Iconic Pop Culture Moments: Miley Cyrus 2013 VMA Performance

[@packnetadaija]

This was an iconic pop culture moment! I remember watching that live with my grandma and mom and we were shocked!

[@nathanielalvarado1634]

Say what you wanna say but Miley understood the assignment and made sure to be remembered one way or another!

[@mibukdesjarlais534]

And she left the classroom with an A+ and leaving behind a very turned-on homeroom teacher. 😏

[@sabrinaleedance]

1. Blurred Lines would never be ok today and 2. It's funny how this.performance probably changed the VMAs forever since just own Cardi B performance ag VMAS alone is 5x more scandalous than this was lol

[@gymnast1910]

They had more viewers back then. That's why it was a bigger deal. Plus, miley starting out as a disney star made it shocking to viewers

[@JC-yy8iv]

Yeah it wasn’t really that the performance was shocking, it’s just that it was Hannah Montana, this was the first time she ever did anything that wasn’t suitable for children

[@lightmeupacigarette]

blurred lines was disgusting even back then

[@durhammadison]

Cardi B got famous for her raunchy language and lifestyle. Miley Cyrus, however, got famous as a child. So this was much more shocking to people, causing such an adverse reaction.

[@ThingsILikke]

Blurred lines wasn’t a good song at all I didn’t understand the fame at all

[@Gisellenid]

She did exactly what she meant, and the viewers reacted exactly as she planned. All pop stars have done that. She doesn't have the greatest voice of history, she doesn't have the greatest body on history, but still has talent. How? Being an entertainer. Creativity and strength. More than 10 years later, she looks fantastic and is more iconic than before. How? Being herself and learning about the industry.

[@gwizzle8094]

That stickman recreation of her performance in the video deserves to be in the Louvre

[@edsterrock]

Looking back, everything about this moment just felt like a weird and uncomfortable fever dream. I remember seeing this live when I was in high school and the next day, everybody in my school did not stop talking about for like a good week. The 2010s were definitely a weird time lol.

[@sheltertwo7957]

I loved Bangerz as an album but the persona was deep cringe. I feel like now that we’re seeing what real twerking looks like, we’re realizing Miley was never actually twerking. It was like this sad at attempt at twerking lol.

[@cammyr12Productions]

Yes 100% agree.

[@marcobenavides16]

She was twerking.. It just happens she does not have a bbl like most girlies so of course is gonna be diferent...

[@merbish7962]

I was literally saying this back in 2013, I never saw her actually twerking. She appropriated tf out of hip hop culture.

[@GinArenas]

Yep... the music is superb... but her anthics were cringe af. Like a drunk girl in Puerto Vallarta during Spring Break trying to audition for Girl's Gone Wils.

[@GeteMachine]

Its about time people realized she didnt even actually do it. She was just grinding.

[@satanette8562]

I loved Miley’s evolution an still love the Bangerz album 2 this day ❤️

[@Tadium]

fucking bangarz 🔥

[@gymnast1910]

Can't believe ppl didn't know what twerking was and thought a white girl invented it...

[@jasmeetsandhu229]

White people don't care about other cultures unless one of their own steals it and then popularized it kind of like how black hairstyles aren't cool unless white people do it or how yoga was invented by Indians but it wasn't cool until white girls stole it lol it was it is

[@brandoncardenas4141]

@@jasmeetsandhu229 xd

[@kittykittybangbang9367]

@@jasmeetsandhu229 aka cultural appropriation

[@kittykittybangbang9367]

It reminds me of what Led Zeppelin did

[@GeteMachine]

White people tend to just assume they must have came up with everything, instead of recognizing other social trends exist outside of themselves too.

[@Sisisiyoyoyoyo]

Yes it is iconic but the fact that she is credited as bringing twerk to mainstream is exacty what was and still is wrong

[@saadbunni]

Your literally the only one I've ever heard say this. Lmao. Sit down karen

[@Sisisiyoyoyoyo]

@@saadbunni well maybe listen And watch poc content And you ll hear it, karen, or maybe clean your ears cause in this video they credit her as the one who brought it into mainstream

[@marcelo98hv]

But it's a fact, obviously is bad bc shes stealing a culture but she did

[@GeteMachine]

Even though it was something black/carribean people were doing from the late 90s and more so in the early 2000s, even in some songs, it was referenced before Miley did it. Like Beyonce's Check on it song references twerking way before that, and back then it was also part of "booty popping" but the mainstream media tends to do this all the time. Thats why I don't even consider that iconic. Miley was just using something as a gimmick for herself. Dropped it and now suddenly shes doing rock. White gay men also have this same problem with bias whenever they reinfoce these mainstream opinions that Miley is so iconic for it, awarding her credit when they feel nostalgic. That they always credit white women with everything cuturally innovative, even if its not their own original style.

[@Route-kq8xd]

She made it fashionable for white girls to twerk. White girls were not twerking before Cyrus.

[@cammyr12Productions]

Bangerz was an iconic era ❤️❤️

[@lazyboyz]

I attened in the audience and remember watching it thinking it was weird but didn't realize I was witnessing history.

[@2604ernesto]

Gosh that was so criticized that it feels like it was more 2003 than 2013

[@SZAliaBanks]

Bangerz was a bop & actually had good songs but the appropriation / antics overshadowed the album

[@imanijohnson4378]

The way people thought she invented twerking chile

[@janerubyjennie96]

Vultures smh

[@littleredsubmarine]

Why must it *always* be a sexual awakening/realisation to show a change/metamorphosis from female Disney/child star to “grown up”? There are other ways…

[@bettyhello]

THIS. Sometimes i think the media normalizes and pushes this false belief that one needs to be openly sexual to embrace adulthood/female liberation because they just love exploiting young women. Look at how people like britney and billie eilish are expected to pose more sexually the moment they turned 18? It doesnt make sense to me how we celebrate this yet we wonder why so many people sexualise teens? The media encourages it. Notice how now if someone were to say performances like this look too much, theyre labelled as prudish or conservative? There are so many people who dont need to have a sexual awakening to grow up, but i think mainstream media has successfully convinced many young women that they need to.

[@ThingsILikke]

She is a pick-me

[@Terry_Bell]

Looking back at Miley's 2013 performance is kinda sad that Miley had to resort to cultural appropriation and actig a fool while at it but judging by how she couldn't replicate that level of relevancy or moderate success with her music after the Bangers era kinda tells you the scandal route was the only way for her to be noticed

[@idontevenhaveapla7224]

I think you should check out plastic hearts?

[@GeteMachine]

I don't like how she just used it as a gimmick. Then tried to play off her antics as something from hip hop, and not herself. She was exaggerating hip hop stereotypes, while when she didnt need it anymore, she just dropped it all and went back to sweet country girl miley for a while again. Now all of a sudden shes rock.

[@AN-hl3xn]

This performance is hilarious because it’s so scandalous :D:D i don’t care what anyone thinks, she was a rockstar that night. Hot mess summed it up perfectly.

[@theshounfiles7898]

i loved this moment. never had a vad thought about it. can't believe the world did

[@nourata.5893]

I remember this like it was yesterday 🤣🤣 I was 13 and this was an ICONIC moment

[@theshounfiles7898]

justin should of gotten the anger complaints. not janet. the whole world was sexist

[@evelinaxxo9593]

Still is

[@DylanShupeMusic]

“Oh no a woman has nipples oh the horror! 😱”

[@Jayjay_07]

you mean america

[@theshounfiles7898]

@@Jayjay_07 yes i mean america

[@spacedude5646]

miley cyrus is a pop culture icon

[@adyshowers7970]

Bangerz era will always be my favourite from miley, I was shocked at first cause well you know she did Hannah Montana but I still loved it lol

[@danderson8431]

The fact that Robin was wearing a Beetlejuice suit, made it that much worse.

[@thinair7671]

Why?

[@thickynicky_]

tell me why 6 year old me loved this era of miley

[@edensaief7918]

I’m in the club high off purp with my shades on

[@noah_cx]

tatted up, mini skirt with my J’s on

[@_Fluorescent_]

So glad you covered this moment!!!

[@thefelicits]

I love a subversive moment but the artlessness of it was so jarring, why didn't she take dance lessons or something beforehand? It was incredibly cringe, and the minstrelsy aspect is undeniable despite her version of the twerk being so unappealing and unsexy. She briefly profited from black culture then dropped it when she was bored of it, without ever showing anything but disrespect for it. This performance did bring the word twerk into the lexicon and that in itself is so frustrating, why do we as white people have to copy these things and do them less well so other white people can appreciate it lol. She's never apologised for all the performances and videos where she treated black women like props, she still feels perfectly entitled to do whatever makes her happy, resolutely ignoring the reality of less privileged people. Don't get me wrong she seems less obnoxious now, she has a great voice and I like some of her songs, but revisiting this moment definitely didn't change my view on it; it was cringey and racist and creepy and I'm kind of disgusted all over again

[@alyssagangi5341]

She profited off total appropriation. Her using black culture to shed her ‘child friendly’ persona is offensive and destructive. Sexualizing black culture and bodies in order to seem rebellious is so gross to me. The performance is certainly iconic due to both parties being very problematic. How did robin thick even have a career is so gross. The minute there was backlash he blamed Miley, absolutely misogynistic. Very Justin Timberlake of him 🙄 A reflection of the time period and hopefully we can grow as a society.

[@literally1999]

POPICANA, I have missed you queen 👑

[@ughasif172]

I thinks theyre a boy

[@missmama919]

We LOVE a LEGENDARY ALLY 🌈

[@javierocker82]

I would say this is the last moment for 2000's party culture. So yes, iconic, but a massive cultural shift was about to begin.

[@godsstrongestmagicalgirl5217]

This channel is a goldmine

[@omarzebboudj7205]

Never hated that performance because many artists did it before and I support her

[@TheLeah2344]

I only had a problem with her using culture appropriation to “ break free “ then turning around and talking shit and separating herself from the same genre she profited from. Also she didn’t invent twerking either. Black women have been called ratchet and ghetto for twerking but it’s praised when a white girl does it.

[@GeteMachine]

I don't like how after the Bangerz era, she then tried to play off her antics as something from hip hop, and not herself. She was exaggerating hip hop stereotypes, while when she didnt need it anymore, she just dropped it all and went back to sweet country girl miley for a while again. Now all of a sudden shes rock.

[@edith9116]

that hairstyle really looks nice on her with that red lipstick

[@DrT0705]

2013?! I would have sworn this happened 4 or 5 years ago. I never watched the performance but it cracked me up when what Miley was doing was described as "twerking" 😂

[@alexwendling]

Amazing video! Great storytelling

[@mustafhassan3338]

Love the daily uploads king👌🏿✨

[@nameisamine]

She intentionally planned to do a mess of a performance on purpose. Then played dumb when the media disliked it. The Madonna and Gaga performances she was referring to were provocative but still of high quality & polish. That was the difference. I won’t let nostalgia cloud my judgement! The Bangerz era, as fun and chaotic as it was, made Miley the poster child for cultural appropriation, her introducing white audiences to twerking wasn’t much of an accomplishment. It was however very illuminating to me. It made me realise that white audiences really did live in a bubble and they’d never noticed the decades of twerk performance in Black-American/African & some Latin music. It opened my eyes to the racial biases and erasure in the music business, that a style of performance that had long existed in communities of colour suddenly became fresh, interesting, and the new hot thing, once a White American popstar appropriated it. 😅 It was a real wake up call for me. It proved White America was truly living in a separate world. And in white people’s world, twerking did not exist…until Miley. 🥴

[@cheeseebun]

it was cringe af, all i remember is tumblr being weirdly angry at her performance & body shaming her & exaggerating things that werent as usual lol

[@annaabencxmo]

Keep doing these I love them!

[@saadbunni]

I think yall really reaching on the racism here. Again your thinking about it way more then she ever did. She never considered race, because she chose dancers with the best talent. So they happened to all be black? Now were complaining about TOO much diversity, and were gunna accuse her of " using black people as props" when that was never ever the case. Yall are reaching .

[@Sisisiyoyoyoyo]

the way youre defending so strongly something you have no idea of

[@saadbunni]

@@Sisisiyoyoyoyo saying I domt understand racism? Bold of you to assume I'm white and dont experience racism. Glad everybody else gets to bounce their opinion on the matter, but because you dont like my point of view on the subject, it's wrong and I " dont have the right to be commenting on something I have no clue about" okay sis. Go the fuck off lmao.

[@Sisisiyoyoyoyo]

@@saadbunni you do sound white, all this arguing without actually saying anything, getting off topic, no one told you you didnt have the right but how dare i say you have no idea what youre talking about, wich you dont, you popped off so hard, dont be mad, go do your reaserch, "sis"

[@marilyn1984]

She was using black culture As a way to Say To f u to Disney🤨 then acted like nothing happen like two three years after. If she was black Y’all wouldn’t be calling a pop culture moment y’all would call it ratchet/Ghetto

[@saadbunni]

@@marilyn1984 right cause that's what we do to all the black creators? I think not lmao. I dont hear anyone calling sweeties performances ghetto or ratchet lmao

[@BobbyMooreable]

Fun fact: she was nominated for Time Magazine’s Person of The Year.

[@Terry_Bell]

and never reached the same level or relevancy or success after that

[@BobbyMooreable]

@@Terry_Bell the fact that people still make videos talking about it for you to click on it to watch in order to talk about her more says otherwise

[@ronniepedersen4498]

The Hank Hill ass Meme from this! Lmao, Died! Best part

[@alfredino724]

she'll always be Hannah Montana but dead pets her best album

[@LucianaIsBoss]

Everyone was so mad at that but look at us now

[@kitssch]

AKA the raw chicken ass incident

[@carebodai1440]

I will never forget the "aSaP rOcKER" moment

[@bobgray6498]

I was entertained by Miley then, but I knew this was all fake so I never supported it. Sure enough, a year later she was talking about how degrading hip hop was lol She's the textbook example of a culture vulture

[@mileymontanaxs]

Correction: She moved to Philadelphia not New York

[@Moon__Bunny__]

UPLOAD QUEEN

[@silque575]

im screaming u jus threw in the trump comment💀💀

[@Terry_Bell]

Miley's 2013 VMA performance invented cringe culture

[@karlc2869]

Paula Patton is smart in divorcing Robin.

[@M4rteevee]

It was camp

[@annnnne]

Please do Lauren Conrad vs Heidi Montag.

[@orangechickengorl]

You just had to be there

[@kristencatherine746]

I LOVED the cringe lol! I love seeing people get uncomfortable. Idk why …. I guess I just hate judgment .

[@boohoo1785]

A cultural reset. Literally

[@theadorakelly]

What I got out of this is that the performance was more of a fuck you to Robin Thicke 😂 I love Miley even more now. 🏆👑

[@horihori19]

yes it was pop culture moment.but i don't like it.it was a mess.it is not even worthed to be compared to madonna-britney kiss.

[@marilyn1984]

Just imagine if a black woman did that back in the day y’all wouldn’t be calling it Calling a Iconic pop culture moment 🤷🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️.

[@YaIshe]

The fact is black women have done it and have been absolutely dragged

[@GeteMachine]

@@YaIshe Like how Lizzo was.

[@GeteMachine]

They would be called ratchet and banned for it.

[@YaIshe]

@@GeteMachine perfect example of the double standard

[@bettyhello]

It’s memorable yes. Iconic? Maybe. But it still was trash. Song is horrible for glorifying r@pe, dancing was trash, everything was so not aesthetically pleasing. I support women for sure, as a feminist myself, but i can still be objective in my personal view and say it was trash. She didnt even invent twerking. It was just a trashy performance.

[@mxhsvn_b7866]

Yeah that performance was disgusting no kidding

[@GLENDALE_ISBACK]

No it wasn't

[@aengusog3415]

It really wasn’t compared to what was to come in the future

[@equusquaggaquagga536]

That's the joke. Miley satirized the jail bait wait because waiting for a young girl to be legal is disgusting.

[@honeydew2907]

@@equusquaggaquagga536 👏

[@mxhsvn_b7866]

@@aengusog3415 well that doesn't make it any better. People saying "tHiS iS sO nOrMaL tOdAy We WeRe So ExTrA bAcK tHeN" just shows how we've gone from bad to worse

[@GeteMachine]

Twerking has evolved since then. I've seen better. Hers definitely looked cringe in retrospect.

[@ozzzempic]

cultural reset

[@Happy_H0ur]

This is not iconic. This is just attention-seeking and stupid. It took away from every other great performance of the night. *cough*IMAGINE DRAGONS*cough*

[@brandyjohnson8040]

She looked a mess!!!

[@rotem1437]

Not iconic...more a like try-hard and attention seeking.

[@serenabaney997]

She is so cringe.