Miley Cyrus At 30: Time To Grow Up

[Ben Shapiro]

You remember Miley Cyrus. She's the one who came in like a wrecking
ball, naked, and also partied in the USA. She also buys herself
flowers.

Cyrus has a new song out right now called “Used to Be Young.” The
entire song is Miley Cyrus complaining about all of the things she has
spent her entire life promoting and doing which were very bad for her —
and have now left her single and alone at the age of 30.

What's amazing about this is the song was written by the same
songwriting duo who created “Flowers,” a song about how she went
through a breakup and can now buy herself flowers. She sang, “I can
love me better than you can.”

As I said when I first saw the video, she looks like a sad person —
literally a person alone, by herself running around an empty city in
what felt like an emotional, post-apocalyptic hellscape.

In the new song, she says that out loud. She's wearing a Mickey Mouse
shirt to signify a time when she was on Disney’s “Hannah Montana” at
the age of 13. She's wearing a red dress and crying into the camera for
roughly three minutes about how she's made all these mistakes and
doesn't have a lot to show for it.

I don't understand how a person can make the songs “Flowers” and “Used
To Be Young” in the same year. Perhaps they are related to one another.
Perhaps the way to avoid regrets of the past is to live a fulfilling
and purpose-driven present.

When you spread the message that “You are enough for you; live your
life, single ladies, you don't need a husband; you don't need kids; you
don't need meaning; you don't need purpose, you don't need church; you
don't need a community, you don't need any of those things, it's just
you, Girl Boss,” and then you turn out like this — perhaps those two
messages are related.

The entire message of the new song is, “I know I used to be crazy.
That's because I used to be young.” The contrapositive is that she's
_not_ crazy anymore because she's _not young_ anymore. And maybe it's
time to grow up. The song is being interpreted by some in the media as
an anthem to “I don't regret my past.”

Except for this: She's crying during the entire song. The _entire
song_. She sings, “Open bars lead to broken hearts and goin’ way too
far.”

Yup.

If I thought this was the new Miley Cyrus and that she was actually
going to embrace a purpose-driven life, I'd be a little bit more
charitable. I hope she does. I hope the next thing she embraces is
singing messages that people in their 20s _should_ hear, such as: “Life
is _not_ about partying in the USA” and “You _can't_ buy yourself
flowers.” Or this: “You should try to be a better person so you can
find Mr. Right and then settle down, build an actual family structure
and then do something for the world.”

That would be a great message.

I don't trust pop music to do that, though. Pop music is the most
narcissistic form of music. The messages in rap right now are full-on
destructive, but pop is insanely narcissistic, just about “me and my
feelings” in front of a giant mirror all the time.

She finishes the song, “I know I used to be crazy, messed up, but God,
was it fun? I know I used to be wild. That's ‘cause I used to be young.
Those wasted nights are not wasted. I remember every one. I know I used
to be crazy. That's because I used to be young.”

Here's the thing: You shouldn't waste more nights like that, even if
what you want to say is “I've made mistakes in my past and that's what
made me what I am.” Be something more or you're going to end up at 40
singing the same tune.

She’s still young. There’s no reason she can't put together a
successful life and be useful; create a purposeful, meaning-driven
life, not one where she’s coming in like a wrecking ball, naked.

I hope this is the beginning of a rethinking for Miley Cyrus.