It was the tongue. Honestly, if you close your eyes and think about miley cyrus 2013, you probably see that oversized foam finger or the bleached pixie cut before you hear a single note of "Wrecking Ball." It felt like the entire world was having a collective meltdown. People were genuinely worried. Parents were horrified.
But looking back with over a decade of hindsight? It wasn't a breakdown. It was a hostile takeover.
The Death of Hannah Montana
Miley didn't just step away from Disney; she set the house on fire and danced in the ashes. You have to remember the context of that year. Most child stars fade out or try to transition into "serious" adult contemporary music. They play it safe. Miley did the opposite. She leaned into the weird, the messy, and the provocative. It started with "We Can't Stop," a track that felt less like a pop song and more like a manifesto for a generation that was tired of being told what to do.
The video was filled with taxidermy, giant teddy bears, and bread being used as shoes. It was surrealism disguised as a party anthem. Critics like those at Rolling Stone initially struggled to categorize it. Was it cultural appropriation? Was it a cry for help? Or was it just a 20-year-old finally breathing without a mouse-eared shadow over her shoulder?
She was working with Mike WiLL Made-It, a producer deeply embedded in the Atlanta hip-hop scene. This wasn't a mistake. She wanted that heavy, rattling bass. She wanted the "Bangerz" sound to feel jarringly different from the guitar-pop of "The Climb."
That VMA Performance (You Know the One)
August 25, 2013. The Barclays Center. If social media had a Richter scale, it would have shattered that night. Robin Thicke was there in a Beetlejuice suit, but nobody cared about him. Miley emerged from a giant bear, wearing a fuzzy leotard, and proceeded to twerk on national television.
It’s hard to overstate how much the internet hated it. The Parents Television Council went into overdrive. The Hollywood Reporter noted that the performance generated 360,000 tweets per minute. To put that in perspective, that was more than the Super Bowl blackout.
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Was it uncomfortable? Kind of. Was it clumsy? Definitely. But it was the most effective piece of marketing in the history of the music industry. By Monday morning, everyone on the planet knew Miley Cyrus had a new album coming out. You couldn't escape her. She had successfully killed the "Disney kid" image in under four minutes. It was a brutal, public execution of a persona that she had outgrown years prior.
The "Wrecking Ball" Pivot
Just when people thought she was only about shock value, she dropped "Wrecking Ball."
The Terry Richardson-directed video was controversial for the nudity, sure, but the song itself was a power ballad of massive proportions. It showed she still had the pipes. It proved that underneath the gold teeth and the short hair, there was a vocalist who could out-sing almost anyone on the charts. It hit Number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, her first-ever chart-topper.
The strategy was brilliant. She grabbed your attention with the twerking, then held it with the talent.
The Bangerz Era and the Cost of Reinvention
The album Bangerz was a chaotic mix of synth-pop, hip-hop, and country roots. Tracks like "4x4" with Nelly or "SMS (Bangerz)" with Britney Spears showed she was trying to bridge gaps that didn't usually coexist in pop.
However, the miley cyrus 2013 era wasn't without its legitimate failures and valid criticisms. The conversation around her use of Black backup dancers and hip-hop aesthetics as "accessories" for her rebellion was loud and necessary. Writers like Tressie McMillan Cottom pointed out the thin line between appreciation and appropriation. Miley later acknowledged some of these missteps in her Billboard interview years later, admitting she didn't fully understand the weight of the culture she was dipping into at the time.
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It was a year of extreme highs and crushing lows. She broke up with Liam Hemsworth. She lost her dog, Floyd, which triggered a deep period of grief that bled into her live performances. If you watch footage from the Bangerz Tour, there’s a rawness there. She wasn't just performing; she was processing her entire life in front of 20,000 people a night.
Why It Still Matters Today
Think about the pop stars we have now. Chappell Roan, Billie Eilish, even the later eras of Taylor Swift. They all owe a small debt to the scorched-earth policy Miley enacted in 2013. She proved that a female artist could be messy and "unlikable" and still be the most successful person in the room. She broke the mold of the "perfect" pop princess.
She didn't want to be your role model. She wanted to be an artist.
Looking Back at the Numbers
- 360,000: Tweets per minute during the VMAs.
- 270 Million: Views "Wrecking Ball" got in its first few weeks (breaking Vevo records at the time).
- #1: Bangerz debuted at the top of the charts in several countries, including the US and UK.
It’s easy to dismiss that year as a "wild phase." That’s the lazy take. The more interesting reality is that Miley Cyrus was a young woman who realized she was a product and decided to take control of the factory. She used the media's obsession with her to fuel her own creative autonomy. It was risky. It could have ended her career. Instead, it gave her a lifelong license to do whatever she wanted.
How to Apply the Miley Strategy to Your Own Brand
If you're looking at the miley cyrus 2013 playbook for your own career or creative project, don't just go out and buy a foam finger. It won't work. The lesson isn't about the shock; it's about the shift.
1. Burn the old bridge completely. If you're pivoting, don't do it halfway. People don't respond to "sort of" changes. If you want to be seen differently, you have to act differently in a way that is impossible to ignore.
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2. Back up the noise with substance. Miley’s antics worked because "Wrecking Ball" was a genuinely great song. If you make a lot of noise but don't have the "Bangerz" to back it up, you're just a nuisance. Substance is the only thing that keeps the light on after the spectacle fades.
3. Embrace the "unlikable" phase. You cannot please your old audience while trying to find your new one. There will be a period where people are confused or even angry. That's usually a sign that you're actually changing something significant.
4. Own the narrative. Miley didn't apologize in 2013. She leaned in. She did interviews where she sounded bored by the controversy. By refusing to act like she’d done something wrong, she eventually forced the public to accept her new reality.
The 2013 version of Miley Cyrus was a masterclass in radical rebranding. It was loud, it was ugly at times, and it was undeniably effective. She didn't just survive the year; she defined it. And in a world of curated, sterile pop stars, that kind of fearless, messy evolution is something we might actually miss.
To truly understand the impact, go back and watch the "Wrecking Ball" video without the sound. Look at the close-ups of her face. It isn't a girl trying to be "edgy." It's an artist trying to survive the transition into adulthood under a microscope. That’s the real story of 2013.
Next Steps for Deep Diving into the Era:
- Listen to the Bangerz album from start to finish to hear the country-hip-hop fusion.
- Watch the Miley: The Movement documentary (MTV) for behind-the-scenes footage of the VMA rehearsals.
- Compare the 2013 vocals to her Endless Summer Vacation (2023) tracks to see how that raspy, rock-inflected voice evolved from the "Bangerz" era.