Edition 49: Is her career going downhill?
Yes I know, yet another Miley article. It’s hard to come up with good subjects to write about at times and she’s an interesting subject to write about. I also like the girl and think she’s extremely talented, so sue me.
The question I want to address here however is the following: Is Miley’s career going downhill? The simple answer: of course it is. This might be shocking to some people but it’s a normal thing. There is no one that can be successful at all times, Miley is no exception. Even the juggernauts in the entertainment industry have their highs and lows. Miley was at an extreme high but that has been going down a bit, showing in negative press and lower Hannah Montana ratings.
Fact just is that Miley is one of the fastest rising stars entertainment has ever seen, especially in that age range. That what makes it harder for her to keep a sustained fanbase, nothing changes as quickly as what a teenager likes. The one day a twelve year old can love Hannah Montana, the next day they can hate it.
That’s actually a thing I’ve been observing lately, I frequent quite a lot of celebrity forums (on various celebrities and more general ones) and it surprised me actually. A lot of people seem to feel that Miley is changing into something bad and that they now prefer Selena Gomez or Demi Lovato as their favorite Disney star. I know these are only the people that actually bother to post on forums (there are more people just sitting at home enjoying the shows and not really looking further into it) but it’s still interesting. I’ve seen comments like Miley is making the wrong choices or she’s turning into someone they don’t like.
The wrong choice comment would refer mainly to her image scandals, on the one hand the Vanity Fair picture and on the other hand the continuously leaking naughty pictures (though those seem to be mainly from a single set but are being slowly leaked, so the most recent ones I didn’t even report on are from the same set as the first ones). People seem to think that taking pictures like that will lead her on a road to drugs and alcohol. Why would it? I’ve read stories on porn stars who never touched drugs or drink alcohol and have a completely healthy life style.
So saying she’s going into rehab because of a couple of bad pictures is just a rushed conclusion. I’m not saying she’ll be the perfect example of how to behave in the future, it’s something you can’t know. Every person is different and a certain course of events can lead to completely different end results. Being chased by paparazzi all over town may get to one person but not to others. Though it’s clear that the Vanity Fair thing hurt her it doesn’t mean she won’t get over it, she was just flooded with a lot of negative press in a short period of time. That will get to everyone, she’s showing strength though. Getting right back to performing and working.
In the end because of the press it will have hurt her current fanbase though, people will have dropped her. In the end they’ll probably still like what she does and still watch her show and buy her CD’s. She will lose more fans mainly due to the fact that she’s outgrowing certain portions of her fanbase and people get bored. They might like a show at some point but after a while they just stop watching it because they aren’t excited about it anymore; the same goes for music.
She is still a kid, she has to find her place in the entertainment industry as an adult in a couple of years. Even people that are considered giants in the industry don’t have the career they once had. Lets take an example close to Miley; her godmother Dolly Parton. Though that example is limited to country music. She has had her highs and lows as far as album sales go, one album sells better than the other. She’s still considered a major star and still sells out concerts. Of course Miley is more mainstream which makes those highs and lows ever higher and lower.
She has a lot of work to do the next couple of years, looking at what the situation is now I don’t think there will be a fourth season of Hannah Montana. Season three hasn’t started shooting yet (and won’t until something like August) so we won’t see season three until the end of this year. This would of course have been sooner without the writers strike, Disney already had her schedule filled for after the seconds season would have ended. It doesn’t seem like they really changed that schedule so hence the delay. They’re now shooting the movie of course which will be released somewhat in the middle of season three.
I believe that the strike is also the main reason why the ratings of Hannah Montana have been going down. One episode every couple of months and the episodes being aired in other countries first (easy to get those episodes over the internet) isn’t a good recipe for high ratings. It might have been a wiser choice to continue with the schedule as normal and just wait for the next season. Though over six months between seasons would have been a good idea either. It’s just a problem for the show, it suffered more than other shows on TV because they need to shoot the movie as well. With a more structured airing schedule is just a lot easier to keep up with a TV show, if there isn’t people lose interest.
Because of it being released in the middle of season three the movie won’t be the end of Hannah Montana, I think it would either end with another movie (depending on the success of the first movie) or with season three. When season three ends Miley will be close to seventeen and if there’s a movie even close to eighteen. Seeing she’s already starting to outgrow the character right now (you don’t actually see that much of Hannah Montana in the episodes) I don’t think either Disney or Miley would want to do a fourth season. I think she’s ready to move on to other projects, despite her love for Hannah Montana.
In music she’s already doing that with her album Breakout which will be released July 22nd. It won’t be long until she does her first more grown up movie roles I think. I don’t mean movies like Bolt with that but movies which would actually keep some of her younger fanbase out of theaters because of the ratings.
Back to the Demi and Selena argument though, I have nothing against these girls but I don’t understand that people keep saying they’re good girls compared to Miley. The Myspace pics of Miley were only released because Miley was careless and the media jumped on it because she’s the main young star now. Fact is that Selena and Demi aren’t the main young stars right now, they’re still growing in popularity. Who knows what kind of pictures they’ve taken of themselves, I’m not saying that there are pictures of them like that but I don’t think it’s impossible either.
The media attention isn’t on Demi and Selena 24/7, it’s simple as that. Who knows what will come up once media is on them all the time. If the media wants a scandal they will create one, doesn’t matter who’s involved. This will be the same for Demi and Selena as it has been for Miley. They will also make their mistakes and lapses in judgment like anyone else. I don’t think they are really hurting Miley’s career though, sometimes people are just ready to move on to someone else. Despite Miley being younger than both Demi and Selena she’s simply further along in her career.
Miley has to make a transition and she will lose fans over that, hence her career appearing to go downhill. It’s just an important thing to do to build a strong career over a long period of time. She will have her ups and downs just like her “replacements” Demi and Selena will.
Images: Disney
