Posted on November 20, 2024
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Miley Cyrus covers the HARPER BAZAAR December 2024/January 2025 Art Issue photographed by Ethan James Green and styled by Carlos Nazario.
“It was when Miley Cyrus gave her epic Grammy performance this past February, singing her hit song ‘Flowers’ in an archival beaded Bob Mackie dress that paid homage to Cher and Tina Turner, her hair big and Barbarella-esque, that we knew: We had to get her on a cover. Cyrus has packed a lot into her 32 years, and she strikes me as an artist who writes her own rules.”
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On her admiration for Diane Keaton and Amanda Lepore’s authenticity: “I am specifically unspecific,” she says. And yet, when she explains why Diane Keaton and Amanda Lepore resonate, she points to their specificity, their unwavering visions of themselves. “They are so consistent,” she says. “And as someone who is very inconsistent, I admire them for being so sure of who they are.”
On how child stardom might have affected her ability to connect with others: “Obviously, [being a child star] shaped me into a very different adult than some of my peers or my friends. It is just a really different childhood to have,” she tells me now. “For a while, I thought it got in the way of me connecting with people.”
On reaching out to artist Chappell Roan after the singer posted several TikToks asking fans to treat her with respect: “I wish people would not give her a hard time,” Cyrus says. “It’s probably really hard coming into this business with phones and Instagram. That wasn’t always a part of my life, and I’m not a part of it now. I don’t even have my Instagram password.”
“He looks at life really differently than I do,” she says fondly. “He grew up with a laptop. I had a desktop computer that I shared with my brothers and sisters.…Honestly, he’s raised our dog off Reddit. I’m like, are you sure we’re supposed to be doing this? And he’s like, on Reddit it says blah, blah, blah.”
On the ease of her uncomplicated relationship with Maxx Morando: “He’s very similar to me. We just don’t take life too seriously,” she says.
On collaborating with loved ones (Morando produced multiple songs on her album and wrote “Something Beautiful”, the album’s title track): “I worked with my dad forever. That’s how me and my ex-husband met each other. I’ve always worked with the people that I love. And Maxx just inspires me so much.”
On the general vibe and sound of her new album: Cyrus describes the vibe as “hypnotizing and glamorous,” adding, “It’s a concept album that’s an attempt to medicate somewhat of a sick culture through music.”
“The visual component of this is driving the sound,” she goes on. “It was important for me that every song has these healing sound properties. The songs, whether they’re about destruction or heartbreak or death, they’re presented in a way that is beautiful, because the nastiest times of our life do have a point of beauty. They are the shadow, they are the charcoal, they are the shading. You can’t have a painting without highlights and contrast.”
On her desire to reach her audience at a cellular level and heal: “I would like to be a human psychedelic for people,” she says. “I don’t want anyone trying to be like me or imitate me or even be inspired by me. I want to impact frequencies in your body that make you vibrate at a different level.”
On how she and her godmother, Dolly Parton, now question Miley’s song, ‘Used to Be Young’: “I actually listened to that song yesterday, and I was asking myself,Did I really need to put this out?It was one of those things that maybe now that I’m a bit more private, I would’ve kept private, but I’m happy to have shared it. It just feels like a song that’s so personal that it’s hard for people to relate.”
Also, Parton was skeptical, Cyrus says. “She goes, ‘I don’t know if I like that new ‘Used to Be Young’ song because it’s not fair that you’re singing about not being young when you’re young and beautiful. And here I am—I’m like 80—and I’m like, that shouldhave been my song!’”
[Photo Credit: Ethan James Green/Harper’s Bazaar Magazine]
- Carlos Nazario
- Editorials
- Ethan James Green
- Harper’s Bazaar
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- Miley Cyrus
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