What Miley Cyrus Did To Win Over a Booing Crowd
By: Sara Kiani
Tags: Music, Leadership, Change, Marketing, Culture

To be honest, I was just as offended as any Chris Cornell fan when I saw that Miley Cyrus was taking on what may be the most technically difficult song he sang — Say Hello To Heaven. Probably like most people in the audience, who even had a clue who Miley is, I had already made up my mind about her covering a classic Temple of the Dog song. It was going to suck.

Thinking that she’d butcher the song the same way as she did with Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit years earlier, I clicked on the YT video that captured her performance at a tribute show in honor of the late Chris Cornell.

Judging from the other related videos of performances that seem to take place at the same show, I can only assume that she was the only woman and the one that reduced the average age of the performers by at least 20 years. It’s safe to say that she stood out.

You know when you look at a list and it says “What doesn’t fit?”. I know I was the one that didn’t fit. — Miley Cyrus

Most of the remaining giants of the grunge era were there to pay their respect and perform with members of Temple of the Dog, Soundgarden, and Audioslave. I could not for the life of me figure out why the hell a country-pop star would attempt (or even want to) join that gang.

A few seconds into the video I realized just how far off she was from her comfort zone when she entered the stage. Hearing her being called up felt like a bit of a joke, and that’s probably why she was met with confusing chuckles, impulsive booing, and half-ass claps.

She walked up firmly while awkwardly mumbling something about blowing the surprise due to her mic going live before she entered the stage. Miley inquired “Shall we do this?” as if she wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. Maybe she just wanted to start singing asap to counteract the initial response she got. She knew that that the audience wasn’t going to welcome her, and she had already accepted it in spite of the discomfort.

The musicians synced and started playing the song. I had a hard time recognizing her with an outfit that covered more than it revealed. Ironically, that, her hairstyle and her awkwardness gave her a grungy presence. She focused on the band and the music purposefully and looked away from the prejudiced looks of the audience.

Once she opened her mouth to sing, everybody just shut up. But jaws were left dropped. Her singing was impeccable in spite of not hitting those extra high notes that only Chris could pull off in the 90s.

A lot of my covers I kind of customize for myself, and that one was just in its original form and I really did all his little ad-libs and runs, and it was just a really intense experience as a performer. — Miley Cyrus

It was also apparent, that she had broadened her lower vocal registry, enabling her to effortlessly hit unusual depth, unlike many mainstream female vocalists. Compared to the other vocalists that night, she was technically the best and damn close to the singing abilities of Chris.

Not only did she look different, but she also moved and sounded differently. Gone was the crazy choreography, which had been replaced with intuitive movements to the music that would power her vocals. She had reinvented herself, and it couldn’t get more grungy than that.

The rawness and the freshness of her performance were far more persuasive and it made the imperfection perfect. She knew what the audience would value the most.

That was one of the moments where you realize it’s not about you. It’s about that audience, and when you’re in a room with what is unifying people is their love for Chris Cornell and his talent, it really changed the way that I was performing. — Miley Cyrus

In an interview, where Howard Stern addresses this particular performance and asks Miley about the experience, she stated that the performance sounded nothing like it did at soundcheck because she was so moved by the amount of love that was there for Chris Cornell.

It really didn’t come from me, that performance. — Miley Cyrus

In the end, Miley had struck an emotional chord with everyone who saw that performance. She showed with her performance that she could sing his pain in a way that would make the fans relive his past performances one last time.

And that’s what tributes are for.