Miley Cyrus is no stranger to controversy. Her 2019 song “Mother’s Daughter”, its music video, and her partnership with Planned Parenthood continue this legacy of getting her fans -and critics- talking. In these mediums she advocates for choice and bodily autonomy, while simultaneously reclaiming misogynistic epithets and portraying diverse resistance against patriarchal control.

The song opens with Miley praising that she is a “freak” and that she is in control: “Oh my gosh, she got the power, oh look at her, she got the power”. Later describing herself as “nasty” (almost certainly a reference to Trump’s comments about Hillary Clinton), “evil”, and “a witch”, Miley affirms that she is defining her own power, employing language that typically is used to demonize women. In the chorus of the song, Miley attributes her fierceness to “something in the water or that [she’s her] mother’s daughter” (Cyrus).

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