Miley Cyrus

MILEY CYRUS

We all love our teenage Disney princesses. I grew up listening to Britney Spears’ “Sometimes” and dancing to Christina Aguilera’s “Genie in the Bottle.” That is not to mention the gazillions of pictures I had to cut just to make my personalized notebooks and posters at home. Like fairy tales coming to their ends, however, not one of the princesses remains as such. Eventually, they would let go of their squeaky clean images, be emancipated and take entirely different paths in their careers. Our most recent Disney princess, Miley Cyrus, is no exception this trend.

Miley Cyrus was born, “Destiiny Hope Cyrus.” Her first name was derived from her supposed nickname, “Smiley” which was shortened,hence, her screen name. Her father is country singer, Billy Ray Cyrus who popularized the 90s hit, Achy Breaky Heart.

Miley got fascinated with singing, acting and the idea of entering show business at a very early age. This could be credited to her immediate environment as she grew up with her country superstar dad while he was working. Younger, she would be sent to have singing and acting lessons. Her parents were said to have been very supportive of her desire to enter the business.

Miley auditioned and got the lead role in the hit Disney television series, “Hannah Montana” which aired sometime in 2006.In this series, Miley played the role of a regular teenager who lived a double life as a teen pop superstar. Here, Miley had to portray a typical adolescent who had to struggle over common teenage concerns in friendship, attraction to the opposite sex and adolescence in general, while keeping her “big” secret from the rest of her immediate community. Miley was joined by her dad in this series.

The reception of Hannah Montana was tremendous. The show became a household name and Miley Cyrus was instantly catapulted into a teenage icon and sensation. The show’s theme song, “The Best of Both Worlds”, as well as the other tracks in the album that came along with the series, became worldwide hits. The teenage market was obsessed with everything Miley and everything Hannah Montana. Miley and Hannah Montana became phenomena. This further led to the transition of the series as films, first in the 3D Concert film, “Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert” in 2008 and “Hannah Montana: The Movie” in 2009. The latter’s soundtrack, “The Climb” which Miley herself sang, earned commercial success. Ultimately, these projects showcased Miley’s acting skills, charming personality and singing prowess.

Miley then lent her voice to give life to a character in the big screen in the animated film, “Bolt” in 2008. She dubbed Penny, the owner of the lead character, Bolt, who, like Hannah Montana, played a dual role of being a loyal dog and a superhero. The film did well in the box office and Miley got positive feedbacks for her performance.

Miley put an end to her character as Hannah Montana when she portrayed the role of “Ronnie” in the film adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ “The Last Song” in 2010. Here, Miley played a disobedient seventeen-year-old who was forced to spend her summer with her alienated father. While the movie did receive critical feedbacks, it was at least a breather for Miley whose career almost seemed inseparable from Hannah Montana. From this point on, Miley became her own independent brand. She also released her studio album, “Can’t be Tamed” which according to reviews, is worlds-apart from her squeaky clean character in her not so long ago past.

With Miley’s stardom came the invasion of her private life and ruining of family values. Her love affair with fellow Disney teen superstar, the Jonas Brothers’ vocalist and guitarist, Nick Jonas, became a public love event most of the time. Her eventual romantic involvement with Liam Hemsworth who was her love interest in one of her films was also placed under the public eye. When Miley posed for a certain mature magazine, parents cringed and gave immense negative feedbacks against her. And finally, immediately after Miley turned 18 years old, her video showing her “smoking” leaked. Billy, in an interview, blames “Hannah Montana” for ruining his family ties and for exposing Miley to bad influences.

It’s always good to see princesses be transformed into modern-day women. As for Miley, we could only wish for better films and innovative music from her. We also could also hope that she take educated and neat decisions in the future.

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE

What do you do when you see a great looking lad, who knows how to sing his tunesand work hisubersexy back? Well, you patronize him! And that’s exactly what millions of fans did with Justin Timberlake over the years. 

Justin Timberlake is born “Justin Randall Timberlake” in 1981. It has been said that he was interested in performing, more particularly in singing on stage, and was eager to enter show business at a very early age. In fact, at age 11, Justin competed in a singing competition on television entitled, “Star Search” where he sang Alan Jackson's "Love's got ahold on you". While he lost in the said competition, he didn’t lose his hope of making it to the entertainment business.

A year after his failed attempt at the said singing competition, the entertainment gates opened for Justin when hejoined the cast ofDisney Channel'snew television show, “The New Mickey Mouse Club” in 1993. Along with him on this show were future singer and tourmate Christina Aguilera, future pop superstar and future girlfriend Britney Spears, future band mate JC Chasez and future big screen lead actor Ryan Gosling. The show was a revival of the long running 1950s show, “The Mickey Mouse Club.” In this show, Justin and other cast members would entertain audience members in habitual creative segmentstotalling to a variety show for kids. The show also featured the popular “Mouseketeer Roll Call” where the cast would introduce themselves one by oneusing their real name. The delightful Justin was noted in this show and so were his good humor, youthful energy, irresistible charm, and extraordinary talent. The show, however, only lasted for two years.

After his stint as a mousketeer, Justin joined the all male pop band, N’SYNC in 1995. Along with him in the band were former fellow mouseketeer, JC Chasez, Chris Kirkpatrick, Joey Fatone, and Lance Bass. The band enjoyed humongous global success. This catapulted Justin’s popularity more than those of his band mates, him being the band’s leader, main vocalist and main dancer. The band popularized chart topping songs and their second album, “No Strings Attached” achieved worldwide success, selling record-breaking copies in just a few days. They also performed sold-out concerts and sang with music legends including Elton John, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Celine Dion and many more. In 2002, the band announced its intent to take a break. However, the band never made any record after that. But instead of being a hindrance to Justin’s career, the band’s break up paved the way for Justin to seal his mark in Hollywood as an A-lister. 

Justin then went on to make his own record. In 2002, months after NSYNC took a break, Justin released his “Justified” album. The sale of this album gradually earned success. Years after that, he continued to collaborate with different artists such as the Black Eyed Peas in the song, “Where is the Love?” He also appeared in different films, including “Alpha Dog”, “Black Snake Moan”, and “Southland Tales.” He also lent his voice to the character of Prince Artie Pendragon in “Shrek: The Third”. 

In 2006, Justin released his second album, “Future Sex/ Love Sounds”. This earned better success compared to his first album. The album’s lead single, “Sexy Back” debuted on top of the charts and broke records. Justin immediately embarked on a US tour after the album’s release. In the same year, he also collaborated with Madonna in the single,”4 Minutes”.  In 2008, Justin was awarded with two Grammy awards.

Justin ceased to record songs and make albums after that. His acting work, however, has drastically increased.  In 2010, Justin appeared in the drama film, “The Social Network” where his performance gained positive reviews. In this movie, he played the role of Sean Parker, the founder of Napster where he, together with the other members of the cast depicted how the social network, Facebook came to exist. 

In 2011, Justin appeared with Cameron Diaz in the comedy film, “Bad Teacher.” Here, Justin plays the character of Scott Delacorte, a wealthy substitute teacher in the fictional John Adams Middle School.Elizabeth Halsey, played by Cameron Diaz, tried to win him over after being dumped by her ex-fiance who learned that she was merely after his money. The movie earned well in the box office but it gained mix reviews, performance-wise. This did little to reinforce what Justin already established in his previous film.

In the same year, Justin appeared in the romantic comedy film, “Friends with Benefits.” Here, Justin plays the character of Dylan, an art director for a small internet company in Los Angeles. The movie earned really well in the box office. This time, however, the movie got positive reviews from critics and Justin’s reputation as an actor has intensified. 

Justin has indeed undergone a significant transition in his career. While doing really well as a movie actor, we could only wish that he make more music records. After all, he was a singer first before being an actor.