Perfection. It’s more than just a universal truth. We believe in it. We crave it. We strive for it. It’s safe to say we basically breathe for it. But tell me, what is perfection? Each and every individual asked that question would have a greatly altered definition of their perception of perfection, ranging from personal appearance to success. It is a mere fact that depending on who you are, where you grew up, and what you’re capable of, you are presented with different expectations on how you should live your life. You will always be expected to be the very best; to be perfect.
It is quite understandable, even from an average person’s perspective, that along with being a well-known individual, certain expectations from the general public exist. Gaining respect from a group of fans or even haters is awfully difficult for artists to accomplish. Understanding the difficulty, many artists choose to allow producers to fabricate them, becoming someone they are absolutely not. Dating back to 1840’s, authors and poets faced similar obstacles, striving to introduce original thought and ideas; however, they were struck down by the general public.
Countless writers in the past have experienced this, transferring the pattern into modern day society with multiple artists, specifically Miley Cyrus. The individualistic philosophies presented in Emerson’s writing, specifically “Self Reliance”, are reflected in contemporary society through Miley Cyrus’ core values of self-confidence along with ideas of progression and nonconformity. During Cyrus’ primary years of fame, she performed as a fabricated individual, being told what to do, how to act, and who to be.
Miley Cyrus’ songs were written by many different songwriters, one of which was her father, Billy Ray Cyrus, who her producers had to approve of. After years of singing lyrics that did not come from the heart, she wrote her first original song, The Climb. This expresses her true ideas produced by strictly her thoughts. In her first original piece, Cyrus writes,”My faith is shaking but i gotta keep tryin gotta keep my head held high”. No matter what comes at her in life, she just has to push through it in order to make her life what she wants it be.
Cyrus expands this idea by writing, “The struggles I’m facing, the chances I’m taking sometimes might knock me down/ but i’m not breaking”. With this she means that regardless of the countless problems she comes across in life, she won’t let it take away the best of her. The chances she will take to become her own unique person the way she wants to see herself might knock her down, but in long run, she will be who she wants to be even if it means drastically standing out and destroying the fabricated image of sweet innocence created by her producers.
In The Climb when Miley Cyrus writes, “I may not know it but these are the moments that i’m gonna remember most, yeah just gotta keep going”, she is arguing for the acceptance of innovation. The importance of being an unique individual is stressed to an extreme extent by Emerson is his essay “Self Reliance”. He writes,”There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide” (20-23). Envy is ignorance. With this, Emerson is saying if anyone is to envy their peers, they are ignorant. Those type of people are clueless to the real meaning of their own lives.
In the case of Miley Cyrus, she does not envy other artists. She is exactly who she wants to be and she is not jealous of who the other artists are. No, she is not perfect, nor does she pretend to be; however, she is not ignorant. She knows exactly who she is. Imitation is suicide. Here, Emerson expresses, if someone attempts to imitate the actions or ideas of another, it’s killing who they are. Emerson believes that each individual should be his or her own person, supporting the concept of individualism. Cyrus agrees that people should not pretend to be someone hey are not, just like she had to pretend to be Hannah Montana.
When one imitates someone else, he or she killing his or her own individuality. In countless interviews, Cyrus expresses her belief in individualism. When asked about her behavior, Cyrus responds, “People more think of me as a party animal. Which I am a self-proclaimed party animal, but I’m also the hardest working person you’ll ever know” (interview). She believes her actions are right for her, and although others would not necessarily consider them appropriate, she does not let the negativity bring her down.
Many wonder why Cyrus chooses to do the things she does. When asked, Cyrus offendedly answers, “My whole thing is, haters are gonna hate, but haters are also going to click on your youtube video just to watch it, so i don’t really care. You helped me break the record. Even if you were watching just to hate on me, and now i hold the record, so i win”. She underwent a huge change from who she used to be. People tend to dislike such significant individualistic changes, judging her. However, in the end they are still giving her a lot of attention and fame.
In the end, she still wins by gaining exactly what she wants, popularity. When speaking about her childhood, Cyrus explains, “I don’t want to be perfect, but i do want to be a role model. My mom alway tells me that imperfections equal beauty. All of us are imperfect”. She knows it’s okay to be different. To her, imperfections do not matter. She knows she is beautiful inside-out, regardless of the norm. Many people struggle with this, trying to fit in and follow the mainstream expectations of what society sees as perfect.
In the 2015 VMA’s, Miley Cyrus added what some called a “twist” to her performance. She claims she let loose and had fun on stage by explicitly dancing with one of her backup dancers. When asked about this in her interview, “Life After Liam Hemsworth”, Cyrus unapologetically explains, “You are thinking about it more than | thought about it when I did it,” Cyrus said. “I didn’t even think about it when I did it because that’s just me”. People thought her performance was “too much”, as if she was out of control. Miley suggests, maybe that’s just her personality; doing what she wants.
Is that so wrong? After many hateful rejections to her new and what she sees as improved personality, Cyrus writes in her song Imma Do My Thang, “So don’t you worry bout me, ima be okay. Imma do my thang, cause imma do my thang”. She does what she wants to, exactly the way she wants to regardless of what the mainstream thing to do is. Another one of her songs Maybe You’re Right, Cyrus writes, “You can blame me for who i am, Maybe you’re right”. In just 8 words, the themes of acceptance, self-awareness, and responsibility all come through vividly.
Cyrus expresses herself through her music and is confident in her lyrics. She says, “My new music is going to shut everyone up” (Tweet). Although people shut her down, Cyrus does not pay any attention to them because she knows just how talented she is. She is confident in the fact that people will enjoy her new music and respond positively to it. Personal appearance has a significant meaning to most individuals. While some are not so concerned about what they look like, others use it to express themselves and give people more insight on who they are.
Cyrus shows an obsession with her appearance, claiming it defines who she is. In an interview “Up Close and Personal”, she says, “You will never see me with long hair again! My fiance [Liam Hemsworth] loves it. It’s so easy and I don’t need to wash it. It looks better grungy”. While people may frown upon her hair being different from a typical hair style, she takes pride that she looks different from the majority of women her age. She loves the way she looks. Cyrus expresses passion for fashion, “leather basketball shorts today, yeahhhh mayyyyyne”(tweet).
Cyrus shows her love for fashion and unique clothing that are far from the usual. Most would never consider putting on leather basketball shorts. She is confident, not caring about anyone’s opinion about her fashion choices. She wears her clothes with pride and shows her excitement. In addition, She shows her nonconformity with the use of social media. On “Interview on Sunday Night”, Cyrus explains, “I don’t have an Instagram”. Most celebrities tend to make accounts on all types of social media to update people on what they are doing every second of every day.
Uniquely, Miley Cyrus decided that she wanted to keep that part of her life private, not feeling the need to join Instagram as most other celebrities do. In addition, Miley was engaged at age 19. Miley proved she was mature enough for a serious relationship with commitment with her fiance. Although people did not approve because of her young age, she knew for certain what she wanted. Evidently, Emerson’s “Self Reliance” offers a greater understanding beyond music, fashion, and celebrities, but perhaps, it also proves a concept relevant in previous times, today’s society, and life in the future as well.
Emerson’s core values have proven you cannot pretend perfection. Why? Well, it simply does not exist. Instead; however, we strive to be perfect by being who we truly are. We grow and discover ourselves, becoming unique individuals. We develop our own expectations on how great we want to be. Discovering ourselves is not difficult; however we cannot begin until we stop following societies expectations. Until we stop pretending perfection.
