Global Citizen, the organization currently best known for putting on the One World: Together At Home event in support of the World Health Organization and raising funds for health care workers, is at it again with their latest special, Global Goal: Unite for Our Future. Wanting to take their fundraising to a new level in terms of trying to give people hope about a solution for COVID-19, the lineup of performances this time around took hold of a new environment: proper venues… instead of being relegated inside of one’s house. The caveat, of course, was that there were no audiences. So it was that the likes of Christine and the Queens performed alone in Paris’ Grand Palais, Shakira atop a roof in Barcelona and Jennifer Hudson on a boat in the Chicago River.
One of the most production value-worthy performances, however, was Miley Cyrus in Pasadena’s Rose Bowl Stadium. No stranger to The Beatles’ oeuvre—or at least John Lennon’s after adapting “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” with his son, Sean— Cyrus performed something like a cover of a cover as a result of garnering inspiration from her godmother Dolly Parton’s 1979 interpretation of the famed Beatles track (originally released in 1965). To that point, her sparkly blue stomach-baring gown was also a nod to the glam of Dolly and that era (which David Bowie brought to a peak in the late 60s). Placed on the dot of the giant exclamation point that had been placed to scale next to the huge letters spelling out HELP on the grass, one can only imagine what the aliens would have thought if they were hovering above for a landing… only to turn around at the sight of that word, indicating Earth is just as ghetto as they thought.
A low angle shot of Cyrus against a pale blue sky with the caption, “Dedicated to those who are tirelessly working on testing, treatment and vaccines so all of us can come together in places like this empty stadium again,” a tone of melancholy is instantly struck. On that note, there can be no denying that among the many entertainment industries that have suffered from the restrictions of social distancing, the live music sector is at the top of the list along with movie theaters. Considering that the majority of artists—no matter how well-known—rely on the income generated from performing their music (which is the only way to draw out their fans for a unique experience worth paying for since streaming doesn’t exactly yield mondo profits) in stadiums and small venues alike, musicians—already depressive by nature—are undoubtedly clamoring for the moment when live music can return.
Except for the fact that if it does, it will be as burdensome as travel, with new safety implementations put in place that will take away entirely from the feelings of yore that one had when gathering among strangers to watch their favorite artist take the stage. Still, Cyrus, like most in her position, projects a rosy attitude about the future, trying to spin corona as a chance for “real change,” commenting, “Many of us don’t want to go ‘back to normal,’ to where we were as a society before COVID-19. We want to move forward to a more just and equal world. Everyone deserves a healthy future, no matter what their skin color, how they identify, where they’re from or how much money they make.” It’s a pretty thought, and easy to say, when you’re born into privilege like Miley.
As she lends a twangy lilt to her earnest rendition, overhead shots of the word HELP! heighten an eerie sense of desolation to an already post-apocalyptic vibe (think: 28 Days Later). While the intent of Global Goal was to give hope to its viewers, something about this performance comes across as ominously foreshadowing, as though a plague is set to decimate the earth and leave behind an emptiness so deafening in silence that not even birds can be heard.
That the stadium has a seating capacity of 90,888 intensifies the isolated motif of Miley standing alone on the dot, just a small speck in an infinite universe, no matter how “big” she is in the alternate reality of celebrity existence. Though we’ve been continuously told throughout this unprecedented moment in history that we’re in this “together” and “we’re all in the same boat,” the thought of Miley being choppered (or even just chauffeured) out of the stadium to go back to her palatial L.A. abode is yet another image that stands out apart from her remoteness. But, if nothing else, maybe if the HELP! is left there on the grass a bit longer, the aliens really will descend to take some of us away.
