The Bryn Mawr Concert Series committee enjoyed a fun night together this past Saturday night. (No, we didn’t go to Snowball.) We had received SGA funding to do bonding activities, which meant dinner at Sushiland and a Miley Cyrus concert. Our committee is made up of students who apply through SGA appointments to join, so not everyone knows each other before joining (or has the same music taste).
For dinner, we gorged ourselves on deluxe sushi rolls, tempura, and fried ice cream. We also talked about classes, majors, and our other lives as students. One student on the committee was able to give economics course recommendations to an underclassman on the committee. Another student on the committee revealed that she was transferring next semester, and we all expressed that we would miss her, but we understood that Bryn Mawr’s not for everyone.
After dinner, we took Lyft to Electric Factory in Philadelphia. It was my first time taking Lyft, my first time at Electric Factory, and my first time at a concert as big as Miley Cyrus. Since we had gotten SGA funding for this bonding activity late into the semester, we had to scramble to find a concert we were all available to attend and would all agree to go to. That is pretty difficult when not everyone on the committee has the same schedules or music taste. We finally agreed on Miley Cyrus because even if she wasn’t our first choice favorite artist, she could definitely put on an interesting show.
The concert started at 8pm, but we arrived at 9pm and Miley wasn’t on the stage yet. Once she took the stage around 9:15pm, the crowd went crazy and everyone pushed up to the front. We got caught in this pushing and shoving, and I honestly thought someone would suffocate and get hurt. People went around sprinkling glitter on each other. Many people dressed in Miley Cyrus style. Most people were in their 20s, but I saw some younger tweens and their parents at the show too (that must have been awkward…). Unfortunately, being short, on top of everyone holding their cellphones above their heads, meant I would have to crane my neck the entire concert.
Craning my neck would be worth it because Miley Cyrus put on a great show! She really can sing well live, and her countless costumes and light sets were on point. She looks just like she does on TV! I came in expecting her to do her fake rap and culturally appropriated swagger, but she pleasantly surprised me with songs from her Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz album that show a return to pop rock. Most of her songs off her latest album released independently on Soundcloud are quite introspective and personal — almost sad. She sung of her dead pet blowfish, her crush for Space Dude, her attitude towards being herself and not caring what others think. I’ve come to appreciate and respect Miley more as an artist and look forward to her future projects. We went to the concert not knowing many Miley songs, besides her hits like Wrecking Ball, Party in the USA, and We Can’t Stop. (She actually didn’t sing any of her popular hits except We Can’t Stop at the end.) We left with more of an understanding of who Miley is as a person and singer.
