Miley Cyrus on how her perspective on fame and success is different from her dad
Miley Cyrus says she and her dad have "wildly different" relationships with fame and success.
In her "Used to Be Young" 10-part video series that she shared on TikTok, the singer reflected on growing up in the spotlight and discussed how it differs from how her dad, actor and "Achy Breaky Heart" singer Billy Ray Cyrus, grew up.
"My dad grew up the opposite of me," Cyrus said. "I think that's where me and my dad's relationship to fame and success is wildly different. Him feeling loved by a big audience impacted him emotionally more than it ever could me."
"When he feels special or important, it's like healing a childhood wound," she added. "And I've always been made to feel like a star. It makes me emotional. So, I think that's the difference."
Cyrus said her new song, "Used to be Young," "is about honoring who we've been, loving who we are and celebrating who we will become." The emotional music video for the song features Cyrus singing about how she's grown. She also pays homage to her start as a young actress on the Disney Channel hit show "Hannah Montana," with a Mickey Mouse shirt she wears underneath a red bodysuit.
In her TikTok series over the weekend, Cyrus said the series was inspired by her new song and reflects on the past 30 years of her life, which includes how she landed the lead role in "Hannah Montana," and her thoughts on touring.
"What people don't really understand about touring is the show is only 90 minutes, but that's your life," she said about touring. "If you're performing at a certain level of intensity and excellence, there should be an equal amount of recovery and rest."
"There's a level of ego that has to play a part that I feel gets overused when I'm on tour. And once that switches on, it's hard to turn it off," she continued. "I think when you're training your ego every single night to be active, that's the hardest switch for me to turn off."
"Having every day the relationship between you and other humans being subject and observer isn't healthy for me because it erases my humanity and my connection," Cyrus said. "And without my humanity and connection, I can't be a songwriter, which is my priority."
Looking on the past 30 years, Cyrus said she is "grateful."
Elsewhere in her TikTok series, Cyrus showed a clip from an interview her dad did years ago when she was a kid. In it, her father talks about how his daughter has the "Cyrus Virus" and how she has a knack for performing.
"I'm just grateful that was projected into the universe before I could even fathom what that meant," Cyrus said, responding to her father's comments. "There's gratitude for that being the energy that was attached to my vessel, because it became a reality."
