Miley Cyrus and ‘Malibu’: a discourse analysis

ABSTRACT

Miley Cyrus garnered controversy when she presented sexualised personas during her transition into adulthood after being a child star. Even as a child star, she foregrounded two celebrity themes, the navigation of moral dilemmas that accompany child stardom and the representation of authenticity. The 2017 release of ‘Malibu’ coincided with a shift from the sexualised images associated with the two albums that preceded this hit and which distinguished her from child celebrity status. Cyrus explained that ‘Malibu’ has autobiographical meanings about being in a new place in her life and that this brought the reversal from the personas in the two preceding albums. Using discourse analysis, this study analysed how Cyrus’s experiencing of this new place is constructed in the ‘Malibu’ music video. Four interlinked discourses construct this phase in Cyrus’s life: Romantic Togetherness, Realisation of Dreams, Play, and Pristine Utopia. The concept of utopia unites the discourses. Despite a return to traditional representations, ‘Malibu’ shows how Cyrus upsets the socially constructed child-adult binary that characterised her celebrity status. The discursive recruitment of the trope of authenticity is presented as a resolution to child stars’ navigation of becoming successful adult stars. The analysis supports authenticity as key in celebrity conceptualisation.

KEYWORDS:

• Authenticity
• discourse analysis
• Malibu
• Miley Cyrus
• popular music
• utopia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

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Prevan Moodley

Prevan Moodley, formally lecturer at Vista University and at University of Pretoria, is currently lecturer at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. Other than having research interests in discursive and social constructionist versions of social psychology, he pioneered an undergraduate course in evolutionary psychology at the University of Johannesburg. A registered counselling psychologist, he also teaches health psychology, community psychology, and the application of counselling to problems of ‘diversity’ (i.e., race, gender, sexual expression, and sexual orientation). His research expertise lies in critical methods applied to popular culture and to media representations of health and sexuality.