Miley Cyrus! Oh, and the CMT Awards

Is it too soon to give out music award trophies? Has the sting from the Grammys' Herbie Hancock-over-Kanye West upset worn off yet?

Perhaps a mood-lightener -- in the form of some music video awards -- are in order? After all, in the hierarchy of music awards, the ones honoring videos occupy a lower rung. So get ready for Monday's  Country Music Television Awards, bringing us such nail-biting categories as "tearjerker video of the year."

We may have a CMT "tearjerker" winner here, in "Ready, Set, Don't Go." Billy Ray Cyrus doesn't look on the verge of bawling in the clip, but nostalgic father/daughter songs always do the trick. And when your daughter is an international superstar named Miley, this probably isn't going to be Kellie Pickler's year.

But dang if you don't tear up when Pickler sings of her mom, "I hear the weather is nice in California," and a slide guitar droops right through her broken dreams. But hats off to the CMTs, as such emotional narratives (just try and turn the video off before it ends) are missing from the Grammy Awards, where this year the only drama going into the show was in whether or not Amy Winehouse would turn up.

But that's not the only reason the CMTs are worth tuning into. A few more are scrabbled together here:

1. The aforementioned Queen of All Media, Miley Cyrus. You may remember her from this week's "Idol Gives Back" special, or maybe the Grammy Awards, or maybe the Academy Awards, or maybe her smash 3-D film, or maybe one of her multiple CDs, or maybe her Disney Channel series, "Hannah Montana."

As far as teen pop idols go, Miley's tunes are on par, if not better, than anything that's ever come from Ashlee Simpson and Avril Lavigne, and Hilary Duff was never this much fun. The Times' Ann Powers took a slight jab at her "Idol Gives Back" performance over here, declaring that she's "no Carrie Underwood." 

In terms of pure vocal talent, no, Miley Cyrus is no Carrie Underwood, but I'll take Cyrus and her raspy chirp of a voice over Underwood any minute of any day. When it comes to pure exuberant stage presence -- think singing, screaming and cheerleading like the only thing that matters in this world is this silly little sugar-high of pop song -- Cyrus (and these are words that may haunt me for the rest of my life) deserves an arena.

Nasal pitch and all, this performance of "See You Again" is a Pixy Stix shot straight into the bloodstream. The guitars never really kick in, since they don't have to. Cyrus herself powers the song into overdrive.

There's not a twang in sight, but this, ladies and gentlemen, is your co-host of the Country Music Television awards. She may have been born with Nashville in her blood, but she's 100% Hollywood now, so having Miley host a country awards show still seems out of place.

Until, that is, you remember that her insane popularity has made it so that even Oscar has no power to resist her.

2. In fact, the CMTs don't make much sense at all, and don't seem bothered by it. Aside from the aforementioned "tearjerker" award -- a celebration of emotional manipulation -- the CMTs give an award to the best award show performance of the year, and there's a whopping eight (8!) videos up for video of the year. 

And then there's the CMT Awards website, which contains this little nugget of a time-waster, Taylor Swift's photo blog. Though little more than a bunch of goofy pics (Taylor and mom, Taylor in a prom dress and Taylor and, of course, Miley), she does provide some commentary, like trying to remember why she was wearing sunglasses in a studio. Taylor: "No idea."

But oddly enough, finding out who's actually performing isn't all that easy. A clip of Miley at the Kids' Choice Awards (forgot to mention that one earlier) is prominently placed (both Nickelodeon and CMT are owned by Viacom).

But bringing up a list of CMT performers (Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, LeAnn Rimes, Keith Urban and Brooks & Dunn, Underwood, Sugarland, Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts, Toby Keith, Alan Jackson and Swift) takes a little digging.

Heck -- if you're giving out awards to videos, kudos go to the CMTs for not approaching anything close to self-importance, or importance, for that matter.

Photo courtesy FOX / Getty Images

Comments

[dave]

Amen. It's nice to see that another grown up appreciates Miley as much as I do. I think her music is interesting, authentic, and gets better with repeated listens. I think it's silly to ccmpare Miley to Class A vocal talents like Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood. Obviously she's not in that league, but her vocals are interesting and work well in her (rather rockish) songs. I hope she sticks around for a while; it's a shame she's under so much pressure.

[Gail B.]

As a fan of her Dad's since before her birth, I have watched Miley grow up and I believe that in her heart, she is still a country girl. She is handling her meteoric career very well for a 15 year old, plus she has a close family to love and support her. Over her career (and I think she will have a long successful one) I believe she will stay connected with Nashville and country music. Carrie Underwood has a fantastic voice, but I would much rather watch and listen to Miley perform. She has a rather unique voice and her charisma and personality (and energy) are spellbinding. I like her songs too. Billy Ray and Miley will do a great job hosting the CMT Awards. They work well together. Thanks for your article. It shows you have done some observation and research.

[Alex]

I really like this girl. I think she's very talented, and has the potential to really be a powerhouse. Her stage presence and charisma are off the charts, and on a shallow note, she really is quite a stunning young woman. I don't think it's fair to compare her to people like Carrie Underwood, because 15 is a lot younger than 23/24. She doesn't have the best voice, but with some training, she could be really great. I'm so excited that she's hosting the CMTs. She's a pretty funny girl, and I love seeing her tease her dad. It's cute.

[Russ D]

Thanks for the well written article. Like Gail B who posted above I am also a fan of Billy Ray Cyrus. Many of us gathered in Nashville last Thanksgiving weekend to see BR in concert and after we had bought our tickets it was announced that Miley would also be giving a concert on the same weekend in Nashville. I am a grown man and I had already decided that I would wait to see Miley perform until after ‘Hannah Montana’ had run its course but since I was going to be in town anyway I joined others in buying a ticket to Miley’s show.

I was very impressed with her live performance. Fame can be a hard thing to handle and some artists (young and old) come across as spoiled divas, but Miley was nothing like that. She was very humble and to be honest I didn’t know she was going be as impressive as she was. This kid has talent and more importantly than that just like her dad she wants to make a difference in the world around her. She is a wonderful Christian role model for a huge number of young kids and I respect her a great deal because of who she is as a person. Fame in show business can come and go but character lasts a lifetime.

[Shirley]

Thanks for a wonderfully written article. I have watch Miley grow up since she was a baby and am so very impressed with her as a person and as an artist. For 15 she is amazing to me. I am so looking forward to the award show. Its fan voted and that is unusual these days. Way to go CMT.

[laura]

I dont think Miley is good at all. Her voice is not very good and she doesnt even sing country music! She shouldnt be hosting the CMT's just because her dad sings country and shes famous and from nashville. Oh and people, please stop saying she is "a good Chrisitan role model for young girls"!!! She takes pictures of herself in underwear and acts more like a 21 year old pop diva wannabe than a fifteen year old girl. I dont have anything agaisnt her, and I think shes done great considering her age but come on. Would she have made it this far if it wasnt for her dad being a famous singer?

[Russ D]

This message is in response to Laura since she quoted my post. Laura, as a BR fan I find it interesting that people who want to fault Miley say she wouldn’t have made it this far without her dad being famous and at the same time the people who want to fault BR say he wouldn’t still be famous if he didn’t have a famous daughter. I don’t think either of those statements is correct and obviously both can’t be.

Also do you actually think Miley is not a good Christian role model because she took a picture of herself in her underwear? Please. The picture wasn’t salacious and people at the beach show more skin than Miley did. Even though the picture was innocent, I am going to guess Miley wishes she hadn’t taken it because of her standing as a public figure. Do I think she now considers it a lapse in judgment? Probably. But what adolescent doesn’t have a lapse in judgment from time to time? I know I did and I bet everyone reading this did too.

Laura, I am going to assume you don’t know much about the Christian faith because if you did you would know that 1) no one is perfect and 2) if someone makes a mistakes they should be forgiven and only the person who has never made a mistake should criticize and ‘throw the first stone‘. Miley is going to make a mistake from time to time because she is a human being like everyone else. Like I said before, I think she is doing an excellent job of being a positive Christian role model.

I am not suggesting you need to like BR and Miley because everyone obviously likes different people and different styles of music. I am simply suggesting that these are good people who work hard to make a positive difference and that is exactly what they are doing.

[Taylor]

I LOVE BILLY RAY AND MILEY CYRUS!!!!!!!!!
Way more then any of you people!!!!!!!!!!!!!

♥☺♥♥☺♥☺♥☺♥☺♥☺♥☺♥☺♥☺♥☺♥☺♥☺♥☺♥☺♥