Miley Cyrus Gets Political

Miley Cyrus recently sat down for an interview with NME ahead of the release of her new album Younger Now. Here's what she had to say:

On saying prior to the election that she would move if Trump were elected:
"I didn't leave the country. I'm not fucking leaving the country, that's some ignorant shit, that's dumb. Because that's me abandoning my country when I think I've got a good thing to say to my country. And trust me, I hear every day on my Instagram, 'Just leave already! When are you going to leave?' Well, that's not going to be any good. Does it really matter where I am? Because wherever I am, my fucking voice is gonna be heard, and I'll make sure of it."

On the new song Rainbowland, which she wrote with her godmother Dolly Parton:
"Yep, and it's also very political. One line is such a Dolly lyric – it says, 'We are rainbows, me and you / Every colour, every hue'. And it's about all these different races and genders and religions, if we all did come together to create and said, 'Hey, we're different, that's awesome, let's not change to be the same, let's stay different but let's come together anyway.' Because a rainbow's not a rainbow without all the different colours."

On Wrecking Ball:
"You know, I should fucking be grateful every fucking day for that song, and I am. I think people look at things that they've done and there is this sense of shame, or 'I wish I wouldn't have done that' – not because I'm naked, by the way; it's because I feel like I'm in a deeper songwriting place… Lyrically I'm less impressed with that song for me right now. I feel like it doesn't reflect who I am now, but that's fine because it's not supposed to… I'm sure I'll say the same thing about this record at some point."

On the sound of her new album:
"[Singles] ;Malibu' and 'Younger Now' are obviously two fucking very different visuals in a way, but what binds them together is that they are both me. For Bangerz I was so one way, I was so 'This is who I am, there's nothing that's gonna change it', and you know, I did that on [Miley Cyrus & Her] Dead Petz too. Now, I think I have more of an open mind where I'm like, 'OK, I can be a bunch of different things every day', I don't have to be so locked into myself because then I'm putting those walls and borders around myself that I tell everyone else not to give in to."

On what her new album represents:
"I got to normalise it a little bit more. I did it in a less aggressive way where it was subliminally allowing all audiences to be a part of it and enjoy it. From the outside, like you said,…Dead Petz wasn't a record for everyone… I think it ended up shutting some doors in the way of people making themselves less mentally available to listen. They think, 'I'm already pissed off so I'm not listening to that, she's crazy'. In a way, Younger Now is really about ageism and sexism too because I feel like as women get older it's so hard, and I'm watching Madonna do it with such grace and such style and people still attack her… People just want to talk about how she shouldn't do a fucking cartwheel at the Super Bowl and it's like, why? Why can't you still wear a grill, why can't you still be a part of pop culture?"