When I’m on Twitter, I miss most of the good tweets. Considering I follow 626 and counting users, the juicy ones can get lost quite easily in my feed. Such as this from Riot Grrl icon Kathleen Hanna in response to Miley Cyrus posting a photo of Hanna to her Instagram:
Hey @MileyCyrus so sweet you posted pics of me…have an idea for an album that only you are daring enough to make .
— Kathleen Hanna (@kathleenhanna) August 4, 2014
Not long after this was tweeted out, music nerds went ape shit! One of those being longtime music journalist Ann Powers:
NOW RT @guardian: Riot grrl legend Kathleen Hanna tells Miley Cyrus she wants to collaborate http://t.co/hRBHR2Xue2 @guardianmusic
— annkpowers (@annkpowers) August 4, 2014
Naturally, I responded.
@annkpowers You do have a point, but I’m a little iffy. Oh, it could be fantastic.
— eringrant (@eringrant) August 4, 2014
Obviously, I don’t wish this to happen. The biggest reason being, I question how well does Miley knows Hanna’s music and politics. My immediate thinking is, did Miley post that picture of Hanna with “SLUT” scrawled on her stomach because she really admires her or did she think “that’s really cool/dope/etc, I should try that sometime”? I’m still not convinced and maybe I never will be, that Miley is the heir apparent to the lady pop throne. I’ll give her credit, she’s made Lady GaGa virtually disappear from the radio. Oh, I’ve written one diatribe on why GaGa’s done, and I won’t write another one, although wouldn’t GaGa collaborating with Hanna make more sense? Sadly, that time has passed.
I’m not a fan of posers and I think Miley is working her way up to being the biggest poser in music history. And when I say poser, I mean in terms of her personal style. I’m not against her making HER music, which has surprised a lot of people, myself included. Do I think Miley is a genius? In terms of her image/creating a hype, yes, in terms of her music, I’m on the fence. Cyrus has set a huge bar with Bangerz and her current tour; can her momentum and her creativity last another five years? Right now it’s hard to tell. It’s obvious from Powers’ reaction, her fans are more diverse than ever, and maybe (and this is a soft maybe) a Kathleen Hanna collaboration would rock. Again, it’s the motive, if there is one, that worries me.
By the way, if you want an education on the riot grrl movement and on Hanna/Bikini Kill/LeTigre/The Julie Ruin, I implore you to watch the documentary The Punk Singer. It’s available to stream on Netflix. It’s twerk-free!
Unfiltered Pop 