Miley Cyrus has been performing for the public on an unprecedented scale since she was just a kid. It’s not a surprise to hear that lifestyle has taken a toll on her, nor that she’s changed her approach to performance itself. “Am I going on tour? Yeah, the Aman hotel tour,” she jokes in a new interview with British Vogue. “Singing in the lobby for that complimentary massage.”
In all seriousness, “singing for hundreds of thousands of people isn’t really the thing that I love,” says the pop star, whose first experience doing so was a blockbuster Hannah Montana tour when she was just 16 years old. Cyrus opines that not only is there “no connection” at these shows, but there’s no “safety” either. (That could speak to any number of issues, from the horrifying terrorist attacks experienced by some of her peers to the still-present threat of coronavirus exposure to the security issues that have caused devastating consequences at other concerts.) “It’s also not natural,” she adds. “It’s so isolating because if you’re in front of 100,000 people then you are alone.”
“After the last [headline arena] show I did [in 2014], I kind of looked at it as more of a question. And I can’t,” Cyrus explains. “Not only ‘can’t,’ because can’t is your capability, but my desire. Do I want to live my life for anyone else’s pleasure or fulfillment other than my own?”
The answer is, apparently, no, as reflected in a journal entry Cyrus shares with Vogue. “I make choices that I’m proud of that protect me… I put my mental and physical health before a paycheque… I freed up space for myself to be with friends and family doing what I love, which is working out, eating well, learning ways about how to enhance my life, staying dedicated to practices and protocols that are specifically designed for me.” A bit of hard-earned wisdom goes a long way.