One’s a reformed Disney darling who has twerked her way to the top of charts while another has taken a more, umm, clothed approach to chart-topping. But, despite differing travels to Billboard’s heights, the similarly wholesome beginnings of young divas Miley Cyrus and Ariana Grande respectively drove them to become household names.
Now that Cyrus has tapped into her inner bad girl, the ‘We Can’t Stop’ singer is encouraging Grande to shed her good girl image and follow suit. In a recent interview with New York Times, the country darling addressed her vixen image, Grande’s image, and her 2013 overall.
Do you think Ariana should heed Miley’s advice?
Via New York Times:
On racism and feminism:
“It’s actually really funny how many people could watch my performance, and they think it was, like, sexist and degrading to women, and somehow people found that it was racist, which I couldn’t even wrap my mind around. Because I’m like: “How do I win? If I have white dancers, then I’m racist. If I have black girl dancers, then I’m racist.” We know we’re not racist, and I know I’m not putting down women. People got a rise out of me saying that I was a feminist, but I am. I’m telling women be whoever you want to be….
My grandma, who is alive, was living in a time where there was no way in hell that she would’ve ever thought there would’ve been a black president. I mean, never. And my grandma’s like, not even 80, so this is in a short period of time that things have changed so much. I really thought about it a lot when Nelson Mandela passed away, because I couldn’t even imagine living this life and seeing how much it’s changed. So, you know, I look forward to when I’m older, my kids being like, “What do you mean people ever even talked about what color your dancers were?”
On her encounter with Ariana Grande:
“I don’t have a bunch of celeb friends, because I feel like some of them are a little scared of the association. This is terrible. I was backstage with [the rising pop star] Ariana Grande. I’m like, “Walk out with me right now and get this picture, and this will be the best thing that happens to you, because just you associating with me makes you a little less sweet…
She’s trying. I see her wearing the shorter things. She comes in, and she goes, “This made me feel like you.” And I’m like, “That was like my sixth grade prom dress.” She’s, I think, still on Nickelodeon. She has people that she has to kind of respect.”