Of all the personas Miley Cyrus has tried on over the past twelve years, I think the 2023-24 version is probably closest to her most authentic self. Lowkey at times, aggressively try-hard, wannabe Cher at times. Her whole look has changed, although Miley gets a makeover for every new persona, but this one feels like she’s leaving some space to change it up within this persona. Miley covers the Pop Issue of W Magazine, celebrating her creative high of the past year or so. Her album Endless Summer Vacation was successful and the song “Flowers” was a hit. Personally, my favorite song on ESV is “Used To Be Young” – she’s earned the right to sing that song and her voice works so well with the lyrics. Anyway, Miley chatted about winning her first Grammy and being friends with Beyonce:

Winning her first Grammy: “No shade, but I’ve been doing this for 20 years, and this is my first time actually being taken seriously at the Grammys? I’ve had a hard time figuring out what the measurement is there, because if we want to talk stats and numbers, then where the f–k was I? And if you want to talk, like, impact on culture, then where the f–k was I? This is not about arrogance. I am proud of myself.”

She has a clean lifestyle: “My lifestyle is extremely clean. Sobriety is a big part of it. My mantra is, like any athlete, “Practice how you perform.” So that’s why I practice in my heels. The gym looks really tough, but then I’ve got my ivory Gucci slingbacks because they remind me of Marilyn ­Monroe. I train in heels, mostly. I’m interested in feminizing the workout space, because so much of the workout equipment is ugly.

Miley on her different personas: “I’m fully out of drag today. I definitely have a persona—an expanded, fully realized version of myself that I tap into as a performer. But then there’s a level of my life that’s super intimate, sacred, and secret. Sometimes I forget to talk about things that are a ­normal part of my day-to-day, like texting with Beyoncé. I think it’s a really cute part of our relationship, because over the past couple of years I’ve really locked down on my privacy and on what I share with the public. She’s the same way. Part of our relationship is the safety between us.

Working with Beyonce on “II Most Wanted” for ‘Cowboy Carter’: “I wrote that song, like, two and a half years ago. My mom would always go, “I love that song so much.” So when Beyoncé reached out to me about music, I thought of it right away because it really encompasses our relationship. I told her, “We don’t have to get ­country; we are country. We’ve been country.” I said, “You know, between you being from Texas and me being from Tennessee, so much of us is going to be in this song.” Getting to write a song, not just sing, for Beyoncé was a dream come true.

She met Beyonce when she was 14: “We performed together when I was really young, probably 14, at the Stand Up to Cancer benefit. I was ­sandwiched between Beyoncé and Rihanna, who were, you know, five feet ten inches and in heels. Their hips were, like, up to my shoulders. They were these powerful, fully realized, grown women, and I’m pretty sure I had braces on the back of my teeth. They were protective of me….That Christmas, Beyoncé sent me a House of Deréon jacket that said Miley on the back in gold studs, which is my favorite, and some jeans with my name on it. In one of my songs, “­Cattitude,” I say, “And for my 16th birthday, I got Deréon from the house of the queen.”

Being honored at Disney Legends Awards Ceremony: “I’m down. It’s a place to celebrate the journey of both being on and graduating from Disney. It was a great, safe experience overall. People have 50- or 60-year-long careers, but mine has been close to 20 years, and I’m 31. I have been in the public for more of my life than I haven’t. They say that the creative adult is the child who survived. I worked really hard as a child. I didn’t go to prom. I didn’t go to dances. I didn’t have so much of that social experience or time for friends. Disney, they were doing very well off of the amount of work that I was putting in as a child. I don’t have any bad feelings about that. It’s just the truth. And so I think they have to give me this award. I’m excited to celebrate that with the fans. Something I wanted to talk about with you is celebration versus competition, because competition is really of no interest to me. I don’t think of other artists as opponents. Artists are not the same as athletes, playing a zero-sum game and keeping a score. There isn’t a score in art.

[From W Magazine]

“They say that the creative adult is the child who survived.” That’s a really profound statement, but it’s not true in every case! It’s true in Miley’s case and it’s true in most child actors’ cases if they transition into adult artists. I’m fascinated by the Beyonce stuff… Beyonce has a real soft spot for certain younger artists and I guess I didn’t realize that Miley is one of them. Miley says she wrote “II Most Wanted,” but the songwriting credits went to Miley, Beyonce, Ryan Tedder and Michael Pollack. Just FYI. Still, I have to admit… that song is one of my favorites on Cowboy Carter. Their harmony is beautiful and you can tell that Miley is super-proud to work with Beyonce. She wanted to brag about it so much! I get that. If I Beyonce called me, I would send a mass email and buy a billboard.

Cover courtesy of W Magazine, additional photos courtesy of Cover Images.