Sinead O'Connor Writes Letter to Miley Cyrus -- and How Cyrus Might Respond
An imagined conversation based on actual quotes from the controversial singers.
Oct. 3, 2013 -- Sinead O'Connor wrote an open letter to Miley Cyrus, advising the pop star about the music industry, men and life in general. Cyrus, 20, answered on Twitter, comparing O'Connor to troubled starlet Amanda Bynes, but what if they had an actual conversation? We spliced together recent quotes from Cyrus with the points made by O'Connor in her open letter to see what such a conversation might sound like.
Sinead O'Connor: I am extremely concerned for you that those around you have led you to believe, or encouraged you in your own belief, that it is in any way 'cool' to be naked and licking sledgehammers in your videos.
Miley Cyrus: I think the video is much more if people get past the point that I'm naked. [If] you actually look at me, you can tell that I actually look more broken than even the song sounds.
Sinead O'Connor:Nothing but harm will come in the long run from allowing yourself to be exploited, and it is absolutely NOT in ANY way an empowerment of yourself, or any other young women, for you to send across the message that you are to be valued (even by you) more for your sexual appeal than your obvious talent.
Miley Cyrus: [At the VMAs] I wasn't trying to be sexy! If I was trying to be sexy, I could have been sexy. I can dance a lot better than I was dancing.
Sinead O'Connor: I'm suggesting you don't care for yourself. That has to change.
Miley Cyrus: Right now, I still feel like I'm beginning.
Sinead O'Connor: I repeat, you have enough talent that you don't need to let the music business make a prostitute of you. You shouldn't let them make a fool of you either. Don't think for a moment that any of them give a flying f**k about you. They're there for the money. ... We're there for the music. It has always been that way, and it will always be that way. The sooner a young lady gets to know that, the sooner she can be REALLY in control.
Miley Cyrus: [But with Bangerz], it has to be fully me and all my creative vision behind it, or else, I don't want to do it.
Sinead O'Connor: Your look is based on mine. The look I chose, I chose on purpose at a time when my record company was encouraging me to do what you have done. I felt I would rather be judged on my talent and not my looks.
Miley Cyrus: I called P[harrell] and I was like, What would you think if I cut my hair and did it short, did it blonde?And he was like, I think you would look dope. ... We need to see change. Everything that happens, we need to see with our own eyes. I felt like I could finally be the bad bitch I already am.
Sinead O'Connor: As for the shedding of the Hannah Montana image ... she's waaaaaaay gone by now ... not because you got naked but because you make great records.
Miley Cyrus: I'm the same human, I've got the same heart I did five years ago — it's a movement, it's a growth, it's a change. ... I was a lot of people's first idol. I'll be a die-hard fan of Britney always because she's that for me — that's what my fans are. So I can't throw any shade on any thing I did as a kid.
Sinead O'Connor: Whether we like it or not, us females in the industry are role models and as such, we have to be extremely careful what messages we send to other women. The message you keep sending is that it's somehow cool to be prostituted. ... It's so not cool Miley … its dangerous.
Miley Cyrus: We're in 2013. I live in America, ... the land of the free, and if you can't express yourself, you're not very free.