Miley Cyrus has revealed that she regularly texts with Beyoncé — about their moms. In a new cover story for W, Cyrus explained that not only does she and her recent collaborator owe a lot to their mothers, but they have actually become them to their listeners.
“Her mom, Ms. Tina, my mom is also an M.T.: Mama Tish,” Cyrus said. “A lot of people call her Mom, in the way that Ms. Tina is almost not just a mother to Beyoncé, but to Beyoncé’s fans as well. Both of us grew up, in our own way, with moms who were everything. My mom was my makeup, hair, seamstress, styling, tour manager—like, the actual manager. The word ‘mother’ is the most all-encompassing word. The mother can be RuPaul; the mother can be Beyoncé. Our fans call us ‘mother.’”
During the broad-ranging conversation, Cyrus discussed how her song “II Most Wanted” ended up on Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter. “I wrote that song, like, two and a half years ago,” Cyrus explained. “My mom would always go, ‘I love that song so much.’ So when Beyoncé reached out to me about music, I thought of it right away because it really encompasses our relationship. I told her, ‘We don’t have to get country; we are country. We’ve been country.’ I said, ‘You know, between you being from Texas and me being from Tennessee, so much of us is going to be in this song.’ Getting to write a song, not just sing, for Beyoncé was a dream come true.’”
The singer recalled performing with Beyoncé as a teenager at a Stand Up to Cancer benefit. “I was sandwiched between Beyoncé and Rihanna, who were, you know, five feet ten inches and in heels,” she said. “Their hips were, like, up to my shoulders. They were these powerful, fully realized, grown women, and I’m pretty sure I had braces on the back of my teeth. They were protective of me.”
She added, “That Christmas, Beyoncé sent me a House of Deréon jacket that said Miley on the back in gold studs, which is my favorite, and some jeans with my name on it. In one of my songs, “’Cattitude,’ I say, ‘And for my 16th birthday, I got Deréon from the house of the queen.’”
Elsewhere in the interview, Cyrus recounted her experience at the Grammys earlier this year, where she performed her single “Flowers.” The song won Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance, earning Cyrus her first Grammy Award. She told W that it felt like the first time the music industry really took her seriously.
“No shade, but I’ve been doing this for 20 years, and this is my first time actually being taken seriously at the Grammys?” she said. “I’ve had a hard time figuring out what the measurement is there, because if we want to talk stats and numbers, then where the fuck was I? And if you want to talk, like, impact on culture, then where the fuck was I? This is not about arrogance. I am proud of myself.”
She added of her look during the performance, “I wrote on this dream board that I wanted to show up to the Grammys with a childlike confidence, like when a kid isn’t scared to just dive into the deep end or do a backflip because they don’t know what’s on the other side. My 12-year-old self got to come out and play, while my 31-year-old self was in Bob Mackie with big hair.”
From Rolling Stone US
