8 Embarrassing Adult Re-Inventions From Famous Musicians

8. Miley Cyrus

Destiny Hope Cyrus was a Disney dream back when she was first cast as Hannah Montana. The daughter of country legend Billy Ray Cyrus (I have Achy Breaky Heart on my iPod and I am not ashamed of it), she could sing and act, and won a slew of awards and nominations for her double role of Miley Stewart and Hannah Montana. She was able to build a musical career under the name Miley Cyrus and became an icon for tweenage girls everywhere. And then.... You may not have heard, but Miley Cyrus caused a bit of a stir with her performance at the VMAs in August 2013. Gyrating around the stage in flesh-coloured underwear and grinding against an obviously very happy Robin Thicke, she couldn't have been more at odds with her Hannah Montana, good country girl image. Tongue lolling from her mouth, she skipped happily about performing obscene gestures with a foam hand and singing really rather badly. But do you know what? Miley Cyrus achieved exactly what she set out to do that night: get tongues wagging (apart from her own). And then she released Wrecking Ball, which is actually a brilliant song, and proved that she does actually have the song-writing talent to hold her own in the music business, even aside from the new image. However... Cast your mind back to 2010, when Miley first tried to cast aside her TV persona. Not many people seem to remember but she has been trying really hard to disassociate herself from Hannah Montana in favour of a sexier adult version for the last four years, and she started by releasing the song Can't Be Tamed, Miley's declaration of adulthood with a video featuring oh-so-subtle imagery of her in a cage and with empowering lyrics about going through guys like money and how if you hold her back she might explode. In fairness to her, it must be hard when the public has a pre-conceived image of you that is nothing like what you really are, but there are better ways to express yourself than by claiming "Have to get my way, yep/Twenty-four hours a day/Cos I'm hot like that." Hannah Montana seems so long ago, doesn't it?
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Doctor Who and A Song Of Ice And Fire obsessive. Compulsive Skyrimmer. Lover of tea and Nicolas Cage films (the worse, the better)