Miley Cyrus: How Liam Hemsworth Negatively Impacted Her Passion & Dedication To Her Craft

While writing my previous post, I was inspired to watch Miley Cyrus’ ‘Used To Be Young’ TikTok series, which is now available to its entirety on her YouTube channel. The series, whose name is based on Cyrus’ song of the same name, has the singer reminiscing on her life and career between 1992, the year she was born, and 2023, the year the series was released. The series actually begins with Miley talking about her dad, Billy Ray, and how his outlook on his own life and career was different than hers, and how it had a lot to do with his childhood and his upbringing.

It was heartbreaking to watch, for me personally, as Miley tried so hard to get her words out. She said the exact same thing, in different words, about her father when she sat down for an interview with David Letterman. She debunked rumours of an estrangement between the once close father-and-daughter duo when Letterman asked her hands on his Netflix series, ‘My Next Guest Needs No Introduction.’ But I think otherwise, and you can read all about in my previous post. But just as a glimpse as to what it’s all about, this is a quote from Miley herself on her father:

‘My dad grew up the opposite of me. So I think that’s where me and my dad’s relationship to fame and success is wildly different. Him feeling loved by a big audience impacted him emotionally more than it ever could me. When he feels special or important it’s like healing a childhood wound, and I’ve always been made to feel like a star. It makes me emotional. I do have a lot of great memories singing music with my dad, and learning and absorbing, and I think I can see my wheels turning in watching his voice and the way that he’s using the instrument. I will say that I feel vocally my dad was underappreciated.’

The ‘Downfall’

In the series, Miley, who was originally named Destiny Hope Cyrus, because, according to Billy Ray, she was destined to bring hope to the world, before Miley legally changed her name to Miley Ray, also talked about her own upbringing, her time on ‘Hannah Montana’ and how she and her father got their respective roles, as well as her 10 year relationship and short-lived marriage to Liam Hemsworth. But those weren’t the things that got me so invested in the interview and in Miley Cyrus herself. Instead, it was her talking about her career between 2013 and now that got me so invested and intrigued.

As you might recall, if you were old enough to surf the internet during that time, Miley was known to be a good girl during her days on ‘Hannah Montana’. It’s a reputation she needed to maintain during her contract with Disney, as did other kids employed by Disney, such as Vanessa Hudgens, Hilary Duff, Sofia Carson, Sabrina Carpenter, Raven Symone, Adrienne Bailon, and more other stars that deserve their own blog posts rather than just a mention. Miley’s ‘good girl’ reputation began to decline when she appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair with nothing but a blanket covering her naked body in 2008 while she was still starring on her hit show. Miley apologized for taking part in the photoshoot, which was orchestrated by Annie Labovitz, but took the apology back years later. In 2010, again, while still being a part of ‘Hannah Montana’, she was seen partying with her friends and using a bong with legal substances. She also began dressing differently and promoting a sexier persona, with singles such as ‘Can’t Be Tamed’, much to the dismay of her fans’ parents.

But her real ‘downfall’, if you could even call it that, began in 2013 during her ‘We Can’t Stop’ and ‘Wrecking Ball’ era, and it continued on until 2017, during the period where she wrote songs about her rekindled romance with Liam Hemsworth such as ‘Malibu’. During her ‘downfall’ era, she and Hemsworth were broken up before getting back together in 2016. During her interview with Barbara Walters on her ’10 Most Fascinating People’ special in 2013, Miley opened up about her broken engagement. She said, ‘I was so scared of ever being alone, and I think, conquering that fear, this year, was actually bigger than any other transition that I had, this entire year. I don’t ever want to have to need someone again, where you feel like, without them, you can’t be yourself. I don’t think I realized what 19 truly is, and I got engaged at 19, and I definitely wouldn’t change being engaged,” she stressed. “It was so fun wearing a fat rock for a few years. But now, I just feel like I can actually be happy. I wait for those moments of silence, when I’m just at my house, by myself.

A reflective look on the formative years

In 2017, Miley released her ‘Younger Now’ album, which had a completely different vibe than her 2013 album, ‘Bangerz’ and her 2015 album, ‘Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Pets’. During her 2017 era, Miley completely changed the way that she looked and sounded. She traded her hip-hop influences to a stripped-down, country sound. During her time promoting the album, Miley did an interview with Lulu Garcia-Navarro. During that specific interview, Garcia-Navarro had Miley reminiscing about her previous two albums and more. These are bits and pieces of their Q&A:

You’ve been in the public eye since you were a child, and you’ve always had this poise and awareness of yourself as a public figure. Are you now reclaiming your childhood? I’m seeing all these references to Hannah Montana, and all the promotional materials [for Younger Now] has these adorable kid pictures of you in it. Who is that Miley?

Everyone that I’ve been — whether you are thinking about Hannah Montana or the music I made in the past — all of it has always been the truth. So I think people are saying “the new Miley” or “the more honest Miley” — I’ve always been that. But I’ve been honest for who that person was then.

At one point, it was fun for me as a little girl to get dressed up as a pop star, because I wasn’t one. It was fun for me to write about relationships in this innocent way, because I was young and innocent and discovering love and what that meant. And so now, I write about it in a more evolved way, or a way that feels happy or more confident. But that’s because as [I] grow up, I understand who I am in a different way. I’m happy to be who I am rather than running from it — but running from who you are is a total normal part of growing up, too, because you’re just trying to figure out what parts of yourself you like and what parts of yourself you want to work on.

What kind artist do you want to be? You are only 24 — Madonna constantly reinvented herself; other artists drill down to their essence. Where do you see yourself on that spectrum?

I think I’m a person that evolves really quickly, and I change. And I think for me, I don’t change with the times or with fashion; I change by being active politically or philanthropically. I think that really changes the way that I reflect myself as well, and project who I am. Also, I think I’m very inspired by the surroundings of the real world more than the fashion on the street, or what the music is sounding like on the radio, or what I see on TV. I think that’s why people relate to my music; because in today, I’m experiencing humanity with all the other listeners.

You’ve gotten a lot of criticism for how you incorporated black music into your work, on the Bangerz album in particular. There is a lot of anger in the African-American community; The Root just wrote that your music has exploited black people for profit. Do you understand that anger? Do you accept it?

I respect that, and I can’t tell you that that’s my intentions. So I always feel, you know, apologetic and sympathetic to those who feel a way. But that’s not my intentions so I can’t say that I agree.

Are you still interested in that kind of music? You’ve sort of moved away from that in this album.

Yeah, but I think that that’s labeling. It’s like: that kind of music — like, what does that mean? I love music; I love all styles of music. I love Mike WiLL‘s music; I love Wayne Coyne‘s music. I love country music; I love Dolly [Parton]’s music. I love Leonard Cohen‘s music. I may be the only person that has Wiz Khalifa and Leonard Cohen on the same iPod. I don’t ever label music.

You are very vocal as a self-declared feminist. But you have also gotten a lot of flack for your performance with Robin Thicke at the Video Music Awards in 2013 of a song that some view as promoting rape culture. You know, it’s been a couple of years —

That’s so ridiculous, I’m sorry. Again, I empathize with people’s feelings, because opinions are a natural response in human beings. … But besides that, that’s so hurtful actually to take something that is good-intentioned — and what’s the difference of anyone else doing what they do in pop music? What’s the difference with Britney Spears coming oiled up with a snake, I mean, it’s like the same thing? It’s any pop singer. Look at Kathleen Hanna — that’s punk!

Your art makes people uncomfortable sometimes!

That’s what punk is all about. If you don’t piss somebody off, then that’s not punk rock, I guess. But I wish people wouldn’t be pissed off. There are so many real, true, problems in the world. If people would take their angst and their opinions and actually do something besides worry about what I’m doing. I’m a pop star. I’m good: I have a house, I have a roof over my head, I have food to eat. There are people without those things. Go and use your time and your opinion wisely, and get mad and call your senators about the things that matter.

I’m doing what I need to do. I’m working in my community. I’m changing the way people view sexuality. I’m working with suicide prevention programs. I’m feeding people that don’t have food to eat. I’m doing my part as a human. You better go do your part if you’re gonna even have one little opinion about what I do. You better be doing some great things for your community.

In hindsight…

In a previous interview, Miley has said that her ‘Younger Now’ era was the one where she was least herself. And you could probably tell that it’s true if you’re a longtime fan of hers. Each and every album she ever released was different, and each one represented her at a different time. ‘Younger Now’, in my personal opinion, is a representation of her relationship with Liam Hemsworth, where she felt like she had to change for him in order to be the person that he was looking for. If you look back at their public appearances, specifically after they got married, you could just tell that he didn’t like her wild side. At one during the ‘Avengers premiere where they made an appearance to support Chris Hemsworth, Liam’s older brother, who plays Thor in the MCU universe, Liam is seen mouthing to Miley, ‘Can you behave?’ while posing for the cameras.

Her time apart from Hemsworth between 2013 and 2016 was a time that Miley invested in herself and put herself first, both figuratively and literally; both in her personal life and her career. She’s said so herself. I already quoted her saying this about her personal life during her interview with Barbara Walters on her ’10 Most Fascinating People’ special in 2013. She also heavily talked about her period between 2013 and 2017 during her ‘Used To Be Young’ TikTok series. It’s an important time period to discuss because that was the period where Miley was the most judged and the most hated, despite Barbara Walters finding her so fascinating that she included her on her list of most fascinating people in 2013. But that was the time in Miley’s life where she was her most authentically self.

2013’s ‘Bangerz’ was an era that Miley really took a risk on. It was the very first album that she released following the end of ‘Hannah Montana’. This meant that she was free to do whatever she wanted without Disney controlling her every move. She could do whatever she f*cking wanted. But that also meant that nobody believed in her vision and what she wanted for that era, specifically the ‘Bangerz’ tour. She said, ‘The Bangerz tour was an investment in myself. A lot of these [staging] ideas were kind of so outlandish that no one really wanted to support me in making these pieces—I had big puppets, oversized beds, I came out of my own face on my tongue. When everyone kept saying, ‘Why are you doing this? You’re going to do, like, 100 shows and not going to make any money.’ I said, ‘There’s no one I would rather invest in than myself.’ So I paid for it all to make it exactly what I thought I and the fans deserved. I didn’t make a dime on this tour because I wanted the tour to be excellent.‘

Though the ‘Bangerz’ tour wasn’t a financial investment for Miley, it was most certainly a personal investment. Fans who attended the ‘Bangerz’ tour had this today:

1. Bangerz was THEE BEST concert I’ve ever been to, still talk about it to this day
2. To this day Bangerz is the best concert I’ve ever been to and I’ve always said that! even as a dedicated Swiftie Bangerz def took the cake for me

There are numerous takeaways from this. First and foremost, it’s that Miley’s biggest holdback was her relationship with Liam Hemsworth. He had an idea of what he wanted Miley to be, and he wanted to stick to it. He had a real issue with her going outside of his box. He didn’t want her to grow and change at HER pace. That’s not to say he didn’t love her. He loved her, but he loved the version of the 16 year old teenage girl that he met in 2009The biggest success in her career came when she was apart from Liam, both in 2013 and now, because that was when she felt free to do and be whatever she wanted without anyone trying to change her into a version that best fit them.

Miley was in an on-and-off relationship with the younger Hemsworth for 10 years. It’s a long time for someone to be in a relationship, especially when you’re with them since the age of 16. It’s especially true when you’re in a relationship with the wrong person for 10 years. Miley and Liam were wrong for each other in the long-run. Being a creative genius takes a lot of time, effort, and energy, and when you have someone so close to you constantly whispering in your ear that you need to change into the person that you’re not, it can be draining and dwelling. It can suck everything out of you. It certainly sucked everything out of Miley. It’s evident just by looking at her career. Miley is living proof that being with the wrong person can kill one’s creativity. Maybe I’m being a little overdramatic. Hemsworth didn’t kill her creativity. He slowed it down. She loved him so much that she changed literally everything about herself so that he’d love her fully.

Sinead O’Connor VS. Miley Cyrus

Miley’s fans could most certainly feel her lack of passion for her craft during her relationship, especially if we compare the success of ‘Younger Now’ to ‘Bangerz’, ‘Miley & Her Dead Pets’, and ‘Endless Summer Vacation’. 11 years after its release, we’re still talking about ‘Bangerz’, though much differently than we did then. And now, she won a f*cking Grammy, her very first in her entire decades-long career, for her hit song, ‘Flowers’ off of her latest album, ‘Endless Summer Vacation’. It’s a true testament as to just how underestimated and undervalued Miley is. One thing is for sure about Miley – when she’s feeling like she’s being authentically herself, she’s dedicated to her craft, as well as passionate. I think passionate would be the better word to describe Miley’s dedication to her art. Controversial singer Sinead O’Connor certainly had something to say to Miley about her video, ‘Wrecking Ball.’ So much so that O’Connor wrote an open letter to Miley encouraging her to change her ways. The letter read:

‘Dear Miley,

I wasn’t going to write this letter, but today i’ve been dodging phone calls from various newspapers who wished me to remark upon your having said in Rolling Stone your “Wrecking Ball” video was designed to be similar to the one for “Nothing Compares” … So this is what I need to say … And it is said in the spirit of motherliness and with love.

I am extremely concerned for you that those around you have led you to believe, or encouraged you in your own belief, that it is in any way ‘cool’ to be naked and licking sledgehammers in your videos. It is in fact the case that you will obscure your talent by allowing yourself to be pimped, whether its the music business or yourself doing the pimping.

Nothing but harm will come in the long run, from allowing yourself to be exploited, and it is absolutely NOT in ANY way an empowerment of yourself or any other young women, for you to send across the message that you are to be valued (even by you) more for your sexual appeal than your obvious talent. I am happy to hear I am somewhat of a role model for you and I hope that because of that you will pay close attention to what I am telling you.

The music business doesn’t give a s*** about you, or any of us. They will prostitute you for all you are worth, and cleverly make you think its what YOU wanted … and when you end up in rehab as a result of being prostituted, ‘they’ will be sunning themselves on their yachts in Antigua, which they bought by selling your body and you will find yourself very alone.

None of the men ogling you give a s*** about you either, do not be fooled. Many’s the woman mistook lust for love. If they want you sexually that doesn’t mean they give a f*** about you. All the more true when you unwittingly give the impression you don’t give much of a f*** about yourself. And when you employ people who give the impression they don’t give much of a f*** about you either. No one who cares about you could support your being pimped … and that includes you yourself.

Yes, I’m suggesting you don’t care for yourself. That has to change. You ought be protected as a precious young lady by anyone in your employ and anyone around you, including you. This is a dangerous world. We don’t encourage our daughters to walk around naked in it because it makes them prey for animals and less than animals, a distressing majority of whom work in the music industry and it’s associated media.

You are worth more than your body or your sexual appeal. The world of showbiz doesn’t see things that way, they like things to be seen the other way, whether they are magazines who want you on their cover, or whatever … Don’t be under any illusions … ALL of them want you because they’re making money off your youth and your beauty … which they could not do except for the fact your youth makes you blind to the evils of show business. If you have an innocent heart you can’t recognise those who do not.

I repeat, you have enough talent that you don’t need to let the music business make a prostitute of you. You shouldn’t let them make a fool of you either. Don’t think for a moment that any of them give a flying f*** about you. They’re there for the money… we’re there for the music. It has always been that way and it will always be that way. The sooner a young lady gets to know that, the sooner she can be REALLY in control.

You also said in Rolling Stone that your look is based on mine. The look I chose, I chose on purpose at a time when my record company were encouraging me to do what you have done. I felt I would rather be judged on my talent and not my looks. I am happy that I made that choice, not least because I do not find myself on the proverbial rag heap now that I am almost 47 yrs of age … which unfortunately many female artists who have based their image around their sexuality, end up on when they reach middle age.

Real empowerment of yourself as a woman would be to in future refuse to exploit your body or your sexuality in order for men to make money from you. I needn’t even ask the question … I’ve been in the business long enough to know that men are making more money than you are from you getting naked. Its really not at all cool. And its sending dangerous signals to other young women. Please in future say no when you are asked to prostitute yourself. Your body is for you and your boyfriend. It isn’t for every spunk-spewing dirtbag on the net, or every greedy record company executive to buy his mistresses diamonds with.’

O’Connor felt compelled to publish the open letter in Rolling Stone in 2013 after Miley admitted in an interview that O’Connor’s ‘Nothing Compares To You’ was the inspiration behind her ‘Wrecking Ball’ music video, and said she wanted to make a more modern take to O’Connor’s music video. Miley didn’t respond to the open letter very well, and that’s just a nice way of putting it. She responded by tweeting such things as comparing O’Connor to Amanda Bynes and mocked her struggles with bi-polar. O’Connor, who’d been very open about her struggles with mental illness, threatened to sue Miley for her comments, to which Miley wrote on Twitter, ‘I don’t have time to write you an open letter cause I’m hosting & performing on SNL this week.’ O’Connor had been famously banned from ever taking part in ‘SNL’ in the 90’s.

It’s important to note that Miley was only 20 years old at the time. Last year, during one of her ‘Used To Be Young’ TikTok series segments, Miley opened up about that time in her life, particularly on feud with O’Connor, who was 46 at the time. She said, ‘So at the time when I made ‘Wrecking Ball,’ I was expecting for there to be controversy and backlash. But I don’t think I expected other women to put me down, or turn on me, especially women who had been in my position before. So this is when I had received an open letter from Sinéad O’Connor and I had no idea about the fragile mental state that she was in. And I was also only 20 years old, so I could really only wrap my head around mental illness so much. And all that I saw was that another woman had told me that this idea was not my idea. And even if I was convinced that it was, it was still just men in power’s idea of me and they had manipulated me to believe that it was my own idea, when it never really was. And it was. And it is. And I still love it. Our younger childhood triggers and traumas come up in weird and odd ways and I think I had just been judged for so long for my own choices that I was just exhausted and I was in this place where I finally was making my own choices and my own decisions and to have that taken away from me deeply upset me. God bless Sinéad O’Connor, for real, in all seriousness.’

The Takeaways

Miley is a woman who’s practically grown up in front of our eyes. Some of us know her work of art not by choice. But we know it, or even of it, regardless. Whether we like it or not, we see her face and we hear her voice before we could ever forget about her, and just when we think we’ve forgotten, we’re reminded of her time and time again. She’s been in the public eye for 20 years almost, but we’ve gotten to know since before she could stand on her own two feet. We expect her to stay the same and never change one single thing about herself. But that’s too much to ask and she’s always known that. So she didn’t. She always stayed true to herself, and she’s always fought for what she believed in, even if that meant hurting others.

What we can learn through having witnessed Miley’s career path and looking at closely is that being with the wrong person for a very long time can hurt you as a woman. And when I say it can hurt a woman, I don’t mean physically or literally; I mean figuratively. Being with the wrong person can hurt a woman’s passion and dedication to her craft. But most importantly, it can hurt her sense of identity and self-worth over time, and it doesn’t just happen to women who are big superstars like Miley Cyrus. It can happen to any woman of any status. That’s why it’s so important for us to know when to leave and never look back.

And when we are so passionate about our work and believe in it more than anyone, even when we’re the only ones who believe in it, it’s important to still find some empathy for the people that judge us throughout the process. Sometimes, they judge us with the best intentions; their presentation sucks. We don’t know what others are going through. We don’t know their full story. Mocking won’t do anything. That’s why I have so much respect for Miley. She took full accountability for her wrong-doings – all of them – including being with the wrong person in her life. She didn’t stick around because society says that women should stay married or because society says divorce is a failure. She did what she felt was right, and she’s done so always in her personal life and career.