Iconic Memes: Miley Cyrus Blue Eyes

The infamous Miley Cyrus blue eyes meme made its way onto my Twitter feed in 2018. Her shitty blue smokey eye and forced smile were strangely confronting.  

At the time this meme went viral on Twitter, Miley Cyrus was on a social media cleanse. The meme was badly photoshopped into many things, some funny, some confusing, and some discomforting.  

But in 2018, 10 years on from when the photo was taken at the Grammy Awards of 15-year-old Miley, we looked at it with confusion. It’s Miley Cyrus... but it also isn’t. It doesn’t look exactly like her.  

I was on a mission to find out why this meme was so iconic, so I got myself into 2008 Miley Cyrus attire. I put on some old blue eyeshadow, orange foundation, blow dried my hair into a side part, and curled my hair (even though Bella ended up photoshopping it on anyway). I made sure to message my team that morning to say “I’m gonna look weird today, I’m 2008 Miley Cyrus”. It didn’t stop the laughter though.  

At 15, Hannah Montana had barely been on for two years. Miley was just starting to find that ‘It Girl’ stardom. The Grammys was one of her first major events, and you can tell her makeup artist was struggling.  

Her dark hair was the cause of Nick Jonas. Miley told Seventeen that Nick had encouraged her to get highlights. So, after they broke up, she dyed her hair dark brown, almost black. What an icon. 

Unfortunately, Miley’s hair unarguably looked its best in 2010 in the last season of Hannah Montana when she had highlights. The confronting blue smokey eyeshadow, with dark hair, looks very different from the girl we know and love today.  

Staring at this photo for so long made me realise why it was so memeworthy 10 years after it was taken. It was the shock of seeing an icon before they were one. No one cared about her terrible makeup in 2008, but in 2018 and now, this pre icon Miley Cyrus is hilarious.