Miley Cyrus got candid about her voice and the backlash she faced throughout her career.
The “Hannah Montana” actress, 28, spoke to Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich for a cover story for Interview magazine, which went up Wednesday, September 20. Cyrus talked about her life as a musician and how some people call her out for her low voice.
Her Voice
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“My whole life, whether in vocal training or just continuing to hone my craft, it’s always been about, ‘Why do you sound like a man? Where’s your f–cking falsetto, b–tch? Why can’t you sing the high octave of ‘Party in the U.S.A.’ anymore?'” Cyrus said.
“My voice is how I represent myself. It’s how I express myself,” she explained. “I’ve worked with so many people who tell me, ‘We’re going to have to bring in a singer to hit those high parts.’ You know, ‘falsetto’ is this Latin term for when a boy goes through puberty, but they still want him to sing in the choir. It means ‘false.'”
Happy To Sing At Home
During the chat, the “Wrecking Ball” singer also talked about her recent Metallica cover of “Nothing Else Matters,” which she sang on the tribute album The Metallica Blacklist and included on Elton John’s upcoming record The Lockdown Sessions.
“This song means something to me on the deepest level,” Cyrus said. “What’s funny about that recording process was that I cut the vocal in a place that was the polar opposite of where I was the first time I sang it. I recorded it at home, in the middle of a fucking global pandemic, because I couldn’t leave my house.”
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She also discussed how performing the track made her feel happier, despite being indoors and not in front of a crowd.
“I was in my studio, and it was a completely different experience performing it in that solitary way. It was no less poignant than playing it at Glastonbury—if anything, it was more powerful,” she recalled. “The lyrics truly f–cking resonated. There was nothing that I couldn’t try, because I wasn’t in front of 250,000 people. I was in this safe place. We’ve talked about how lucky we are to have that. I stuck, on some level, to the melody. I even went down to some of those octaves, because singing those super-low lead vocals is so satisfying.”
Her True Self
Cyrus then delved into her authenticity, saying, “I am who I am.”
“I say what I mean in the moment, even if that changes tomorrow. I was honored by the fact that I didn’t have to sing this song in the way that females are ‘supposed’ to sing,” the singer continued. “You can hear that at the end of the song, when I take the gloves off and just start flying. That part of the song really grabs people. It’s that lower register of my voice. So I’m grateful to have a song where I can lean into that.”
A day ago, Cyrus went on Instagram and shared a little announcement that her cover story for Interview Magazine is out. The post showed one of her pictures from the racy photoshoot where she rocked black sheer Gucci panties.
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“@gucci on my c–chie 🖤 @interviewmag styled by editor-in-chief @melzy917 photographed by @briannalcapozzi 💛 @guccibeauty,” she captioned the post.