Miley Cyrus, love her or hate her, has risen to occupy a cult status in popular culture in recent years. Things she’s done on stage: ridden hot dogs, fellated blow up dolls, smoked a doobie and grinded up against Robin Thicke.

Viewed as something of a joke for her scandalously headline-grabbing stunts, she has being publicly vilified as an attention-whore, a real whore and devoid of any musical credibility at all. But beneath the scathing veneer of judgement we the public have so easily imparted on her, is there actually something more to Cyrus’ actions than pure showmanship?

Her most recent comments to catch fire were the surprisingly logical ones about rapper Kendrick Lamar. In an interview with Marie Claire, Cyrus said that: “There is so much sexism, ageism, you name it. Kendrick Lamar sings about LSD and he’s cool. I do it and I’m a druggie whore.”

And these aren’t the only comments Cyrus made about the hypocrisy she faces in the music industry. “I don’t get the violence-revenge thing,” she said of Taylor Swift’s Bad Blood video. “That’s supposed to be a good example? And I’m a bad role model because I’m running around with my titties out? I’m not sure how titties are worse than guns.”

Yes, the barrage of criticism Cyrus has faced on the topics of her highly sexualised image has been enormous. She is held up by anxious parents and watchdog groups everywhere as an example of everything that is going wrong with young women and their unchecked sexuality. She is corrupting the minds of the young and teaching women to devalue themselves by flaunting their flesh. et cetera. 

Perhaps instead of Cyrus being the cause of everything wrong with today’s youth culture, she’s just a symptom of it? Attitudes towards sexual mores have been loosening for decades, and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

When we try to control women by restricting their right to express themselves sexuality, we limit their freedom in one of the most fundamental ways possible. The Madonna-whore complex has been wrecking havoc for too long, shaming women for the desire to be seen as sexual, not just sexy, to exert sexual agency in their lives, their choices and with their partners.

Cyrus is at the forefront of this new shift in attitudes, choosing to represent the values and ideals reflected in modern women. Her unabashed ownership of her sexuality and refusal to apologise for flouting it should be celebrated, not condemned.

However, the remnants of our slut-shaming culture still likes to rear its ugly head whenever a strong independent woman tries to express herself in the public sphere. When Nicki Minaj had the audacity to call our the whitewashing of the VMA nominations, white apologists everywhere took to stands to defend the choice on the basis of ‘merit’.

Even Taylor Swift got involved, replying to Minaj on Twitter with:

The condescending tone of Swift’s retort completely missed the point of Minaj’s outrage, making it about herself, while masquerading under the white flag of feminism. When Minaj speaks out about racism in the industry, she is condemned. When a fellow male rapper counterpart does the exact same thing, such as Killer Mike from Run The Jewels, he is applauded. 

Women just don’t have the same allowances in the public sphere to openly express themselves as men do. And this is why female performers like Cyrus and Minaj are so important in the fight to break these barriers down for other women.

Cyrus’ openness when it comes to her sexuality is born out of a desire to be herself and exert sexual agency, rather than necessarily, and certainly not exclusively, to cater to the male gaze. It is assertive, rather than passive, and this is why people find it so confronting. She’s not wearing nipple pasties and posing naked with a pig for your wank-bank, she’s doing it for herself and making a very political statement simultaneously.

Cyrus is very aware of her position within the public eye. Her Instagram account is awash with a series of bizarre and self-deprecating edits, often containing nudity, her photoshoots are both provocative and tongue-in-cheek and her comments are intelligent and well timed. She may not be perfect most of the time (her use of black women’s bodies as stage props for her 2013 VMA performance wasn’t a smart move) but she possesses a self-awareness of someone much wiser in years than her tender 22 years.

Speaking of her gender fluidity in the same Marie Claire interview, Cyrus said: “They want to judge me. People need more conventional role models, I guess. But I just don’t care to be that person.”

And she’s exactly that: an unconventional role model for the new age. The feminist icon you never thought you needed until now.

As I’m sure she would have always wanted, Nicki Minaj has forever been immortalised in wax. The Madam Tussauds in Las Vegas unveiled the provocative figure of Nicki Minaj, posing in the well renowned, leave-nothing-to-the-imagination Anaconda pose.

The figure took almost six months and 20 wax artists using exact body measurements to complete – creating a rather wonderful mental image of 20 adults measuring and sculpting Nicki Minaj’s curves. Somehow Minaj missed the memo, as she sent out shocked tweets at the reveal of the figure, even though her back-up dancers were present at the unveiling. Madam Tussauds would be proud to note that few could be sure which figures were wax, with many believing that the back up dancers were also sculpted at the museum. Minaj went on to post a LOT of photos of the figure on her Instagram.

nicki

Despite looking somewhat (or completely) ridiculous, it will immortalise Minaj in her most defining music video, as she blatantly discussed early recently in a public spat with Taylor Swift when she missed out on a nomination for the MTV Music Video Awards.

However, Minaj isn’t the only controversial figure to grace the Las Vegas museum, as it is also home to Miley Cyrus and her beloved Wrecking Ball.

As Minaj notes, she is the first female rapper to be honoured in the museum.

Let’s put aside issues of race. Let’s put aside issues of body shaming. Nicki Minaj’s rant about being snubbed by the MTV VMA panel for ‘Video of the Year’ is a case of petulance, pure and simple. After Taylor Swift offered to ‘share the stage’ with Minaj, she retorted, “trust me. I’ll be on that stage to collect my awards for vid of the year”. This is about a culture of entitlement, and a complete lack of grace and sportsmanship amongst artists. I don’t expect people like Nicki Minaj and Kanye West to be role models. I do expect them to be adults. Whining when you don’t win an award is ugly, childish and embarrassing.

The fact that this outrage is directed at the MTV Video Music Awards makes the whole thing evern more farcical. Wait, you’re saying that MTV is not a paragon of virtue committed to the highest ideals of equity and artistic truth? You’re telling me that the network responsible for Engaged and Underage, 16 and Pregnant and Jersey Shore isn’t a champion of artistic merit, and is really just pursuing the lowest common denominator for their exclusively preteen and stoner audience? This is an outrage. There needs to be a Congressional Inquiry. There couldn’t be a contest of less prestige. The VMAs never have, or never will be, a barometer of artistic achievement. Complaining about losing at the VMA’s would be like Halle Berry wrestling Sandra Bullock for her Razzie. Or Nick Cannon spear-tackling Cody Simpson, so that he can soak up that sweet self-assuring slime from the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards. Or when a dad flips out at the Auskick presentation night when his sprocket only comes runner-up in the under 6’s least improved category.   Nicki Minaj has been recognized time and time again for her achievements. Chucking a hissy fit over losing out on this most vacuous of awards demonstrates that she is a brat plain and simple.

The VMA's have a long and proud history as an institution of good taste and discernment.

The VMA’s have a long and proud history as an institution of good taste and discernment.

Notice how these artists are quick to point out when they (or their closest friends) are cheated, but don’t feel compelled to speak up for smaller, independent acts that get looked over. They claim to “respect artistry” but what they really respect is themselves. They’re never indignant when someone with whom they have no association is robbed. There’s a real argument that Sia’s Elastic Heart video was the best pop video of the year, after her Chandelier clip lost to Miley Cyrus’ Wrecking Ball in 2014. But no one is in Sia’s corner, because they’re only in their own corner. Or what about FKA Twigs’ Glass & Patron clip? If Kanye West respected artistry he would be bum-rushing the stage saying that FKA Twigs was robbed.

I’ll agree that whilst Minaj’s Anaconda clip is completely asinine, it is iconic; but is there not the possibility, the smallest chance, that despite its iconic status, that a rational person could still subjectively believe that it was not in the top 5 videos of the year? Is there even a modicum of chance that this isn’t a conspiracy, but just someones subjective and honestly held belief? Ed Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud and Bruno Mars’ Uptown Funk videos were both extremely memorable. Isn’t there a chance that maybe Nicki Minaj didn’t make the top 5 because she just had strong competition?

I find it difficult to believe the snub is due to larger issues of body shaming and racism. For a start, it’s clear that MTV are not involved in some viscous campaign to destroy Minaj’s career. She’s been nominated 10 times for the VMA’s, and has won twice for Best Hip Hop Video and Best Female Video. So they can’t be totally opposed to her image and appearance. Arguably MTV in 2015 are more attuned to black issues than ever before – nominating Kendrick Lamar’s powerful and controversial video for Alright. The video has an important message about black resilience in the face of white oppression. This is a truly commendable move by MTV, given the song is not commercial and not radio friendly. It’s arguable the most progressive video ever been nominated, both in terms of music and message. And if you want to talk about sidelining important social issues, it would have been even more divisive to ignore Taylor Swift’s Bad Blood clip, with it’s feminist undercurrent and message of empowerment.

I don’t think it’s fair to accuse MTV of ignoring social issues for choosing not to give its highest honour to a video that contains the actual lyric “he tossed my salad like his name Romain,” and even more simply and honestly, “I’m on some dumb shit.”

Look at this man. Look at his twisted, pained expression.

leo

This is the face of a man who has become literally bloated on disappointment. A man who’s been spurned so often by the artistic community, that he was forced to bravely find solace in the sexual embrace of international supermodels. This poor man has been let down more times than he can possibly count. When he lost out to that guy from How To Lose a Guy In 10 Days, he had the good grace to suck up that tide of emotions, put on a brave face for the cameras and then vent in private. He suffered in silence. Can you image the Leonardo tweet?: “if your movie celebrates AIDS stricken men with near skeletal bodies, you will win best actor #dallasbulimiaclub #realmenhavedadbods.” No. You couldn’t. because Leo is from a generation and profession that appreciates good humour, grace and humility.

nicki

Congratulating Minaj on her ‘stand’ encourages a culture of petulance. It says: if things don’t go your way, make a scene. It says when bad things happen to good people, it must be a conspiracy. It’s like those facile Facebook customer complaints that are carefully engineered so that they go viral. Someone chasing likes by uploading a picture of a slippery floor with a funny rant, because they know the public relations team has been hamstrung from acting with any level of reasonableness in such a public forum. In the world of art you don’t deserve anything. In a totally subjective profession there is no such thing as ‘being robbed’ – because there is no means by which it can be said that one piece of art is quantifiably superior to any other another. There’s no lack of self-belief in the entertainment industry, but part of being a true champion is knowing how to lose graciously.

Nicki Minaj has just dropped the video for Feeling Myself, featuring Beyoncé. Personally I love this song, and I love the video even more. It looks like the two superstars had a lot of fun filming and it’s basically just 4 minutes of them messing around.

The majority of the video was filmed in the desert, and Nicki and Bey show off some killer dance moves, though you’d expect nothing less from these two absolute queens. The video ends with the two hanging out on a jumping castle, eating burgers and fries and leaves you with the feeling that they really are just a couple of good friends having a fun time together.

Here’s the video for you.