Like many of you, I watched the fallout from Miley Cirus’ performance at theVMAs through social media posts and news stories the following day. When I finally did watch the video performance, I had to ask myself what her intentions were and if she did this just to make a very big sonic boom of noise.
I’m very much an advocate of making noise; be seen, be heard, say yes. However, her performance got me thinking what it was like at that boardroom table when they were strategizing about what she would do on stage to WOW the crowd of millions of people.
If they all decided that this was the way to do it, to go all out and do something someone has never done, then they can tap themselves on the back and give this one a “fait accomplit”. It was achieved.
But I truly think there’s more to this story than what we saw on live TV and now on YouTube.
Our story and our voice is what makes us memorable and what makes us stand out in a crowd of people. We can all choose to do different things to stand out and make noise so people remember us but I do think it has to be done with integrity and what we stand for.
I’m not sure if Miley will be proud of that performance years from now. And you know, it doesn’t matter right now. She made a decision to “show up” and “show herself” (in more ways than one) in the performance that she gave.
It got many people talking. It lit up the social media channels in a very big way and conventional media is salivating from it all. She made LOTS of noise and I’m sure it’s not going to stop anytime soon.
When you are planning your strategy and looking for creative ways to make some noise to be seen and heard, always remember that it must align with who you are, what you stand for and what is most important to you because THAT is what will resonate with your audience and with those who will want to work with you.
In the meantime, I do hope Miley finds her way to being who she truly is because in my humble opinion, what she did on stage is not the woman she is at heart.
