By Alan Sculley
As anyone who has followed Miley Cyrus since last summer, when she began promoting her new album “Bangerz” knows, she has generated a lot of interest for how she has presented a far more adult version of the actress/singer the world first knew through her Disney television series “Hannah Montana.” She especially raised eyebrows by appearing nude in her video for her song “Wrecking Ball” and for a racy performance on the MTV Video Music Awards that seemed to startle even that envelope-pushing network.
But organizers for this teleconference requested that writers limit questions to the “Bangerz” tour itself meaning Cyrus’ behavior and the recent controversies she has generated would not be addressed. Writers were required to submit questions via a website before and during the 30-minute teleconference, and her publicist selected which questions actually were presented to Cyrus.
Here are highlights from what Cyrus said during the teleconference:
Q: What was your goal when it came to creating this tour?
Cyrus: I just want to make it something that is really fun. And like with everything I do, I don’t want there to be anything about (the show) that’s unoriginal or seems fake in any way. So the whole thing is really, it’s got a good energy about it. And my goal was really to keep it really fun. For me I think the best thing for an artist is to see people sing along to your songs, and also to have people participating in your show. Sometimes that’s hard. There are just people in the front row with their cell phones in front of their face and not really getting involved. And this show is a really hard show to not want to get up and be involved, like set your phone down and actually dance and be a part of the show a little bit. So it’s very interactive for my fans.
Q: Are there any cool props or stunts that you could preview?
Cyrus: Kind of the stuff that I’m really excited about, for one, our show is completely live. So it’s hard to do as many stunts as, like I got to do on other tours because I’m really focused on like people being as excited about me as a singer than kind of me for what I did to shock people. I want people to walk around being like ‘OK, she did some things that were crazy, but at the end of the day, it was really about her voice.’ So I really want to stay focused on that, so there’s not too much going around. But I definitely have some crazy props to enter and exit on. That’s all I really want to tell you. But I think that’s probably my most exciting part. So I’m really excited for the intro. And exiting is pretty amazing, too. I’m excited for both of those parts.
Q: What tours have you seen in the past that have given you inspiration for the “Bangerz” tour?
Cyrus: Obviously, I’ve watched a lot of tours now trying to get inspired for mine and also just seeing how people do things because I wanted everything I do to be different. Obviously, I watched a lot of the Madonna tours, not only because I’m a fan of Madonna, but because you know how I said a lot of my show is built a lot around content and I think she had a really beautiful stage and the way that it looked and everything that was played on all the screens was shot beautifully…So I’ve definitely watched a lot of Madonna’s tours.
Q: People might not have expected you to work with Future, but he’s featured on the “Bangerz” song “My Darlin’” and you’re featured on his track “Real and True” and in the video for that song. Can you talk a little about how you two know each other?
Cyrus: Future and I know each other through Mike Will. They grew up together in Atlanta, and me and Mike are like family. And so anyone who’s really close to Mike I’ve gotten really close to. He was just someone, he wanted to work with me because of my voice, not because, this is before I had kind of started working (on what) I’m working on now. Really he just wanted to work with me because, not because of what he knew. He knew of me. It’s not like he was a fan of me really before he really started getting in the studio with me. He just became a fan of me and my music, so that’s why I really wanted to work with him. I just want to surround myself with people that really, what they care about is me as a real artist. So him and I are really close. I’m super stoked for him and everything. I mean, everything in his life, I love working with people that are new. It’s the same thing with Icona Pop, and they are a little bit more like mainstream. But I like working with people like that, and he’s had platinum records, but for me, introducing him to kind of my group of fans that wouldn’t necessarily be Future fans. And he does the same thing in his world.
Q: Is there anything you would like to tell the journalists about the tour that maybe we haven’t covered here and how excited you are to go out on the road?
Cyrus: I’m just thankful for the people that have really like (decided) to come to my show because I know sometimes people they like to make me seem like I’m one thing, and all that I know how to do is like shock people and that’s kind of my only purpose in the industry. That isn’t what it is. What my show (is), and what I think girls see kind of through is there’s an energy and there’s a feminist energy there, and if people enjoy taking a chance and coming to a show that’s a little bit different, I really appreciate that. I’m excited for the people that want to express kind of like freedom, and they can relate to my music because of that. And I think a lot of my fans, I think that’s why we’re kind of so close because when they look at me and they feel like can be really like truly who they are, and I hope my fans are kind of inspired by my show to take that to the next level.
It’s just (about) being true to who you are and what makes you feel good, and I think there’s something good for girls especially that get to come see this show. I’ve made that really important in what we’re building, me and (creative director Diane Martel) together. It’s just a show that builds up every type of human being on the planet, and a real show that we put a lot of love into it. I just believe it has a good energy about it.