Leave it to a Canadian to make sense of the Miley Cyrus phenomenon — including her recent quick turn toward adulthood — that has puzzled Americans for months.
While Miley has paraded around every stage — and the occasional pole — singing about how she can’t be tamed, we’ve sat by and simply wondered, “What the heck is her deal?”
Well, someone finally asked Sarah McLachlan, who made it all sound so simple. In an interview with Parade, McLachlan, who recently hit the road on the Lilith Fair 2010 tour, said Miley’s just growing up without the benefit of being able to make her mistakes in private.
“She’s 17. Imagine if you had a camera following you around,” McLachlan told the magazine. “Do you remember what you were doing when you were 17? In a way, I feel really bad for her. She can’t just be a stupid teenager, because everything she does is so scrutinized. She’s 17! And she’s probably thinking, ‘Screw you all!’ She’s been a good girl for so long and she’s rebelling now.”
Asked how Miley will make it through, McLachlan said it’s all about talent.
“You know what, she’s got a lot of talent. So, there’s going to be some pissed off people and some upset kids, and probably some even more upset parents. But it’s kind of a natural progression that she does this. I’m sure she’s a good kid at heart. She certainly seems like she’s got, for the most part, some really good sense and really good parents. I don’t know her personally and I’m not one to judge. Really, ultimately, I feel bad that she has to grow up in the spotlight the way she is, that she can’t just go off and do some stupid things and no one would know about it. Now everybody knows about it.”
Sarah went on to talk about artists like Madonna, Lady Gaga and Ke$ha and the extremes they go to in an effort to sell themselves.
“In a way, I applaud them,” she said. “I find it very entertaining to watch. Is Madonna a great singer? No. Is Madonna a marginally OK singer? Yes. But she’s a great showperson. It’s about a whole bunch of things. Both Ke$ha and Lady Gaga, they write their own stuff and they’re quite talented. They have talent behind them. So yes, they’re using all sorts of different means to promote themselves. But I say more power to them. What a boring world we’d live in if we all just stayed in our nice little boxes and all did what we were supposedly supposed to do. We need people like that to push the envelope. That’s part of what entertainment value is all about.”
In case you missed it, Sarah put on a fantastic live web performance from Starbucks headquarters in Seattle. Here it is:
