Project X(X-XY)

In her talk at TedX Summerville, Kristin Lieb discusses her "Life Cycle of Popular Music Stars." She says that first, female pop artists, if they want to have a successful career start out in the "good girl" phase, where they embody femininity and innocence. From there they transition into the "temptress" phase, when their songs and the narratives about them revolve around their sexuality. After this phase, if they're lucky, female pop stars will transition to the "diva" phase, when people focus on their work and success more than their body or anything else. If they're not so lucky, they transition to the "hot mess" stage instead, and people will focus on their behavior in public. After this, female pop stats can transition to the "provocateur" phase, when they keep pushing our "cultural hot-buttons," until we get tired of them, and they disappear from the public eye.

To apply this to the iconic 90s pop sensation Christina Aguilera, I decided to use the song "What A Girl Wants" because it was one of my favorite songs by her growing up. This song was released in 1999 as part of her first album. If Christina's time on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse was her "good girl" phase, then her break into music was definitely part of her temptress phase. In this song specifically, Christina is thanking her boyfriend for treating her right by giving her "time to breathe" and "being there" for her. While the lyrics aren't overtly sexual, the chorus "what a girl wants" is also thought to reference good sex, as pointed out by the YouTube comment below.

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While I do see some issues with Kristin Lieb's overgeneralization of female pop stars' career life cycles, I think that Miley Cyrus almost perfectly fits into this mold. When I was growing up, all the little girls in my school idolized Miley Cyrus on Hannah Montana. I heard my classmates sing her songs like "Nobody's Perfect" and "Rock Star," and I even saw some choreograph dances to them during recess. All our outfits were inspired by whatever she wore on the show. From 2006, up until 2012 (with the exception of that controversial topless photoshoot she did in 2009), she was a quintessential "good girl."

In 2013, Miley Cyrus shocked us all when she ditched her ombré waves for a blonde pixie cut, saying that doing so made her feel more like herself. This was the start of Miley's "hot mess" phase. After the release of "We Can't Stop," and it's bizarre music video, people were more concerned with Miley's behavior, which was starkly different compared to when she was in her "good girl" phase. At her concerts, she twerked, smoked weed, wore strange clothing, and rode on giant hotdogs because of their phallic nature. In the blossoming age of social media, videos of her outrageous performances (2013 VMAs) went viral, and numerous people talked about her new sexual promiscuity.

Miley's "hot mess" phase lasted for two years, until 2015, when she "calmed down," became a judge on The Voice, and began her "provocateur" phase. Today, she uses her celebrity to promote LGBTQ+ rights and help homeless youth. She performed at the One Love Manchester benefit concert. Her provocateur phase has just begun, and it will be interesting to see where how her career evolves from here.