‘X Factor’ Contestant Rion Paige Delivers Most Amazing Performance in Show’s History (VIDEO)

vrijdag 13 september 2013

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
by Jill Baughman 15 hours ago

September 11 marked the season premiere of X Factor, and one performance in particular stood out among the rest. This 13-year-old contestant even made Simon Cowell smile, believe it or not. Ah, pending fatherhood. Anyway, Rion Paige went up on stage and belted out an amazing rendition of Carrie Underwood's hit "Blown Away" during her audition in Charleston, South Carolina.

Not only was Simon impressed, Demi Lovato, Kelly Rowland, and Paulina Rubio were also, well, "blown away" (how many times is that gonna happen?). But as you can see, this talented teenager has had her fair share of difficulties in life, and she has risen above them in a way that would make anyone proud and a tad weepy.

Rion has arthrogryposis multiplex congenita, which has made growing up a bit challenging for her. She's had it since birth; fortunately, it isn't progressive. "My hands, like, they’re curved differently because of my joints," she explained. "So I have to learn things differently, and I’m almost permanently blind in my right eye."

Poor, brave girl! But she had her very supportive mom along with her. "The fact that Rion’s getting on stage today ... makes me nervous," her mom said. "I feel like she’s prepared, and it’s not [for] me to hold her back. It’s for me to give her every opportunity and say, 'It’s your time to fly, baby.'"

And fly she did. Sorry, that was cheesy, but this girl is awesome! Of course the judges had nothing but positive things to say as well.

"I remember the day I met Carrie Underwood and I remember predicting this girl was going to go on and do special things with her life," said Cowell. "And I’m gonna say the same thing about you, Rion." Whoa, can't get a much higher compliment than that, can you?

And as Paulina says, "Music heals everything."

All that said, check out her incredible, memorable performance:

Did you see Rion on X Factor last night? Will you be rooting for her?

Image via TheXFactorUSA/YouTube

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jill Baughman

is the copy chief of The Stir and geeks out over all the nuances and weirdness of the English language.

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Miley Cyrus’s Provocative VMA Performance Doesn’t Encourage a Rape Culture

woensdag 4 september 2013

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
by Jenny Erikson 7 hours ago

Of all the dumb things people say … well this one is pretty dumb. Richard Cohen wrote a column for the Washington Post on Monday that somehow managed to link Miley Cyrus’s raunchy VMA performance with the Steubenville rape case.

So that just happened. A journalist suggested that performances like Miley’s are the real reason that two teenage boys sexually manhandled their drunk and passed out female peer. He implied that that’s how teens operate these days thanks to a “tawdry cable TV and celebrity culture.”

Cohen wrote:

Let me also suggest that acts such as hers not only objectify women but debase them. They encourage a teenage culture that has set the women’s movement back on its heels. What is being celebrated is not sexuality but sexual exploitation, a mean casualness that deprives intimacy of all intimacy.

I’m not here to defend the VMA performance, because I thought it was crass and I’ll thank God in heaven to never see Miley’s tongue again, but I’m hard-pressed to blame an obnoxious 20-year-old on TV for the sexual misconduct of teenage boys.

If a teenager watches a young lady (and I use the term loosely in this case) twerking and simulating sex with a foam finger on TV and somehow manages to translate that into permission to have sex with passed out drunk girls, then our culture is in worse shape than I thought.

It’s never ok to do something to another person without their explicit, sober consent -- no matter how many grown-up Disney starlets shake their hips in nude bikinis on cable TV.

As it is, I think the outrage over the VMA stunt is evidence that we are not a completely debased society. If this were the norm, then what’s all the fuss about? It seems that our culture doesn’t celebrate the sexual exploitation of young women after all.

Do you think Miley’s twerking encourages a rape culture?

Image via Miley Ray Cyrus/Twitter

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jenny Erikson

is a conservative chick living in Southern California with her two daughters. She loves politics and hates laundry.

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Miley Cyrus' Dad Has Perfect Response to Her Raunchy VMA Performance

vrijdag 30 augustus 2013

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
by Jeanne Sager 3 hours ago

First it was Miley Cyrus being attacked over her (admittedly raunchy and insane) VMA performance. Now Miley has broken her silence on Twitter to share something her dad said about the incident, and it's Billy Ray Cyrus who's fielding the hate for coming out in support of his little girl.

America? What did you expect him to say?

He's her father! It's his job to have his little girl's back ... at least in public.

The country singer has been largely silent in public, actually, even bailing on an interview with Piers Morgan. Billy Ray's only real statement came when he told Entertainment Tonight earlier this week:

Of course I'll always be here for Miley. Can't wait (to) see her when she gets home.

She's my little girl, and I'm still her dad regardless how this circus we call show business plays out.

But that was it until Miley's tweet:

"Mile, if twerkin woulda been invented.... And I had a foam finger.... I woulda done the same thang you did." - DAD

Would I say the same thing to my daughter? Not on your life. But then, this is just one thing that Billy Ray supposedly said. We don't know that he didn't also tell her that she acted like a bit of a buffoon on the VMA stage or that he didn't give Robin Thicke a piece of his mind.

There's a line between what we say about our kids and their misdeeds in public and what we say to them in private -- at least there used to be. These days it seems parents have no qualms about airing the family's dirty laundry, posting rants about their kids on Facebook and Twitter.

More From The Stir: Miley Cyrus Doesn't Owe Parents an Apology for Her Raunchy VMA Performance

But I was raised to believe you keep things in the family, and I hold to that with my daughter. I may apologize for her behavior to others, but that's where it ends -- I don't berate her in public. There will be enough people willing to do that as she grows up, as we're seeing with Miley right now.

It's my job as a parent to give it to her straight, and I will (and do) ... at home. Out in public, I try to temper what I have to say, to be a supportive mom, because I AM still her mom. She needs to know I'll be in her corner, that I don't stop loving her just because she screws up.

I respect Billy Ray for not adding his voice to the din. It would be easy to just go along with the crowd. But he shows he's a real parent by taking the other road.

How do you think Billy Ray is doing as a dad?

Image via Getty/MTV

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jeanne Sager

writes articles for The Stir by day, slays closet monsters and bounds through bedtime stories with her elementary schooler by night. The Phineas and Ferb soundtrack reverberates through her brain.

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Miley Cyrus's VMAs Performance Was the Final Nail in Hannah Montana's Coffin (VIDEO)

dinsdag 27 augustus 2013

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
by Maressa Brown 2 hours ago

Despite a night filled with noteworthy, talented performances from Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake ('NSYNC!), and Bruno Mars, all we can seem to talk about in the wake of the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards is the cringeworthy disaster that is now Miley Cyrus. Twerking her way through what can only be described as one of the most embarrassing, disgusting VMAs performances of all time, Miley went to extremes to destroy any remnants of her squeaky-clean, Disney rep. Check out the video below for more on the former child star's disturbing transformation ...

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What are your thoughts on Miley's scary transformation?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Maressa Brown

has enjoyed reporting and writing for a variety of entertainment and women's magazines and websites. More often than not, you'll find her blogging, hitting the gym, reading, researching something on her iPhone, laughing, chatting at an above-"normal" volume, or getting her caffeine fix.

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Miley Cyrus Doesn't Owe Parents an Apology for Her Raunchy VMA Performance

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Rut-ro. Miley Cyrus has gone and done it! Her raunchy VMAs performance has set the mommies' tongues a clucking!

Did you see her gyrating and twerking up there? Did you see her rip off that sexy teddy bear onesie and reveal her so pale they blended right into her skin undies? Did you see her letting Robin Thicke perform fake anal right out there in the middle of everything?

What are our kids supposed to think?

Well, how about nothing?

My 8-year-old is a Miley Cyrus fan. She danced to "Party in the USA" at her pre-school graduation, and she's seen her fair share of Hannah Montana episodes. Today I asked her what she thinks about Miley, and she said, quite simply, "She's cool. I love singing her music!"

She didn't, however, have an opinion about Miley's VMAs gyrations, for one simple reason: she didn't see it -- or any of the VMAs for that matter.

She didn't watch because she was in bed -- school starts soon, and we've reinstituted 8 p.m. bedtime to ready for early rising. She didn't watch because it was the MTV VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS. It wasn't a show for kids. And when I myself finally pulled up videos of Miley letting it all hang out (I skipped the VMAs to catch up on Breaking Bad), I made sure she was in another room before I hit play. 

She can like Miley's songs, even like some of Miley's (kid-appropriate) acting. But it's not up to Miley to protect my kid from Miley acting out.

It's up to me.

So I have to ask: what is all the fuss about?

Did Miley act like an idiot up there on that stage? Sure. But then, she also acted a lot like a 20-year-old who is still figuring out who she is; a 20-year-old who has had to endure the judgment of an entire nation as she's transitioned from sweet little kid to teenager to young adult.

Miley Cyrus has not had it easy with the pressure of growing up in the spotlight. Do we really need to add "being a role model to our kids" onto her heavy burden?

Is that really her job?

I don't think so. It's no more her job to raise my kid and do right by my kid than it is Alex Rodriguez' job to stay off steroids so that my kid's love of baseball remains untainted, or any other celebrity's job to live a stained life just so my kid never has to learn that there are bad people and bad things in this world. 

That's why kids have parents. We're here to shield them from the bad things out there, to introduce those issues in kid-appropriate ways, to pick and choose what they learn about and when.

So to all the parents demanding Miley Cyrus' head on a platter, I have to ask: where were you when your kid was watching Miley grind on a foam finger? Why weren't YOU protecting your kid?

Do you really believe Miley Cyrus owes parents an apology here?

Image via Getty/MTV

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