Not That Innocent: The Most Shocking Moments When Good Singers Went Bad (And Sexy!)

It’s gotta be hard if you’re a child star growing up in harsh glare of fame, and incredibly difficult to make the world take you seriously as you get older. As a result, some truly over-the-top antics are sometimes required in order for you to break free from the kid image and assert your independence as an adult! Read on to see some of the most aggressive “I’m not a child anymore” moments of all time. Look out, folks: They’re not that innocent.

9. Taylor Momsen Gets Pretty Reckless Onstage

She was little Cindy Lou Who, the priceless little child who brought holiday cheer to life in The Grinch Who Stole Christmas! She was the preppy (for a while, at least) Jenny Humphrey on Gossip Girl! Hell, she was even this little sweetie in the Shake ’n’ Bake commercial! But you can’t have the light without the dark, and we imagine all of this enforced cuteness as a kid caused her to store up a giant wad of rebellion, which came out in her rock ’n’ roll.

But Then:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjbPTxV176k
The eye-liner took over! “Music is where I can be me”, she said after she started recording with the band The Pretty Reckless in 2010. The group had some chart success, but the still-17-year-old grabbed more headlines for her risque (some would say age-inappopriate) behavior. She would make out with fans onstage, wore a shirt reading “I F–k For Satan”, filmed underage nude scenes for her music video, and gave masturbation advice…among other things. All in all, lots ’o’ aggressively (and intentionally) shocking behavior here, but we’ll give pride of place to when the still-underage singer went topless onstage. For us, that’s the moment she jumped the nudity shark. 

8. Selena Gomez Goes On Spring Break

Selena got her start on the PBS show Barney & Friends, so it doesn’t get more inoffensive than that. From there she moved on to the Disney Channel, charming the pants (no, not literally) off of kids and parents as Alex Russo on Wizards Of Waverly Place. Around this time she also charmed the pants (this time literally) off of fellow child-star Justin Bieber, creating an unstoppable union of wholesome teen cuteness…for a bit, at least.

Selena was seen as a sort of antidote to Miley Cyrus, Lindsay Lohan, Vanessa Hudgens, and other former-Disney starlets who were seen as getting too wild and crazy. Like many young actresses she tried to make the jump into music, and unlike many she actually succeeded, releasing three albums and scoring a few chart hits with her band The Scene, most notably “Love You Like A Love Song,” “Falling Down,” and “A Year Without Rain.” More than a few fans were bummed when she announced in January 2012 that she was putting her musical career on hold to focus on her acting. “This year is all about films and acting,” she said, but little did we know that we’d soon be seeing Selena in a whole new way.

But Then:

Yup, she shocked us all by appearing in Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers, which features Selena getting up to laughably risky (and risque) shenanigans that we couldn’t have come up with in our wildest dreams! Considering that it’s stocked with former Disney star Vanessa Hudgens, as well as fellow-TV-good-girl Ashley Benson, we’re guessing that this was calculated casting designed to surprise. It’s all so campy and over-the-top that by the time Gomez resumed her (newly solo) music career last year with the more adult content of “Come and Get It”, the shock had warn off were definitely ready for it!

7. Justin Bieber Comes Of Age

We Knew Him When…

The story of Maple Jesus has already become modern myth. Videos of the 13-year old singing on YouTube were discovered by talent scout Scooter Braun in 2008, and the son of a young struggling single mom was launched into the pop music heavens. Simply put, the kid was ADORABLE, with his mop top hair and choirboy timbre. He became the prototypical child star, which has literally never ever ended badly, right?

But Then: