10 Don't Pull Your Hair Out, July 2010 Interview


Miley breaks out of Disney mould


Miley Cyrus –thanks to her alter-ego Hannah Montana –isagenuine worldwidephenomenon, with more than 15million album sales to her name –all before her 18th birthday.She talks about her new album –Can’t Be Tamed –her changing image, and whatit’slike growing up in the public eye.


By Andy Welch M


ILEY Cyrusmight be apetite 17-year-old, but she has the stamina of aburly athlete.


ing out the life of Disney’sprincess Hannah Montana or carving out her own solo career,the Nashville-born star hasn’tstopped for asecond. Today,asshe rolls around the bed


For the last five years, whether liv-


of her hotel suite, the layman might think she’srelaxing, but she’sstill managing to go over fine details of her performance at London's G-A-Y nightclub with one of her many assis- tants. Even when she looks like she’s relaxing, she’sworking. “I landed last night, about 1am,”


she says, like some kind of Duracell- powered SouthernBelle. “I don’tsleep, like ever,when I’m


really crash,” she says, with massive emphasis on the latter part of the sentence. “The other morning Istarted work-


out on the road. That means Inever suffer from jetlag. Can’tbejetlagged if you don’tsleep. “When Igohome to LA Icrash, like


ing at 6.45am, but didn’tfall asleep until 6.15am. I’m working all day and then at night Iget to acomputer and all my friends in the States areup, so I’m up all night talking to them.” It’sastrange thing, being intimidat-


ed by a17-year-old. Such assurance is rareinthe most successful of grown ups, but here’sagirl not old enough to vote, amulti-millionaire, commanding the attention of the six or seven adults in the room, spouting wisdom way beyond her years. “You can’tlive apositive life with a negative mind,” she says, explaining her dislike of gossip magazines. It’s one of her many statements which in


lesser hands would appear phoney; ripped directly from aself-help book. Coming from Miley,agirl with more than 15million album sales under her belt, it sounds like away of life. Of course, you don’tget to be Disney’sposter girl without having your fair shareofmedia training, but there’ssomething about Destiny Hope Cyrus, as she was born, that seems very genuine, well-rounded and homely. She loves the UK, and has never


failed to be surprised by her British fans. “It’sespecially good that I’m not


herethat often,” she says, “because the fans go alittle crazier because it’s not normal that I’m around.” Talking of fans, waiting outside the


the Disney juggernaut to consider and to back her up. For Miley at least, Hannah Montana


is now over –the filming of the fourth and final series wrapped in May and will air in July –meaning she’sfreer than ever. As aresult, there’ssomething dis-


tinctly different about Can’tBe Tamed’scontents. Whereas beforeshe was the All- American Girl, the video for her cur- rent single sees her writhing around on apole inside acage. Arecent TV appearance on Britain's Got Talent saw her simulate alesbian kiss with a female dancer,while wearing leather hotpants. Miley doesn’tthink there’sanything


hotel to meet Miley,agroup of Cyrus acolytes somehow mistook me for one of their own. “How long have you been here?” asks one, beforerealis- ing theremight be moreprofessional reasons for my visit. “I came down from Leeds this


morning,” says one girl, no older than 14, wearing her 400-mile round trip like abadge of honour. “I’ve been heresince 6am,” says another,unawarehow ludicrous standing on apavement for the best part of 10 hours to catch aglimpse of apopstar sounds. Miley gets wind of the two girls and


promises to see them later. “I absolutely love signing auto- graphs,” she says, “and Ireally hate it if Ispell aname wrong. Ialways dou- ble check, thereare some strange spellings out there.” Her forthcoming album, Can’tBe


to be alarmed about, however.She says her music is about growing up, as it always has been. “People ask me, ‘How have you hidden that side of you for so long?’ and Isay,‘Well five years ago Iwasn’t who Iamnow’. Youknow? You change so much in these years, 12 or 13 to 17. “Changing is also how you grow as


an artist and amusician, and as a person too. And I’ve definitely grown as all those things, and I’ve been able to put that into avideo. “I’ve always have these crazy ideas


and yet when they came to be realised Ialways thought, ‘That’s almost what Ihad in envisioned’. The video for Can’tBeTamed, though, is exactly what Ihad in my head. “It's not often that what you get in


Tamed, is abig deal for Miley.Inthe time she's been releasing music, both as herself and as her alter-ego Hannah Montana, she’salways had


front of you is exactly what you’ve dreamed of." The album was recorded in studios


across America, Ireland and the UK while Miley was on tour last year.It’s not aconventional method, different from the usual way of decamping to


one studio for anumber of weeks or months. Miley doesn’thave time for that,


and for Team Miley,time is money. “I liked making the album while on


the road,” she explains. “When I’m acting, it’shardtomake an album because I’m focused on the acting. When Igoontour,that’swhen Iget in music mode so that’swhen Iwant to record. “I have guitars around me all the


time, loads of ideas floating around and I’m seeing fans all the time so that’sgreat because you get to see how your music is inspiring them. “The hardest part about it is when


you recordanew song, you just want to play it that night but you can’t, because it’snot finished or you’re saving it for next time.” Moving on –something Miley seems very keen on –there's the album release to get out of the way, then she starts work with Demi Mooreonthe remake of aFrench film, LOL. “Demi’safriend of mine,” she says.


“I think it’sgoing to work well because we know each other and it’s good to work with people you like and trust. It’sgoing to be agood summer,” she says, beforeaddress- ing perhaps the biggest challenge of her career so far –leaving Hannah Montana behind. “It’sreally weirdbecause you’re leaving asecurity blanket. It’ssome- thing that I’ve been involved with for five years now,and it’ssomething that has been so easy –I’m so used to it. “But it’snice to be able to be my


full self and Idon’thave to think about whether something I’m doing contradicts what Hannah Montana is. “It feels good to be myself, 100 per


cent.”


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