Miley Cyrus is opening up about her sobriety. In a wide-ranging conversation with Zane Lowe for Apple Music, ahead of her upcoming album Plastic Hearts, the pop singer-songwriter said she “fell off†her recent sobriety during the pandemic. “I would never sit here and go, ‘I’ve been fucking sober,’ and I didn’t,†she told Lowe, adding that she was then two weeks sober by the time of the interview. She went on to explain that she didn’t intend to go public about her sobriety, which she first revealed during a June interview with Variety. “To me, it was a fuckup because I’m not a moderation person, and I don’t think that everyone has to be fucking sober,†she explained to Lowe. I think everyone has to do what is best for them.†Cyrus added that she becomes “very impulsive†when she drinks. “I don’t have a problem with drinking, I have a problem with the decisions I make once I go past the level of, you know — even into, I’ve just been wanting to wake up 100 percent, 100 percent of the time,†she said.
Later in the interview, Cyrus spoke about “the voices in your head†and how they related to her substance use. “All of that was just me, you know, sometimes, I guess also wanting to excuse them and allow them to run wild,†she told Lowe. “Like in a way, getting messed up was a way of me allowing myself to do things that I never really would allow those voices to control. I think now, my life has been truly changed by the concept that I’m not the voice inside my head — that I’m just observing.†Cyrus returned to the topic of her sobriety once again when she explained that she wanted to get sober when she was 27. “We’ve lost so many icons at 27,†she said. “It’s a very, like, pivotal time: You kind of go to the next chapter, or this is it for you.â€
Cyrus also spoke extensively about the influences on Plastic Hearts’ classic and glam-rock-inspired direction, from Stevie Nicks and Blondie to collaborators Joan Jett and Billy Idol. The Idol collaboration on the song “Night Crawling,†she said, came from her obsession with his music videos. “I think the old Billy Idol music videos are so sexy,†she explained. “That is my porn preference, is Billy Idol music videos.†She went on to add of working with Idol, “I think when I fell off and was drinking, there was a moment when I told Billy Idol that his music videos were porn.†Does this mean her own Idol music video is in the cards?