Littlegirlslost’s Weblog

Although it might sometimes seem that the current crop of ‘teen stars, like Miley Cyrus, Zac Efron, Ashley Tisdale and Vanessa Hudgens, to name a few, is the most widely marketed (and likely highest paid) group of young performers on the scene, they’re just par for the course in a culture that is always seeking the next exciting phenomenon, according to celebrity gossip site editor Dodai Stewart.
When asked about the attraction to pop idols such as Britney Spears in the late 1990s and Miley Cyrus today, Stewart, who is the editor of Jezebel (www.jezebel.com) and former editor of teen magazine J-14, said much of their success has to do with crossover appeal.
She says that for Cyrus, who reaches fans across multiple platforms, including her television show, “Hannah Montana,” music and a recent movie, the timing simply is ripe for her to make it big.
“What else is new and fresh right now?” Stewart said. “Everybody has Britney fatigue; the box office is in such a slump right now. Miley is super accessible, the appeal is broad and it’s easy to digest.”
Stewart pointed out that although Cyrus and company are all over Hollywood right now, they are far from being the first of their kind.
“These things come in waves,” she said. “Before, there was Britney, NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys.” Spears and two NSYNC singers, Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez, also were Disney Channel stars.
Many of today’s performers are part of what Stewart calls the “Disney factory” (“Hannah Montana” is a Disney Channel show; Efron, Tisdale and Hudgens made it big in Disney’s “High School Musical,” and both girls had appeared on other shows on Disney Channel), while others, like Drake Bell and Jamie Lynn Spears, got their breaks on Nickelodeon. Cyrus seems to be leading the pack; Stewart credits this to accessibility to her shows and music (“Hannah Montana” plays on Disney five days a week; Cyrus’ songs are on Radio Disney, with some playing on more mainstream stations), and to her personal appeal.
“You feel like you can be her, or be friends with her,” Stewart said. She compared the 15 year old to NSYNC, and said that although that boy band was smartly marketed, Cyrus is a safer bet for parents of young girls.
“[Following Cyrus] is less sexualized than fantasizing about being with these guys,” she said.
Despite the similarities between early Britney Spears and “the Miley Cyrus situation,” as she called it, the editor believes the younger performer is grounded enough to avoid Spears’ highly publicized pitfalls.
“Miley strikes me as slightly different from past [stars],” she said. “Maybe it’s because her dad [“Achy Breaky Heart” singer Billy Ray Cyrus] is on the show, but I feel like there’s more guidance there.”