Miley Loose

MTV put out this Miley documentary called The Movement, as if MTV still signified what mattered to anyone under thirty. An hour of quick cuts and dramatic strings. Miley talking about Pharrell, Pharrell talking about Miley, a nod to Britney, some dancing. Mostly just MTV proving to itself it’s still part of whatever’s current. You’d get more from the Terry Richardson photos, the ones from New York where she’s posing to show everyone what she wasn’t allowed to show while Disney still owned her.

Everyone’s decided what happened to her, what it means. Disney girl to scandal. Depending on who’s doing the talking, she’s a slut or a genius or a girl finally free from American hypocrisy or someone dying for attention. The music doesn’t really matter anymore—it’s just the opening for people to watch something real come apart in public.

Maybe she’s got a plan we’re not seeing. Maybe she reads the headlines and laughs. Maybe she just figured out what you learn eventually: that what people think about you stops mattering the instant you stop needing it to matter. That there’s something clarifying about being young and messy and loose in front of everyone, about doing exactly what you want without the performance of regret.

So if that’s what it looks like—posing for a photographer, performing without restraint, making choices she’ll reverse in six months—then that’s just what it is. MTV can’t touch that. No scandal machine can.