Elly Booth – To twerk is to inspire

I think that the twerk-heavy, acrobatic-tongued Miley Cyrus is absolutely amazing.

Back in the day, the sweet sounds of Hannah Montana became a soundtrack to the tweenage lives of millions of girls everywhere. The humble, country-loving image was just the ticket to make her seem the perfect role model. She dreamed and achieved. She knew how to trill her notes and wore sparkly jeans. She could even have been referred to as ‘inspirational’.

‘Could’ is the thornily operative word here. She was living two lives. She obviously didn’t believe in what she did day-to-day. There was of course the fact that she was probably only being Hannah Montana because she had a Dad who was, well, like her Dad.

By no means was she just doing her thang. By no means was he untamed.

“Here I am… just casually ‘being Miley'”

This all changed when she shed the skin of Hannah Montana, and became Miley Cyrus full-time.

Her undeniable ability to sing came to my attention when I watched ‘The Hannah Montana Movie’ on a 12-hour flight back from South Africa ( I was confined to a hospital stretcher making this hardly the most comfortable trip of my life). I watched it three times, only barely managing to get to the next film ‘High School Musical 3’. This might sound like hell to many people. Surprisingly it wasn’t.

High in equestrian content and surprisingly inspirational…

Hannah’s final hurrah was actually inspiring. She ditched the façade of Hannah, stopped being an arrogant Madame and got herself some action. It was actually pretty good.

As she broke from the chains of her childhood (like we all do n’est-ce pas?), a few noticeable changes occurred. One was her rather more ‘saucy’ outfit choices:

Hardly something that would do for midnight mass…

It was all rather a shock to the system, but nothing like what was to come. And you can’t deny it – she looked absolutely incredible. The fairy tale continued outside of the Disney Channel and she fell in love. She got engaged too. We all fervently prepared for the ‘Happy Ever After’. Or, at the very least, we prepared for slightly better farings than that of her doppelganger Britney Spears a decade previously.

Then disaster struck. She broke up with God – Liam Hensworth – and the rebellion started.

First things first, if I had that body after a break-up I would be praising the Lord (or else desperately take up Pilates). Secondly, surely we should find it inspiring that she stood up and did what she wanted to do. She didn’t bow down to pressure, nor did she hide in a corner. Isn’t that what we should be telling our daughters to do? Surely we should be encouraging them not to be sheep and just to be themselves, whatever the consequences.

Finally, as teenager Miley, was forced to squeeze those precious teenage years into a far smaller time than we had. If her rebellious nature has similarities to Justin Bieber, then honestly I am relieved. If this talented star can actually rebel and entertain people while she does it, she is far more likely to be a happy and super-talented woman. She needs her outlet, thank you very much. She needs her release. We have had far too many drug overdoses and breakdowns by hemmed-in child stars to let it happen again.

So the crazy Miley continues and I love it. I actually can go another hog and say I find it inspiring. I might even take it further and say she is one of the most inspiring stars of our generation. So ‘fuck da haterz’ (or whatever that phrase is) and let this girl do her thang. She is happy, healthy and being herself, and that is a way better role-model than the two-faced Hannah Montana/Miley situation that was going on a few years ago.

As an added bonus, she sings like an angel too.

Is noone else loading this as their desktop background as we speak?

Have a Happy Miley-filled Monday.