girls of pop? She is simply announcing that she has arrived onto the bigger stage, and while I agree that it could be done more discreetly and more musically, well, in 2013, you can get more attention in a heartbeat via Twitter or an awards show than from a year of touring. Sinead herself is acutely aware of this fact, and it may well explain what is going on here - free publicity. Little more.
I ain't going to get into the whole furore over the MTV Music Awards performance with Robin Thicke - too much has been said already. I didn't like it, and most didn't. But she's an extremely prominent 20-year-old who (by most points of view) made a mistake or a bad judgement call - well, whoop-di-doo, let's chain her up in the town square stocks for that! People need to get over it, or over themselves - one cannot be a hypocrite just because she is famous.
If we lambast her as if she were a prostitute (and you know, it is desperation that often leads to that career choice), then we better be prepared to do the same to a nation's teenagers, who inevitably make such errors growing up. It's not because Miley's are observed by millions that makes it so unforgivable. Burdening a 20-year-old with the demand that she always be a role model at such a tender age is just not fair, and I am sure she does not need some faded star and part-time wackjob (who is older than her mom) playing her mother.
Ms. O'Connor has had a colorful past of her own. Just because she claims, all holier-than-thou style, that she did not accede to the music industry and she hid her sexuality, does not a saint make. Let's remind ourselves of some of the history here:
- Sinead caused not a little controversy in her own very early career, by being present at pro-IRA rallies. These were venues for showing support for the violent struggle against the British Government in Northern Ireland, via bombs and assassinations. It was claimed much later on that she was being "misled" by her manager, one Fachtna O' Ceallaigh, who had indoctrinated her with the righteousness of the IRA's actions. So she refused to let the music industry sexualize her, while letting it use her celebrity to validate terrorist acts? Uh-huh.
- At one point, she accused the boys of U2 of ripping off small Irish acts via their label and recording studios in Dublin, even though the boys were already filthy rich! I laughed out loud when after being asked if she had tried to make amends, she said that each time she spotted Bono at industry events and got close to him, some burly types always got in her way. I wonder why? Poor Bono was probably worried about having his throat slit!
- Sinead actually wanted to be known as Mother Bernadette Mary, after being ordained as a "priest" in the late 90's by a religious offshoot not recognized by the Catholic church. You tear up the picture of the Pope on SNL but you want to become Ireland's first female priest? Now don't get me wrong, Sinead and I would see eye-to-eye on the bulk of her opinions about that church (read "A QUIET RESIGNATION" for example), but then also having a desire to become a priest among them? Wacko.
- The aforementioned "performance" on SNL in 1992 wherein she tore up the picture of the Pope speaks for itself. No need to discuss further. I did smile though at her remembering the time she got into an elevator and Frank Sinatra, the Chairman of the Board himself, was standing there. Frank had said he would slap her, if he ever saw her again. Sinead was trembling, lol. Well, it is Frank Sinatra, not the Pope - Frank's the real deal!
- Her third marriage to Steve Cooney lasted from July 2010 to April 2011. Her fourth marriage was to a therapist called Barry Herridge, whom she had met a few months before on the internet. They married in December 2011 in Las Vegas, but 17 days later she announced on her website that their marriage had ended, after living together for only seven days. A female priest who truly seems to mock the institution of marriage? Wacko.
- Various online postings by Sinead about the state of her mental health, and her need for help, and more recently her Twitterwar with superstar Miley, simply underline the troubles that lie within. The fact she that she has since threatened legal action to that 20-year-old girl for responding more or less as any 20-year-old would (should?) to her, is by any standards just completely ridiculous! Be careful Ms. O'Connor, Miley is way richer than you are, I imagine, and she can afford to take you to the cleaners in any American courtroom.
Need I go on? Sinead O'Connor is an Irish singer whose career never recovered from the SNL "performance" debacle, never mind any other shenanigans she got up to before or since. It must sting to see these kids of barely 20, with such huge success and maybe a lifelong career ahead of them, instead of a screwed up one. But to go public in a tone of claimed "motherliness" and lecture some girl, and then threaten to sue her, at almost 50 years old herself? All this inside the same week? Someone does indeed need to grow up - the one with no excuse for such behaviour!
Miley, you go, girl. Listen to your real parents more, and listen to all the clingers, and wannabes and self-proclaimed advisers (including wackjob "therapists") less. You're doing some growing up in public which is not always fun to watch, but you sure seem to be still way more centered than some of those willing to take a ride on your fame and success. For their own gain.
Do y'all think it's entirely coincidence that Ms. O'Connor is heading back out on tour herself? Uh-huh. This recent public outburst (which could have been handled in private) has nothing at all to do with the fact that Sinead O'Connor audiences can fit into the upper mezzanine of the huge stadiums that Miley Cyrus can fill? Ticket sales envy is not at the bottom of it all? Yet Miley is the one accused of pimping herself to the media to increase revenues?
Ms. O'Connor should zip it. Ms. Cyrus should rip it, but maybe just let the twerking go, and occasionally channel some Hannah and keep more clothes on. No biggie. ;) - Kevin Mc
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