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Recently there’s been controversy over Miley Cyrus‘ new sexed-up image, which coincides with the release of her latest album Can’t Be Tamed. Cyrus, who burst onto the national stage as star of the Disney Channel show Hannah Montana, has always had a rebelious edge to her, even within the confines of the ‘disney star’ image. Recently, though, her rebellion has taken on  a more sexual nature – she’s been photographed getting out of cars without underwear on, giving lap dances, and partying. Many have questioned whether Miley is doing drugs, and fear that she’s heading down a path we’ve seen far too many teen stars go to (e.g. Linsday Lohan). Though the outrage over the ‘new’ Miley is understandable – she is marketed to pre-teens, after all  – her new “adult” image is a natural progression that every teen star attempts to make. The urge is totally understandable – you’ve grown up in the spotlight and are still seen as a kid even though you’re approaching adulthood (and doing what regular people your age do). Sometimes this move towards a raunchier, “grown“ image works,  and sometimes it goes totally wrong. Here’s a look at what happens when teen stars  break out into adulthood.

NEXT PAGE: THE ‘BAD GIRL’ ALBUMS.

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History has a tendency to repeat itself. Especially in the music industry, where ideas are recycled and repackaged on the regular – trends in music tend to re-appear in ten year cycles. All that is to say – what Miley is doing has been done before, and the outrage it’s causing is just as predictable. One needs only to look back 10 years ago to the teen pop explosion that brought us stars such as Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Jessica Simpson.

 

Sexuality has always been a part of the appeal with Britney Spears. The schoolgirl outfits and bare midriff of “Baby One More Time” were definitely playing on her young sexuality – she was marketed as ‘barely legal’ schoolgirl of male fantasy. With “Slave 4 U” and ‘Not A Girl (Not Yet A Woman)’ from the the Britney album, Spears announced to the world that she was no long that schoolgirl from a few years earlier – she was growing up. Christina Aguilera  has always been the “spicier” version of Britney Spears in terms of image, but with 2002’s “Dirrty” and it’s accompanying album Stripped  she really went off the deep end. Stripped was Christina asserting herself as a woman, in control of her sexuality and making decisions for herself (even if some of those decisions were questionable, that is a part of growing up). Both of these albums caused extreme controversy when they were released.

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