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PROVO -- In a recent AOL online poll, teenagers voted Miley Cyrus the Worst Celebrity Influence of 2009. Some college students in Utah County didn't agree, so they made a rap song and music video defending the teen star.
The students, from BYU and UVU, put their music video on YouTube, and that video is getting a lot of attention.
"We all secretly like Miley Cyrus," said Rowan Jones, a freshman at BYU. Jones wrote the rap with his friends as part of a group called thirty100. "We saw her ‘Party in the USA' video, and we're like, ‘We need to do a rap song about Miley,'" he said.
The group decided to write the song defending Cyrus after she was voted the Worst Celebrity Influence by 9- to 15-year-olds. Said Jones, "We didn't agree, to be honest."
Since thirty100 had experience writing songs and remakes before, the decision to write it was easy - but writing a song about Miley Cyrus still took some work. Said Jones, "We just sat down and watched a bunch of Miley Cyrus videos and Googled her to learn about her, because we really didn't know." Then they invited Phaya Buissereth, a UVU student, to sing background.
Soon, the video was posted to YouTube. "In two days we got like 3,000 views," said Buissereth. Now they're pushing 100,000 - and they know Miley is one of them.
"We know she's heard it, and her little sister is obsessed with us and has made contact with us," said Jones.
The boys in the band hope this video opens doors, and they aren't embarrassed at all that they are such big fans. Jones, for example, doesn't think he's too old for Miley. Jones said, "She's only a year or two younger, come on!"
The video will soon be available on iTunes for purchase.
E-mail: abutterfield@ksl.com
