True story: circa Bangerz, I actually downloaded several Miley Cyrus songs. I loathed the “Wrecking Ball” video but I love the song as pure pop. I actually think “Adore You” is an underrated love song too. My point is that when Miley is working with the right producers and her image-phase is clicking, she can actually turn out some good pop music. I just don’t think the current phase of Miley is really clicking at any level. I mean, I see her name on the iTunes charts, so I guess someone is downloading her sh-t, but who are they and why? Why is anyone buying Country Miley Y’All? Especially when she’s trashing her “black appropriation phase”? I don’t know. Anyway, Miley covers the new issue of NME and guess what? She’s still trying to convince us that Country Miley Y’All is happening. What comes across is that Miley has apparently been listening to some focus groups, because she sounds like a malfunctioning pop-country fembot at times. Some highlights:

On her repeated threats to leave America if Trump won: “I didn’t leave the country. I’m not f–king leaving the country, that’s some ignorant s–t, that’s dumb. Because that’s me abandoning my country when I think I’ve got a good thing to say to my country. And trust me, I hear every day on my Instagram, ‘Just leave already! When are you going to leave?’ Well, that’s not going to be any good. Does it really matter where I am? Because wherever I am, my f–king voice is gonna be heard, and I’ll make sure of it.”

Her new song with Dolly Parton, “Rainbowland.” “Yep, and it’s also very political. One line is such a Dolly lyric – it says, ‘We are rainbows, me and you / Every colour, every hue’. And it’s about all these different races and genders and religions, if we all did come together to create and said, ‘Hey, we’re different, that’s awesome, let’s not change to be the same, let’s stay different but let’s come together anyway.’ Because a rainbow’s not a rainbow without all the different colours.”

The song she wrote for Hillary Clinton: “Well, ‘Inspired’, I wrote that for Hillary Clinton [but] I’m not fighting fire with fire, hate with hate. I’m fighting hate with love. I’m doing this concert this week in Vegas and for ‘Party In The USA’ the screens will say ‘education’ and ‘healthcare’ and ‘equality’, ‘justice’, ‘freedom’, ‘liberation’, ‘expression’. These things are what make up our country. It’s not a party in the USA if it’s filled with hate, discrimination, walls, violence, all these things.”

On ‘Wrecking Ball’: “You know, I should f–king be grateful every f–king day for that song, and I am. I think people look at things that they’ve done and there is this sense of shame, or ‘I wish I wouldn’t have done that’ – not because I’m naked, by the way; it’s because I feel like I’m in a deeper songwriting place… Lyrically I’m less impressed with that song for me right now. I feel like it doesn’t reflect who I am now, but that’s fine because it’s not supposed to… I’m sure I’ll say the same thing about this record at some point.”

Her new back-to-white image: “[Singles] ;Malibu’ and ‘Younger Now’ are obviously two f–king very different visuals in a way, but what binds them together is that they are both me. For Bangerz I was so one way, I was so ‘This is who I am, there’s nothing that’s gonna change it’, and you know, I did that on [Miley Cyrus & Her] Dead Petz too. Now, I think I have more of an open mind where I’m like, ‘OK, I can be a bunch of different things every day’, I don’t have to be so locked into myself because then I’m putting those walls and borders around myself that I tell everyone else not to give in to…. From the outside, like you said,…Dead Petz wasn’t a record for everyone… I think it ended up shutting some doors in the way of people making themselves less mentally available to listen. They think, ‘I’m already pissed off so I’m not listening to that, she’s crazy’. In a way, Younger Now is really about ageism and sexism too because I feel like as women get older it’s so hard, and I’m watching Madonna do it with such grace and such style and people still attack her… People just want to talk about how she shouldn’t do a f–king cartwheel at the Super Bowl and it’s like, why? Why can’t you still wear a grill, why can’t you still be a part of pop culture?”

[From NME via E! News]

“Dead Petz wasn’t a record for everyone… I think it ended up shutting some doors in the way of people making themselves less mentally available to listen.” That’s one of the most humble-braggy statements I think I’ve ever heard, especially because A) Dead Petz was a terrible album, B) notice she doesn’t even say “I ended up shutting some doors” she says “it”, C) “people making themselves less mentally available to listen” = Dead Petz was too “deep” for the common folk, the humble peasants who are buying Miley’s current country crap.

I also don’t understand why she’s trashing “Wrecking Ball” as a SONG. Talk trash about the video all you want, because the video f–king sucked. But the song is great. “It’s because I feel like I’m in a deeper songwriting place… Lyrically I’m less impressed with that song for me right now.” Yes, because her current song IS ABOUT RAINBOWS AND HOW WE’RE ALL IN THE RAINBOW BECAUSE WE’RE ALL DIFFERENT RACES. That’s so deep!!!!!

Cover courtesy of NME, photos courtesy of WENN.