Miley Cyrus: Here's how to avoid tween pitfalls

Anyway you look at it, Miley Cyrus is a tween sensation.

Girls want to be just like the pop singer/actress, and Halloween is guaranteed to be filled with her wannabes. Her popular Disney show "Hannah Montana," about a girl who is a regular student by day and a rock star by night, last summer broke the record for a single episode of a basic-cable series with 10.7 million viewers. And, when her tour sold out in minutes, it spurred scalper investigations across three states, plus a Ticketmaster suit. This Monday, Miley comes to Seattle, performing at KeyArena. If you don't already have a way in, good luck going without breaking the bank. Regularly costing $25 to $65, tickets now go from the hundreds to the thousands.

But what happens when a tween sensation is no longer a tween — or even a teen? Cyrus turns 15 next month, nearing that slippery slope that Britney Spears put best as "Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman." Cyrus would be wise to study the path of her predecessors — Spears, Jessica Simpson, Lindsay Lohan — many of whom got an early boost from Disney but then were derailed by pregnancy, drugs and overzealous parents.

So for her birthday, we're offering up a list of tips to help her evolve from child star to pop queen.

1. Stay away from booze — and boys. Spears is a prime example of what not to do. At the top of her game, she stimulated teen pop's comeback with catchy tunes that became guilty pleasures. Now a decade later and with more than 83 million albums sold worldwide, Spears is a shell of what she could have been, thanks to the drug-and-alcohol problem, the two babies and the two divorces.

Like Spears, who dated pop prince Justin Timberlake, Cyrus has been linked to both Cody Linley from her "Hannah Montana" show and Nick Jonas, from her tour's opening band, the Jonas Brothers. Better to keep focused on business rather than booty.

2. Fire your parents. For many of these Disney products, parents take over the role as manager. But for the uninitiated, such as Jessica Simpson's father or Lindsay Lohan's mother, they not only can hog their child's spotlight, their mismanagement can destroy their careers. This is why many child actors legally divorce themselves from their folks.

So far, Cyrus' father (and "Hannah" co-star), Billy Ray Cyrus, seems to be guiding her well, maintaining her G-rated persona. Maybe the Cyruses will buck the bad-parent-manager trend since Billy Ray is a veteran of the entertainment industry (with his hit "Achy Breaky Heart" and numerous television spots). Maybe.

3. Practice your art. Miley Cyrus is the whole package, compared with the likes of Shania Twain. But Cyrus needs to be sure to keep vocals as the No. 1 priority, like Christina Aguilera, and everything else, such as looks and personality, second.

Jessica Simpson's music has long been eclipsed by her personality. After being in the background to both Spears and Aguilera, it was her ditziness, not her music, that made her famous.

Same for Hilary Duff. Cyrus' show taps into what Duff did with "Lizzie McGuire" on Disney just a few years before — in the role of a cool older sister. The only problem is that Duff based too much of her appeal on her likability and less on the music so it wasn't surprising to catch Duff lip-syncing at her concerts. Now she is trying to parlay her personality into movies.

So as Cyrus outgrows her tween fan set, it'll be interesting to see what happens. How will she grow into a woman? Will she find love and lose her career? Or will she retire from popdom and raise a family, only to come back for a tour like the Spice Girls did? These next years will tell.

Marian Liu: 206-464-3825 or mliu@seattletimes.com