Cultural appropriation and the infamous twerk.

The infamous pop star, Miley Cyrus is renowned for pushing the boundaries in the pop culture limelight but is also an excellent representation of Cultural appropriation. Going off the blog I came across (http://www.xojane.com/issues/the-origins-of-twerking) I want to discuss my own thoughts on her demeanour and how she utilises this concept to actually heighten her fame and name in pop culture with specific focus on her appearance at the 2013 VMA’s and the 2015 VMA’s.

Sure, at first glance it can be deemed a negative thing and a white girl ‘trying on’ black culture but in the long run, tabloids gave her the attention she was after and she was able to revamp her image through doing such drastic and ‘outrageous’ things like twerking on a married man in front of thousands. I personally have come to like Cyrus, as controversial as she may be, I think her movement in how we perceive her has been one of success and although she may have caused issues on the way, I like some of her more acoustic covers and less mainstream songs. So no, this blog is not out to bash Cyrus, but more of a positive critique on the pop star. Although, contrasting opinions on her are welcome.

What I believe was her most contentious performance of all time was her 2013 performance at the VMA’s, you all know the one with Robin Thicke and the foam finger. It can be argued that she exampled cultural appropriation here through her back up dances being of colour and her infamous twerk that she quite proudly illustrated all over the show.

   

Oxford English Dictionary defines Twerking to be “dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low squatting stance”.

                                          

It is also claimed that the dance move originates from African culture and moved on through hip-hop culture and so one can ultimately say it’s a black culture dance move. And so when young and ambitious white pop star Miley Cyrus displayed her twerking in front of thousands in 2013 she was bashed for doing so because it was simply not her place to because she was white. Even though this event was noted to be contentious, Cyrus managed to get every tabloid and magazine talking about her all over the world and so I question how intentional this performance was in regards to appropriating a black culture dance move. Similarly to her costume/hairstyle at last years VMA’s, Cyrus wore long dreadlocks, which again are adopted from Rasta culture i.e. black/Jamaican culture and so again was deemed controversial and inappropriate of Cyrus. It didn’t help her dreadlocks were blonde and so it could be argued she was appropriating original black or dark coloured dreads to be a white culture thing through having blonde hair. Again, Cyrus was given major attention and coverage for dressing in such outrageous attire. Could it be argued that cultural appropriation is intentionally utilised in industries like popular culture and the music industry for attention and is seen to be more edgy rather than acknowledging the culture they are attempting to appropriate.

Iggy Azealea, as another individual of someone exampling cultural appropriation in the music industry. A white blonde female form Australia tapping into rap/black culture through her music. I’m not all that fond of Iggy’s music or persona so my opinion is a bit more biased to her being a crappy artist but again, I would love to hear opposing thoughts on this. Do you think cultural appropriation is purposely utilized in the music industry as a stunt to gain fans and attention?