7/27/2019 Public Row: Sinead O'Connor and Miley Cyrus

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Humaira Chuhan Media A2 Words:

Why is the public row between the music artists Sinead O'Connor and Miley Cyrus

important in understanding the relationship between artistes and between artiste and

audience? Explore with reference to the representation of women, media institutions and

the role of the media.

The internet is where all gossip lives, it is highly unlikely you are unable to find a popular

story everyone has been talking about. Celebrities are victims of continuous gossip, whether

its between other celebrities or not; the recent public row between Miley Cyrus and Sinead

OConner is a perfect example of both. The confrontation between the two holds much

information to their personal beliefs and opinions on a variety of aspects.

Miley and Sinead have one major thing in common- they are successful music artists.

However, their differences outweigh this large similarity, leading to Miley commenting on

Sineads dated Twitter mental breakdown and comparing her to Amanda Bynes who is

currently undergoing psychiatric help.

The relationship between these two artists was never incredibly strong, and now seems it

never will be. The audiences involvement proved that their life is an on-going show, open

to everyone, and as the confrontation continued over Sineads Facebook, the media was

being used for its number one purpose: communication. Media is used for many things and

reasons, but THE media is highly responsible for making famous peoples lives better, or

worse. Artists rely on the media to increase their popularity and let their work live and be

distributed to everyone, however this time; theyre creating the gossip themselves and are

using social networking as the cause and escalation of their row.

In Sineads public letters to Miley, she advises her not to let the music business make a

prostitute of you. This suggests that the music industries itself are just interested in the

money they can get from any act, and Miley being one of them. Her recent performances at

awards and on her music videos to We Cant Stop and Wrecking Ball are very exposed to

create such attention and money. Sinead also said The music business doesnt give a sh*t

about you, or any of us. Again implying they are entirely money orientated and are not

interested in the artists themselves. Adding to this, Sinead also said on The Late Late Show,

Industry has taken over so much, the money-making side of it, that the sexualising of

extremely young people making records, and all the worship with money and bling and

diamonds She acknowledges that institutions are more concerned about money, rather

than the entertainment aspect.

This plays a big part in the relationship between artists and audience; the artist can/will do

whatever it takes to keep their fans engaged and to maintain their number one place in

internet gossip, and therefore earning money for themselves and the industry. However, in

this case, the argument between these two strong minded individuals is public, perhaps to

emphasise their opinions and beliefs (such as in Sineads case, she is infuriated that Mileyhad signalled that those who have suffered or do suffer mental health problems are to be

7/27/2019 Public Row: Sinead O'Connor and Miley Cyrus

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Humaira Chuhan Media A2 Words:

mocked and have their opinions invalidated.) or to increase their popularity in society.

Sinead demanded that Miley should make a public apology to her and Bynes: publicly

apologise and remove your abusive tweets.- this makes up for the abuse Sinead and Bynes

may have experienced, as well as knowing Mileys apology will stay with the world of media

and never be forgotten by the 500 million Twitter users and other media consumers.

The relationship between artists is important because although they all seem best of friends

when together, they are in fact usually in competition with one another for multiple

reasons, mainly to do with music. The example of Miley and Sinead shows that personal life

can interfere with business and how closely related they are, therefore it is important to

understand their relationship to avoid bad situations and to fully understand their history

and perhaps influences on their life/music.

Both artists have been fierce in confronting each other, perhaps due to knowing that

virtually millions of people are witnessing their row. Miley flaunts her body, showing her

sexuality, whereas Sinead has very strong views on Mileys physical presentation, she

mentions in her letter that she is behaving like a prostitute and calling it, feminism. Miley

may see her performance as sexy and domineering, but Sinead sees it as degrading and

sends the signal to young women that its ok to act like prostitutes.

There is obviously an age difference between both artists, which could be the reason for

their different perceptions on the representation of women.

Mileys main reason to be so exposed could be the Male Gaze Theory by Laura Mulvey. It is

the idea that men are more likely to look/stare/gaze at a woman where their curves areexposed. It implies that these attractions are the main or only attraction that will make

them watch certain things. This is also a form of advertisement, and in this case, it is the

advertisement of Miley, along with the song and her life. This creates a relationship

between artist and audience; the artist will deliver what the audience is expecting, leading

to similar expectations from everyone.

In conclusion, the public row between Miley Cyrus and Sinead OConnor shows that

relationships between artists and artists and audiences are important to maintain a

reputation and career in music. These two artists are very different despite sharing similarvideo (camera angle) techniques in Nothing Compares 2 U and Wrecking Ball; they both

perceive women differently and have their own ways of retaliating to each others

confrontations. It also shows that the media is a very powerful source in which helps allow

people interact directly and indirectly with different social groups, and how big things can

become.

Audience also plays a massive part in an artists life, without an audience, there is no living

artist, we also have to understand that as time goes on, artists, music, audience and

industries change too- which could be a reason to why Sinead is less accepting of Mileys

behaviour on screen.