Sinéad O'Connor's Earnest Message for Miley Cyrus Resurfaces Following Her Death
Sinéad O'Connor's 2013 open letter to Miley Cyrus has resurfaced amid the Irish singer's death.
The letter was written after O'Connor was informed of Cyrus praising her in a Rolling Stone interview, during which the pop star shared that her music video for her hit "Wrecking Ball" was inspired by O'Connor's iconic 1990 video for "Nothing Compares 2 U."
The letter, republished by The Guardian, warned the then-20-year-old of the perils of the industry.
O'Connor opened her message noting that it was coming in "the spirit of motherliness and with love." However, some of the wording in the letter was deemed controversial, as the "Mandinka" singer felt that Cyrus' free-spirited and sexualized image at the time would "obscure [her] talent by allowing [herself] to be pimped, whether its [sic] the music business or [herself] doing the pimping."
The late artist thought that, for Cyrus, "nothing but harm will come in the long run, from allowing yourself to be exploited, and it is absolutely NOT in ANY way an empowerment of yourself or of any young women, for you to send across the message that you are to be valued (even by you) more for your sexual appeal than your obvious talent."
O'Connor then warned the young singer that "the music business doesn’t give a shit about you, or any of us. They will prostitute you for all you are worth, and cleverly make you think its what YOU wanted…and when you end up in rehab as a result of being prostituted, ‘they’ will be sunning themselves on their yachts in Antigua, which they bought by selling your body and you will find yourself very alone."
The letter came from a genuine place, as O'Connor herself suffered traumatic events throughout her career that she didn't want to see Cyrus experience. However, at the time, it was widely criticized, with many believing that the singer was shaming Cyrus for expressing herself in a sex-positive way.
Cyrus also responded negatively, poking fun at the musician by comparing her to Amanda Bynes in a tweet.
Now that the letter has gone viral again, the discussions surrounding it are more nuanced.
"Reading Sinead's open letter again and realizing she was protecting Miley not actually attacking her," read a tweet written by a Miley Cyrus fan account. "As far as I'm concerned, this letter is the true legacy of #SineadOConnor. Every single word. It's sincere, it's truthful and it's something young women should actually care about," another person tweeted.
"To me this letter has less to do with Miley as it is the raw truth for many women who were taken advantage of in the music business," noted a different Twitter user.
Next: Morrissey Calls Out Sinéad O'Connor Tributes Following Her Death