Miley Cyrus: Something Beautiful, Touring & Stardom | Zane Lowe Interview

The last like 20 years of my career felt like it just felt like kind of white noise. Um, and every time I went on stage, I kind of was re-triggered with that that this is all that it is. And by going and extracting each individual frequency, I've found a new love for all of my songs, all the versions of me, all the eras. Welcome to the Village Recording Studio in Los Angeles and another chance for me To sit down face to face with the wonderful iconic Miley Cyrus. I never take these moments for granted and

especially this one. Something beautiful as the album or versions of Miley present and accounted for and a chance for us to get to know her as one singularity, one true artist. Sir, what's going on, buddy? Do you know the full album yet? Of course. Piano. Oh, can you imagine? Yeah. We have some Gigs. Yeah. We're looking for a um auxiliary guy that can play everything. Uh I'm an auxiliary guy. I can play everything badly. Is that what you're looking for? That would be perfect. Amazing. So, I wanted to ask you where you've been, Miley, but

I think you've just been in varying rooms in this building. That's it. For the past couple of years. That's absolutely it. This is kind of my home. That's why I wanted to have you here at the village which is so Iconic, you know, for creating. I have a photo actually in my living room of Steelely Dan standing exactly where we've been creating the record and they kind of are standing in a similar way that all of us it's very tiny room that all of us have been standing around this like you know archival iconic console.

Um and yeah, Fleetwood Mac in the live room. So, it just has so much music history and you can really feel it in here and it it's it's my own cathedral Really. It it kind of has that feeling. It actually was a it was a Masonic temple. You and I spoke for a brief moment on the phone which I've never had someone, you know, the day before sitting down and talking call me about the album itself, which was just like so meaningful and complimentary because it's what it's all about. And I told you when we

were speaking on the phone that for in the summer vacation, I wasn't really on a vacation. I was kind of Moving into this world of something beautiful. But endless summer vacation unlocked something beautiful for me because by being on vacation, by living and being and experiencing, you know, love and family and nature and um I've I found something beautiful. It's clear to me looking back on the timeline that okay, I'm leaving the the business situation I was in since I was a kid. Mhm. Um, I'm starting fresh in that regard. I've got new relationships that

I'm focused on. It just it was all renewal, right? I wrote something at the beginning of this process about what something beautiful meant to me. And you know, white noise is essentially everything happening all at the same time. And I feel like that was kind of what the last like 20 years of my career felt like. It just felt like kind of white noise. Um, and every time I went on stage, I kind of was re-triggered With that, that this is all that it is. And by going and extracting each individual frequency and falling in

in love with the individual sounds that then by putting them all together, I've found a new love for, you know, all of my songs, all of my albums, all of my performances, all the versions of me, all the eras. But I needed to extract each one and look at them as individual identities. So they weren't they weren't a reaction to each other? Because that's Kind of what it felt like when I'd catch up with you. If you're like, I did that, I'm here now. I did that. I'm here now. So was this the first time

you got to take a step back and actually go, oh, like I see it now as a beautiful canvas and each painting is unique and I can paint something new. I think for me with flowers, somewhere inside of me, maybe my ego or maybe the, you know, the amount of time that I dedicated myself to it. I think somewhere inside of me, I Needed maybe to hold a trophy and just feel for a moment that I have something that I can hold in my hands that feels like a true achievement. Cuz after every album, I've

been able to say, "Well, I did what I came here to do and I made the album that I set out to make, and that's enough." But maybe it's the kid in me. I don't know what it was. But I needed like something to hold that made me feel like I had really won. And so at the Grammys, that's why I went was Actually for like healing. And funny enough, I'm happy I'm talking to you of all people, you know, because I wasn't going to go to the Grammys. I wasn't going to perform at the

Grammys for sure cuz as everybody was post pandemic, I was struggling with a lot of anxiety. And you know going from being locked down for a couple of years to being on the stage in front of Oprah just felt like shocking to every part of my nervous system. And so I almost didn't Do that. And I started doing shows at the Chateau Marmont that were intimate and you know all hand chosen by me. And I had a celebration with you know the closest people in my life to celebrate the nomination of the Grammys. But it

was just so bittersweet because I felt like the whole night I was making excuses for why I wasn't going to go. you know, one it was I was just I was afraid and like, you know, there was fear, but I also don't think I wanted to Ever look at how much it would mean to me to win because every time that I've lost or every time that I've not been nominated, the way that I've been okay with that is that doesn't matter to me. And there was somewhere that I was avoiding this the fact that

it did matter to me, you know, somewhere. And um not something I obsessed about or thought about or I never wrote a song thinking I want to get a Grammy, but receiving that Grammy for Flowers was Like it felt more like a band-aid on like a broken heart in some way. And so once I received my Grammy, I was like, "Look, when I when you Google me, it says Miley Cyrus, a Grammy award-winning artist. I'm gonna go make some of my weird that I like to make." And so then somehow I ended up making, you

know, the album that was experimental, but I never wanted to abandon pop music cuz I believe that the Beatles and Elvis and, you know, David Bowie and Prince Like Madonna, these are all pop artists. But it's also culture. Pop is culture. It's not just music. It's fashion and it's it's film and it's visual. Yeah. The death of it is kind of making it a genre. You absorb everything in your own way. not in a xerox, but but you look at it as true art and and you will stand by the art and if the music

pops, the music pops. Especially now you had the hit. You can really say that cuz it's nice to bask in the hit, right? It's it's nice To not have to do anything and watch the music do it for you. You didn't really have to go and tour that song. People fell in love with that song and made it their own. All these little minor moments that you don't even know, you know, anything changes everything. And I was watching Prince do an interview and they were asking him what was his favorite song he had written and

he said when doves cry. And I was like well flowers is my favorite song. You're Allowed to like love your hits, you know. And when you love a song that other people love that's like the most magical close to God feeling in the world, you know? It's like, and so after I had flowers, after I felt that that healing, that validation that somewhere inside of me needed to feel, I really felt free to make the album that I've really been craving kind of my whole adult career to create. Yeah. I just suddenly thought of something

that's Really interesting. this idea of reaching a point of validation that frees you up to make a record that where your your ambition and your skill set and your desire catches up to your abilities and your maturity and you get to make this opus of what this album is something beautiful but to get to that the healing is the word that keeps coming up and I wonder whether or not flowers to some degree helped you heal the 16-year-old who signed a record deal Way too young and got put into this kind of like cannon of

like you know it's all hits from here on in Miley and you're like I don't know if it is I don't know if that's who I am. Yeah. And I don't even know what hits mean anymore because, you know, I I don't really, you know, I think we're redefining what a hit means. Then there's a part of me that really appreciates kind of like social media and Tik Tok and all these forums that There's I opened up, you know, my own social media for this era because, you know, I really I want my fans and

I want, you know, even outside of that, the people that get their hands on this album, I want them to feel the devotion, the dedication, and the hands on and how every single sound, every sequin, every strand of hair, it was love. It was built. It was It was love. It wasn't manufactured and it wasn't overprocessed. It was like truly love. And so I wanted to connect directly. And as soon as I opened the app, I felt my entire soul shut down and everything inside me told me I don't belong here. Yeah, I like you

know a lot of people I felt really insecure and like left out the minute that I open the app. Especially as a woman that's you know kind of I've really been quite proud of staying kind of natural and true to myself. And when I see manufactured faces and bodies, it makes me feel like There's something that I'm not doing to be my ultimate, you know, self or the most beautiful. and I felt insecure and so I don't stay on those apps because I don't think that they're healthy for everyone. I know that they're not for

me. So I don't know how I would operate as a teenager. Maybe it's the the things that you don't know you don't know. Like I didn't grow up with social media, you know, none of us did. I remember when my sister was like telling me what Twitter Was. So growing up in a different time where I used to go and sign like physical vinyls, you know, or physical CDs and like meet fans. It wasn't just watching my followers rise. Like I would actually see my followers. And so I do write my own messaging and I

do design the way that my content is curated. And but you don't go on and study it like it's an I can't go on and study it. you know, I have a little, you know, design um app that I can use so I can curate The way that my social media projects the project because I know that's how that is the record store. That is how most people are going to get their eyes on my album art. Besides curating my own content and using it like as its own art gallery and some randomly hilarious memes

that are too spot-on, um besides that, it just makes me feel sad. It's interesting because there's a there's a certain generational attitude now towards the internet which is like for Me to really connect. People have got to kind of get to know me. Whereas I feel that you've come through your whole life has been people thinking that they've known you, writing stories about you that aren't true, assuming a narrative that isn't yours. So for you to come out of that, have your biggest hit, and make your best album, I'm not surprised you don't want to

have anything to do with that. And it's not my mission. It's never been uh my way of doing things to Respond or to react. Um you know, my mom is sitting there watching TV. It drives her just completely crazy because I've taken so much on the chin. You know, she's like, "But that's not true. Why would you say it's not true?" So, she would encourage you to say something and you know, I my mom, which has made me who I am, has always taught me to stand up for myself, to speak up for myself. She'll

know it's true. you know, all of us are doing some healing inside of Ourselves that maybe our parents didn't do for themselves and we're their way of kind of breaking some of that and breaking the cycle. And I feel that the generation that my mom was brought up in, that wasn't uh encouraged for women to stand up for themselves to be who they are to, you know, when something's not going the way that you want it, you say, "Hey, I'm the boss and this is the way that I want it." Because, you know, that's never

been looked at. As painful As it is, it is the order of things. Mhm. But you were saying you've been taking some stuff on the chin. And when people actually write that stuff and say that some somewhere along the way, you're not heeding your own instincts. You're deciding that, you know what, I'm not going to counter this. Because I think it only keeps the conversation alive cuz I know when they're writing these headlines or these articles about me, the thing that makes people click is Me. So the more involved and embedded and entangled I become

in this right the more valuable it becomes but I mean truly I have taken so much uh that wasn't mine to claim but I never took it home with me you know and that's why I have the people in my life the tools that I have um that's why I don't skip you know the steps like I I keep up with my therapy Y and my, you know, my my nutrition and the way that I, you know, I work out in the gym to get out some of That like to some of that rage and

some of that, you know, some of the brokenness that I felt. I've really put myself back together. It's why I physically take such good care of myself. And it started 5 years ago. I feel like when we spoke, you were really on the verge of this new era of your life. You spoke openly back then when we were talking about plastic doing plastic hearts. Yeah. And you were saying how and then I dropped it, but then I got it Back together again. Yeah. I fell in love. Yeah, that's right. That's right. I remember a lot

longer. But but that's just dude kindness to yourself, right? Live in the moment. Allow yourself the grace. Grace being a key word to be able to move through life accordingly because you can't control what's going on around you. You can only try to react accordingly. And I've learned this about myself over the years. This the sobriety is like, you know, that's that's like my God. Like I I need it. I live for it. I mean that is it's changed my entire life. And when I saw you when you came to my psychedelic house that was

painted black in like you know hidden hills where everything is like you know all white homes and equestrian and like then I painted mine black and rainbow and you know I no longer live there. Yeah. And I was thinking about it a lot today as I was on my way here because I was so close to who's sitting here right now, You know, but uh there was just like life kind of it had more to teach me. It had more lessons. So close is such a beautiful way to put it. Yeah. It was super close.

So close. Just to be able to tell and also to be able to tell yourself I'm so close. Like if I can just get over this next couple of things, I I I can taste it. I know what life's going to be like. But I know I needed to fall one more time. And uh I just I had to, you know, Um it just never would have happened this way. I just never would have been sitting here. And there were times in that section from where I've seen you be, you know, last time and now

that, you know, they hurt. I'm not proud of them. Um definitely not my best moments, not some of my best work, you know, any of that. But it all led me to, you know, writing flowers which then was some, you know, sort of just key right into the lock of like all healing. It healed me So much. It's like a modern I will survive in in some ways. It's like the sentiment. Yeah. The sentiment. And then it allows you to create this body of work. We can talk about the first lyric which is tell me

something beautiful. not show me, tell me something beautiful tonight. I love the spec specificity of that line. And what is so uh you know magical about that line is that I have no idea where it came from. And so I wrote this song With my love Max Mirando, who's a producer on this album, and Max Shepard, who's one of his best friends and total genius. And Max, he was doing the drum machine and he was creating that beat and Max Shepard was on the keys and as soon as he played the first chord, I just

said, "Tell me something beautiful tonight." And he goes, "Did you just say something beautiful?" He was like, "That's it. That's the song." And it was so easy, but I have no idea where it Came from. I didn't even write it. Became the album. And it was just the chord he played was so beautiful that what needed to be said had to be beautiful because what they were doing was so beautiful. And to be honest, I mean the emotional part of me with that song, me sitting in between the both of them and both of them

are such an important part of you know the real real me. Like that's dinner table talk. That's me at my house. That's like Sweatpants, shoes off, no makeup. sitting last, the studs, the everything about it was hard because just like any animal, I put on this armor to protect myself because I was scared. And so when I started writing Something Beautiful and I was sitting in between these two men that I've never felt so safe between, again, it's like another It's like flowers. It's like it's just I'm healed. What a relief. And now, you know,

on top Of that healing, it's like, you know, the universe gives us everything that we need. Not everything that we want, but everything that we need. And now I sit in rooms, you know, full of men, creating, feeling totally empowered, feeling respected and honored and loved and protected and all the things. And it's just, you know, it starts with one and it becomes two and then it's three and then it becomes your standard. Look at the people that you know you you you Know you got to sit with and and write with or work with

or be inspired by. I mean seeing Ryan's name on that song maybe I love Ryan. Happy and I couldn't Ryan baby is the truth. I couldn't find you know there was maybe five to 10 lyrics in something beautiful that I could not find and I knew that Ryan had them. You know it's like a Marvel movie or something where you know they have the jewel and he was on tour and he was writing for Beyonce. I was too. But you Know, he was doing all these things and I knew it was literally like he had

like the crown jewel or something. I knew he had it. And so the minute he came off the road, I was like, I need you for half a day. There's these gaps and you know exactly what they are. And he came in and said, "Water to red wine, kissing to kill time. Oh my." Perfect. That's all I needed. And then he came in and said, cuz I didn't know how to end the verse. And he and I was just saying, "Da Da da." I didn't know. I had the melody, but he said, "Flashbang spark lighting

up the dark." And then I was like, "But the lyrics not finished." He's like, "I love how you go bomb bomb." Yeah. And he was like, "Just leave it." And as soon as he said flashbang spark, that's how I knew I wanted to write a film. I didn't even have a film concept really. I knew that I wanted this to almost kind of be like a musical or some sort of pop opera and Pink Floyd talking about the healing. That time going to those concerts, seeing Roger Waters live with my brother when I was 16.

Like it just changed my life. And you know, that's why on bangers I had inflatables was cuz I went to see the wall and you know, Mother and the Pig comes out. No one ever put that together. I would never have seen I never articulated it. But when I did bangers, I really wanted to kind of have the experience for my fans that I had When I saw Roger with all those giant inflatables. And I love what he did on the screens and the animation and the music. And so that that concert changed my life

with my brother. And uh then being able to create this music and being able to write something that went alongside of it that was kind of it's something unique. You know, everyone goes, "But it's not a movie. You know, you're not acting." And like it's not necessarily an opera cuz I'm not an Oporadic singer, but you know, it's the sentiment of what an opera is. It's like it's telling these stories through song. And that's what we're doing. It's pop. It's all of it. It's fashion. It's visuals. It's music. It's sentiment. It's emotion. It's all of

it. The grading. It's like, it reminds me of stuff I used to watch late at night when my parents used to let me stay up late and watch music, video, TV programs at 11:00 p.m. at night. But now, yeah. I Used to wake up to watch, they would play It's My Life, No Doubt, like at maybe midnight. And I remember when I was coming out here for pilot season, my mom did not come with me and I came with the nanny and she would let me sleep with the TV on. And my mom, I didn't

have TV in my bedroom, but I had could watch TV there and they would play it and I would leave the TV on blaring so I could wake up in the middle of the night to watch that video. Isn't that crazy? I Miss that. Like, you know, I miss that so much and I wanted to create that. There's an album that the Flaming Lips did, Zerico, which was, you know, a similar project where every piece of the instrument was on a different CD. So, you'd have to get with your friends and press play at the

same time, bringing community back to music. And, uh, I wanted to have that experience for my fans. So, that's why I really wanted to have something where you don't just Like, you know, lay in your bed and say, "We're going to put that Miley thing on. I'm going to kind of pay attention." It's like I really wanted it to be in a theater because that experience of there's something about I don't know if you watch Severance but you know when they walk in and their brain changes that's what I hope I don't hope to sever

anyone's mind but I hope that um only a little but I do just want them to walk into that theater and something to Change to go like I'm here now and I'm invested I'm invested. Yeah. And this is my focus. That's why you go to a gallery. You're investing your time. That's why you go to a concert. You invest your time. These visual companion pieces and also quite frankly, the album deserves it. Thank you. I mean, you go from something beautiful. I'm so obsessed with that song. And also with the harshness of when it drops,

it's and at the end when it starts to climb and Scale up and it just ah the whole thing is beautiful. But then you slide us into this really beautiful end of the world moment where it's like, okay, we're dancing. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah, we're dancing, but we're emotionally dancing, which is my favorite kind of dancing. This to me is pop music in its fullest form. This this is to me, this is pop music. You know, I I played it at first and it wasn't being received at first as as like pop music by some of

the ears that I had put on it. And I was like, why do you think it's not pop? I think it's so pop. And they were like, well, it's just so good. I was like, but what does that mean? Like when you go to pop it says like David Bowie like what do you mean it's pop? It's just so good. When you go to Madonna it's pop. What are you talking about? It's like well you know good me pop isn't always good music. I'm like but nothing is always anything. You know there's genres to it

all but like Pop really gets given a bad name of like you know manufactured label creations and that's just not what it is. That's generic and to be honest it's lazy because you're not doing your research. You're not doing your homework. You're not listening to enough music. you're not diving into culture and you're not keeping up. And anyone that I've spoken to that stayed relevant for like 50 years in their career, like you know, a Stevie Nicks or Elton John, and I Remember that when I got close with Stevie, you know, maybe 10 years ago,

I was asking her, "Oh, what are you doing today?" And she goes, "Just listening to new music, just catching up." Um, have you heard of this, that, and the other thing? And one of the things that she said to me, this was maybe even over 10 years ago, she was like, "Harry Styles is going to put out a really good new record." Yeah. Like she's listening to everything before it even comes out. She's like, "You know him. You guys should meet each other. You guys are similar. You're doing the same thing." Like she is on

it in a way that you know, Dolly Parton is on it. Like Dolly sees Sabrina Carpenter and goes, "She's blonde and wearing high heels. Get her over here. I want to be on." You know, she's not one to They want to be celebrated. They want to be incorporated. And that's what like legends do. They keep up. And so for Anyone that is not paying attention to pop music, you know, a tune your ear. You tap in. I know you said some kind words about Chapel. I got to spend some time with her at the end

of the year last year. I loved every second I got to spend with her and her family. I can't believe how she sounds live. That is the testament you know that is like can you stand the test of time? And there is so much pressure on live performance. And that's what blew my Mind. I thought Sabrina and Chapel both at the Grammys this year. It was like over-the-top pro singing. And you know, I'm like not the judge of, you know, like I don't even care about pitch. They could have been off key and I wouldn't

have cared if it was like, you know, if it was from the heart. I that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about like I don't know what that was. if it was like a unicorn, she was up there riding a unicorn and like she was pitch Perfect and like I just, you know, I just applaud that because I know the courage that it takes and I know that the nerves get in the way and I know that both of them were probably choking on their heart because of how much, you know, it's so much

pressure and they just nailed it and I and Sabrina at SNL50 like blew my mind and I'm just big fans and I just support those girls all the way. We get to a point on the album and I think more to lose. Oh, thank you. I'm not crazy about that though, right? I mean that's you agree that's a really special song. It absolutely is a special song and I actually have a funny story to tell you about how it happened. So I went to visit Dolly two Christmases ago and I play her something beautiful on

my phone which is not now that you've heard the song. That's not how you're meant to hear the song for the first time. But that's how I did it. She goes, "All right, I see what you're doing. You got Any hits?" And I'm like, "I do actually." She goes, "Oh, really? What's it called? And I had not written it yet. And I was like, well, it's called More to Lose. You hadn't written it? Had not written it yet. You hadn't written it, but I knew the title. And I was like, it's called More to Lose.

And And I was like, I'll send it to you. And she goes, well, you got any more? Wait, hang on. Pause. Hold that thought. Hold that thought. This is too delicious to get it To to slide past. You are with your godmother who just happens to be Dolly Parton, who you obviously you know each other very intimately, your family. you feel if you're going to someone, you can always try to family. She didn't love my vacation era either. She's like, "Everyone's asking me where you are." And I'm wondering the same thing. She's like, "Every day

it's just a new picture of you in a bikini, but like what are you going to do like For the thing?" And I was like, "Well, I'm working on something else. We've already moved on things." She's like, "That's not what you do with the project." She picked me up from my house. So, I had 45 minutes in a trapped car on the way to her house. So, there was no escaping the talking to that I was She come in hot. She came in hot. Hot. I just love the fact that you like you got your

hits. Yeah, I got one called More to Lose. Send it to you when It's done. You hadn't even written it. And I called Michael Pollock who's my songwriting partner and I said, "We got to write this song." He goes, "Well, let's do it." And he had a song that he had already started with another writer who I had never met and I had never heard any of it, but he goes, "It's funny, you know, I think I think some of this melody will work that I've been working on." And so I was like, "Well, I

don't know." But I told her I'll send it To her. So, we got to write this like ASAP. So, it was New Year's. She's like, "All right, fly back on Christmas. New Year's will happen." And we get in. We We got in on January 2nd or 3rd and wrote that song. But as I was sitting with Dolly, she goes, "All right, more to lose." "Yeah, that's good. You got any more?" And I was like, "I do actually, and I think you're really going to like the title." And meanwhile, I'm going, "What titles do I Have

in my head?" And I'm like, "I've got a song called Every Girl You've Ever Loved, and you're going to love that short title." Damn. She's like, "I love that title. That should be your everything. You should have a line, a makeup line, all the things." I'm like, "Oh, yeah. No, I am. I'm working on it." I hadn't even written the song yet, you know. So, all because of really of her did those two songs ever get created. She just literally doesn't hold back. No, she does not. Her and Lauren Michaels and and I had already

come off the cusp of that cuz I was in New York and uh I go see Lauren as much as I can every Christmas. But he can always tell, you know, how I'm doing, you know, by how I show up that Christmas. Yeah. So, we take our block and I go to his office and he starts kind of having the same talk with me that Dolly was having a pretty traumatic experience on a show that I was doing with Lauren on New Year's when I was doing my New Year's show. It was Dolly and Lauren

who like there's no getting out of doing a show with those two, you know. And so, I had had a medical emergency. I had a uh ovarian cyst rupture, which we didn't know exactly what was going on, so we did it. But it was pretty traumatic cuz it was like extremely excruciating and I did the show anyways. But you know it was really really hard on me and I had dinner with Lauren and you know he he Said something that now has stuck with me. He goes 6 months everybody has 6 months to feel sorry

for themselves. And then we we start to rebuild and it was Christmas by then and that was New Year. So, I was expired on my amount of time that I was able to shut down because he has he's like, you know, you have no idea how many artists have sat in this chair and told me that they were quitting music. Yeah. You know, everyone does this. Everyone has these traumatic I think I think I have a theory about that. I think you have to touch the void in order to to want to do to really

want it for the right reasons. I've totally felt that. But, you know what I've always realized is that, you know, it'll quit me before I ever quit it. like that's not in the cards for me. With your blessing, I think it would be good to sort of see how you feel in 2025. You haven't toured consistently for nearly 10 years. Bangers, I think, was the last Real world tour. Yeah. And you have done shows South America and you continue to choose your moments. So, and when you do, we love it. Thank you. But that being

said, there's one part of this element that's missing and that is it's not even on the cards right now. like you've never ever come out and said, "I'll tour." In fact, you've always kept that deliberately away from the conversation. So, can I just I love this conversation. I actually wanted to Have it with you anyway. Yeah, cuz and also we're friends now and I feel like I feel like you trust me enough to ask you this. I do. Absolutely. So, where do you stand at at this point in your life now? Let's work into out.

We'll work from the inside. Okay. all the things that I just described of the the physicality of what I'm doing. Yeah. The athleticism, the chemicals in your body that are being produced when you're at that level of again, we talked about stress. It's not Bad, but they're just level high stress, the high stress. And so, working from the inside out, there would have to be uh, you know, I have certain protocols that keep me, again, we talked about the sobriety, that's super important to me. So part of that is keeping myself you know uh mentally,

physically, spiritually and emotionally well and I want to emphasize the physically because of how taxing uh physical live performance is and something I wanted to Mention to you. So I had the Raiki's edema which is something that is called it's abuse of the vocal cords and you know being 21 and staying up and drinking and smoking and partying after every show does not help but also in my case it does not cause it. So my voice always sounded like this. So it's a part of my you know unique anatomy. This is what I look like.

So, I have this very large, you know, polip on my vocal cord, which is giving me a lot of the tone and The texture that has made me who I am, but it's extremely difficult to perform with because it's like running a marathon with ankle weights on. So, even when I'm talking, sometimes at the end of the day, you know, I'll call my mom and she'll go, "Oh, you sound like you're talking through a radio." And that's how you know I'm really tired. Because it creates that like ultimate vocal fry. Yeah. And so I do

have this like you know this blessing of a Condition that I live with that's given me this really like when I walk during co you know all these famous people were like isn't co so awesome cuz you wear the mask and no one knows who you are I can't talk the minute I'm in a grocery store someone goes your mask isn't working I know that it's you know I could wear a hat and sunglasses and I know that it's you so my voice is super unique because of it but I do have you know this

rachies edema and I have this Large polip on my cords and I'm not willing to sever ever it because the chance of waking up from a surgery and not sounding like myself is a probability. So the touring What an interesting dichotomy. What a I know. So I'm really torn about it. That's actually I It's funny that you mentioned it. You're definitely tapped into what I already wanted to say and I really like had it on my heart that I don't speak and don't really care to talk about this Thing that's really precious and really private

to me, but it is a real thing. And so, and by the way, my whole team sitting in the other room can tell you I put a tour together like every other week cuz I I I want to do it, but it would have to be in a way that is sustainable for me in all the ways that we talked about. And then also with what I got going on, like I don't lip-sync. I sing live and these songs are big. Like end of the world is a huge song. And More to lose is really

like, you know, it's strenuous. It's a big song and so I don't write little songs, you know. I write songs like Walk of Fame's no joke like Right. And even if you listen to the, you know, to the the past albums like Pardon the USA, it's like maybe if you're in the audience and you're singing along, it's one thing, but when you've got the mic and you're performing, it's totally different. and and I'm singing with you know a 16-year-old voice versus a 33 year old voice where it's like you know um you know when it

comes to what kind of like the public and I guess what it's really would be the audience doesn't understand is that you know everyone on my crew and everyone in the band and everything there's the lights and there's the stage itself and there's the tour buses and we have to feed everybody and we got to put everybody in hotel rooms like there is so much that goes into it that it's not Free to tour and So, if I can't play a certain amount of shows, it doesn't actually like mathematically make any sense to do it

and the way that I need to do it. Uh, it's why a lot of artists like don't, you know, tour as much as they maybe want to or used to because to have it make sense. It's really hard to not design a tour that's going to hurt you whether you have this or not. So really the problem for me with touring is not only me because this is about Like connecting with people around the world and using my music as a tool to heal. I've always said medicate a sick culture through these songs that I've

created or am creating. Um but the truth of it is is that touring as much as it's an experience for the audience, it's a business for everybody else. It's riskreward ratio, right? And I think it's really amazing that you shared that because I don't think anyone knows that, Right? And I think it puts it in perspective. I hope you figure it out, but I think we have to move. I think we have to be thoughtful with our thoughtfulness cuz Yeah. Like cuz five shows a week, you know, for someone without what I've got going on

is already so taxing. It's a lot. And then you add it in. And it's funny because the way that the vocal cords work, you know, they're supposed to kind of move together like jello. And it's like mine Is super rigid because I've got this little thing that's super unique. But what it does is actually it punches the other vocal cord. So I'm actually damaging the other one every time I'm singing. So right now I'm I'm kind of got one. In the military it's two is one, one is none. Right now I've got one. One is

none. So that's why I protect the one that I've got so much because I've got like one really strong but I have creative ways that I want to To do it. You know, there was an idea that I had called Somewhere Beautiful, and it was the next step to something beautiful. And it was performing in intimate places that are filled with beauty and inviting my fans to have this moment because it's something that you can't find in the stadium. Um, but, you know, getting people to a cathedral, you know, in the middle of like a

forest that is not set up for sound, that's fine. I just need to have someone help Me make it happen because you know I was uh actually I did Disney Legends. They gave me an award and it's one of my I don't really keep a lot of my awards but I really like this one cuz it's way ahead of schedule too. It's a little kid in me. I know it was like I was by Jamie Lee Curtis and Harrison Ford. I know and both of them were you know on my ass about different things. Jamie

Lee Curtis goes you got to do the song for the movie you know and she she did the Last Showgirl. So Jamie Lee Curtis is the reason why I did the last show, girl. And I've known Harrison Ford for like quite a while, just growing up in Disney and been in the same circles. And he goes, "So what are you up to? Are you in the studio making an album or what are you doing?" I said, "Well, I have an idea." I said, "Actually, you know, I have like a I made something. I have a

PDF on my phone. I could show you." So I show him and I show him my idea of Somewhere Beautiful, which is performing in all the forests and, you know, at the you know, pyramids and all these things. He goes, "Yeah, you really want to go and set up in a forest and do what?" Like he's like, "What?" He's like, "You're going to bring a crew. You got He's like, "Looks expensive." And I came back to the trailer. I was like, "Guys, we're not performing in the forest anymore. Harrison porn made a lot of sense."

That's why I want to create this Film is the film is my way of touring. That's why I'm putting it into theaters because it's something you can watch night after night after night and you get to discover and you get to feel like you're a part of a of a performance, but I don't have to, you know, tax myself in that And you should also maybe go talk to Bork cuz she has no problem sitting up without amplification somewhere and figuring it all out. You know, the thing to mention with Bork is that her Audience

is obviously so different than mine. And so when I try to, you know, I bring my fans along with me, but I'm always kind of evolving behind the scenes. And then when I, you know, show up and I deliver, they've got to, it takes a minute for everyone to catch up sometimes. You know, my fans, they grew up with me. They're, you know, you mentioned Borc. It's was a different era from the internet. And so my fans, the way that they feel really connected to Me, the way that maybe you grew up feeling when you

would go to a concert is how they feel when they see, you know, their artist um interacting on social media. And the way that I've been presenting myself is often in third person, not because I'm speaking in third person, but because I'm operating as it would be as an introduction. I watched the other night, I was laying in bed watching the Oscars from the '9s. And the Oscars, the Way they would introduce people is now coming down the carpet wearing Giorgio Armani, the most beautiful actress nominated tonight is Dei Moore. It wasn't Deme more introducing

herself. She didn't walk down the carpet saying, "Hey, it's Dei. I'm here at the Oscars." You're to be introduced. And a performer and like a star is meant to be introduced by, you know, the MC, by the host. You don't introduce yourself. That's the energy of this album all day. That's what I love about it. I mean, right from the ti muga right through to what you incorporating Naomi Campbell, you know, on every girl you've ever loved and that speech she gives and even just the way that it's like, you know, pose, pose, pose. It's

just hammering the point of like be fabulous. Be fabulous. That's what I'm saying. So, my captions were in third person, not because like I'm doing a bit, but that is the way that you are meant to be Introduced. comments and it's this personal single string, sound, like I said, sequin, thread, strand of hair, and eyelash has been considered and created not only because of something that I love, but something that I'm excited to share with them. And so when I do directly engage on my social media platforms and I sign off as myself sincerely, I

mean I usually I usually Sign off as sincerely because I feel that the internet is such a can be such an insincere place that I think by even just putting out the word we talked about frequency sincerity like saying that I'm sincerely telling you this. I think it changes the frequency of the entire caption. Now there's one thing AI will never say and that is sincerely. you can get around it by truly like this is how I truly feel and I feel like it changes the entire vibration of the of The caption and so no

I you know I don't do that all the time because I'm doing other things that I want to share that's what I'm saying I think we're catching up to this and appreciating this you on your terms and I think the game that that everyone needs to play that's why it must have been so um rewarding to collaborate on two most wanted because we've caught up to the way Beyonce. I love Beyonce like everyone else. Yeah. You know, and and just to be able to Kind of like be in a situation where she's moving in a

space you know well, this country music space, this idea she's changing its shape. You've been doing that your whole career, trying to find new ways to remain true to the craft, but change it, keep it moving, right? Yeah. But she's over here in terms of where she is as a as a human being and the decisions she gets to make in contrast to what people want from her. You're trying to get there. Yeah. Right. Yeah. I really respect her, you know, the way that she's kind of navigated it. And I think again, we talked about

Bork and I being very different. Beyonce and I are very different, you know, and like her fandom, you know, it's like it's Queen Bee, you know, she feels in this way of like it's like a mother to the world. It's a way that kind of Dolly feels. And I feel like she's protected and in and kind. Yeah. I feel that I've Felt more like a friend to the world. She's very different than like a goddess, you know? She's kind of this like queen. And it's like I don't know. I've always felt a very motherly kind

of like feeling from her to her audience. But I think I feel more like your friend cuz we grew up together. You know, that's a change for my audience to feel that like they don't have, you know, this direct access the way that you would have had every night on your TV Because when you were little, you grew up every night. I would kind of I would talk you to sleep. You would watch episodes of Hannah Montana and you would hear me all day if you want to listen to my music. And there was something

accessible because I was on TV and I was touring and it was a different time in media, too. So, you know, I was you were on the internet. That was just it back then and you were the biggest thing on it. Yeah. TV was the internet. We always Say that that now the internet really is it's like TikTok is like MTV. It's like you watch it all day hoping to see your favorite video. That's the show. And so, yeah, I feel that everything catches up eventually to me. And I've just had to feel strong in

my idea and have that steadfast belief that like, you know, it's sometimes lonely ahead. Give me love. This is how the album concludes. And uh it's a powerful image. I mean, it's one of the most powerful Images on the record in the sense of I'm going to build something. I'm going to create a space. I dream it. I imagine it to be real. And then at the end, it's kind of sad. I really appreciate that. It's like at the end it's kind of like, okay, I'm with my last breath, I'm going to watch this thing

crumble down around me. You know what I mean? Writing that was a a really interesting process and uh I was excited to tell you about it. Yeah, it's not real. But I I got a Bosch Painting. There was like a yard sale down the street like Deep Valley and I saw this Bosch painting that was just amazing. And obviously it's not a Bosch painting, but it's a recreation. It's incredible. I love those panels so much. Um and the story that they tell in that like love was basically the you know in this take was the

path to sin. Love itself was the path to hell in the sense of what we will do for it or what it will make us. Yeah. So in the panels you Know it's showing that that sex is damning um you know this middle panel to then lead us to the third panel which is hell which actually shows uh music as evil. There's, you know, a lot of instruments, which fun fact, a lot of those instruments from that Bosch third panel is in Give Me Love. It was really important to me that those instruments were actually

incorporated into the production. So, I brought this painting with me everywhere I was going and I Realized that I mostly write songs about myself and I learned as much as I could about the painting and then I put all these details. So, everything that I'm actually saying in the song is factual in regards to the painting. It was commissioned for the St. John's Cathedral, the fountains that you know they father these swans by the lake, um this orb, everything is actually factual about this because it was just a little challenge of myself of can I

write Something that is not about myself and then you know given my nature it eventually the third verse is about me. Um, but so I took it to Tom Harpoon, who we all love, and um, I took this crazy song that I had written and brought it to Tom and I was like, I don't know what to do with the chorus, you know, but I definitely don't think this is the first single, so we could probably have some fun with it. And he goes, well, I think you've kind of said everything. Like, What really more

is there to say? And he's like, you know, the chorus could maybe just be about love since that's what the song is about. and he was like, "Yeah, like just give me love or something about love." And those are the genius like producers that don't try to change or don't try to fix or don't try to take this song that was just a little challenge for myself and it's not track two. Like it's it's not going to be the first single like let let it live. Let It be. and him giving me that freedom and

then building this bed of beauty beneath it and then taking it to Shawn who takes that bed of beauty and turns it into like an entire hotel full of bedrooms of beauty like you know he you love Shawn huh I love Shawn so much I met Shawn through Tobias who is another writer on the record and I just love him and he brought I don't know how either of them got in because the invitation clearly stated that if you're not gay You're not welcome but they made it to a gay dance party at my house.

My Mac said, "That's Sean Everett." Like, he's the master of sound. And so, as we're going bed that night, I just watch everything about Shawn. You know, Max is like, "That's my goal." Like, to end up working with him. I'm like, "Well, damn. Now that's my goal. I didn't even know that this guy existed. This master of sound." I used Shawn to produce You Used to Be Young. That's how we kind of met And that was like our first date and now we're fully in we're just I'm in love with Sean. Listen, the chemistry is

so evident in the record. And also he really nurtures your vocal performance. He and somehow he also is is a maximalist. Yes. And yet somehow is able to give you all the space you need to be you. Cuz everything that's in there has a purpose. You know, he never stacks anything up just because um it's all building this house. He really is an Architect. Well, how did you describe Reborn? Oh, Reborn was one of my favorite songs to make and to produce. Unbelievable. The reason I love Reborn is because it has taken on so many

lives. It has truly been Reborn since the demo. I worked on this, you know, probably right in the beginning of this journey 2 years ago. I was going to say it sounds like it might have come in early days. It did and it evolved so much and Greg all day. I had sent it to Him and I sent him some ideas that I had and he happened to actually be sitting in a church in New York and when he received it and um he'll be able to tell you the story better than me but some

of the lyrics just dropped in from what he said from heaven. He was sitting at a pew uh in an old church and he said you know um oh it gives me chills when he started saying like if heaven exists I've been there before drown me in love let's be reborn. There was there was it Was just dropping in for him. Yeah. And it just like melted me. I mean, he he he came up with some beautiful things like we're so beautiful. Letting go. Nature's taking all control. You know, there was things that he just

planted these seeds that then just gave me uh you know the freedom to find like in my dreams I see you standing there. You're all alone. Like it was just so our poetry just you know meshed together. But he found you know the idea of the title reborn while Actually sitting in church. So many bangers on this album. Easy lover. Banger banger. Crazy. I mean, that one just sounds effortless. So, that one is funny because there's an adlib where I say tell them be and that was Beyonce cuz she was taking songs for her country

album and that was a song I had written for Wow. So, that was assignment. You were on assignment in your life. Yeah. So, I had written originally that song Around Plastic Heart Days. Wow. And never got the production quite where I wanted it. Um, but I had written it with totally a different uh different verse. But the chorus I I had always loved that chorus. And so that was around, you know, like 2020, 2021. And then I held on to it and when Beyonce was looking for songs on her country record, I remembered that chorus

and was like that would work really well for country. And so I started working on that and she Chose Shotgun Rider. What' you call it? Two Most Wanted. That's what the demo was called. Shotgun Rider. Yeah. I always forget. She was like two most wanted. Like that's us. I was like that is so the perfect title. So two most wanted but uh I still had easy lover and so I just was like what am I going to do about tell and Britney Howard's like I'll play the guitar on it. So that's her playing all that

electric guitar. So yeah start to finish Miley it is such an Amazing body of work. The interludes everything that you've put into it. It is so worth the time and the energy and the more you listen to it and I've listened to it maybe five, six times now. I'm uncovering things and I know I will for a long time. That's the Sha Ever effect. That's the you effect. Well, I want to give you a chance just to kind of speak on behalf of the album one last time because you put so much love into it.

I kind of wrote this as my Um you know, my promise to myself of like what I really wanted this to mean. And I haven't read it in quite a while, so part of this might still be relevant, part of it's not. But yeah, you know, I said something beautiful is a love song. All of the songs, cuz it's really only one song. This whole body of work is only one song. Something beautiful is a love song dedicated to life, to death, to nature, to humanity, to mystery, to God, to everyone I know, to everyone

I'll never know, to what I understand, and what I could never fathom. To the cosmos, to this earth. It's a concept album that's an attempt to medicate a sick culture through music, hiding the healing in an entertaining work of art. bringing the divine into the day-to-day. A theme of the film is white noise which is every frequency played at the same time which is essentially our own existence. The theory is that there was such a big bang that the reverberation Of that bang caused such a magnificent echo that it created everything that exists as we

know it. We're sound. The mountains are sound. When they crumble, they rumble with sound. The waves soothe us with a chaotic calming crash. Thunder and lightning rain down in their song. Um, so in this film, one song, something beautiful is embedded to many. So my concept was having something beautiful be just this one giant song, but it's a crazy thing. One song, something Beautiful is embedded with many. And Sean Everett will use his genius to extract the frequencies and highlight one song per moment. Although three or 300 may be subtly playing at the same time,

which is the maximal effect. So that's kind of true. I had an idea that there would be a scene where I drive the world's sickest race car through a collapsing timeline. Very expensive. Did not fit into my budget. Did not happen. Many lifetimes ago falling behind me. The past and the future all exist right now in this dimension. Coexisting with the sweet romance and scenes of love making and heavenly connection here on this planet. Dreamy dance sequences bringing fire and energy into the space, encouraging the audience to participate. I want people to dance in the

aisles. In all of my timelines and all of my lifetimes, I see the crowd joining me. Not just being spectators, but they're a star of the film alongside of me. They're a part of it. They are creating the reality with me. Um, I hope that there's an anim animalistic sense of trust and non-judgment. And I hope that the movie is seen and I hope the album is heard with way more than just the five senses. I want this to be the beginning of a dream, but it's going to expand and it'll evolve and it'll become

the sacred sound of something beautiful this far. and I end up playing some music and I wanted sound healing to be Seamlessly sewn together in this world of pop music. Whether that's an ancient gong or an electronic dance, psychedelic uh bassy bliss, majestic melodies, original piano pieces, I want them to all coexist in the same space. And that was pretty much my idea. This was like I I had pretty much my idea. You wrote the whole thing out and it's exactly with the exception of the race car how it happened. Yeah. And at the end

I'm like, well, you know, I'm going to write a Script and I'm going to have all this make sense, you know, and I really wanted it to feel like, you know, nature and like concrete. It was all like in one, but fabulous. But fabulous. And at the end of it, do you know where I found nature and concrete? Was at Paramount, which is so me. Uh, we shot it at the Paramount iconic lot. We were on the I Love Lucy set. We were actually in Lucy's bungalow which I totally felt her energy the whole time.

You know Paramount has uh some palm trees and as I had this idea of the race car and being in the concrete in the middle of the jungle which all you know high production value couldn't afford it. So ended up going you know they got some palm trees at Paramount. So, we end up going to Paramount, which was just so iconic. And being able to be on that lot and feel the magic of like, you know, I also felt like, speaking of healing, to kind of end there, which was totally the Motivation behind it all

was I felt like some actresses that didn't have the freedom that I have today were totally celebrating me and cheering me on. Specifically on Give Me Love, I totally felt like I could feel the pain of like, you know, of actresses that were before me. They were like up in the tears. They were just like I I think they loved what I was wearing. First of all, as soon as I walked down the stairs, I felt like I could feel Lucy be like, "You look Fabulous." Do you sleep well? I do. You do? Yeah. I

don't dream well like all the time. I have some pretty chaotic dreams. But you have a good sleep routine. You get your How many hours a night? Eight. Nine. Eight. Eight. Yeah. Damn. Chaotic dreams. Always. Always. Always. Do you write them down? I usually call my mom immediately and we unpack it cuz that's that's my first call in the morning. Every morning I call her and I tell her My dreams. What a fun call to have with your mom. Yeah. Every day that's the best. She's like that's so up. Cuz it usually is. It's something

totally chaotic. You know, in my dreams everyone's dying constantly. It's just like I don't understand. Is it things that we don't want to talk about? Yeah. Yeah. Our subconscious stores them and tells us later. We love you. You're the best. Thank you. I appreciate you. Thank you very much.