Ahead of the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of her Something Beautiful film, accompanying the eponymous ninth studio album bowing May 30, Miley Cyrus shared why she wanted the project in theaters for fans and how Harrison Ford changed her mind about a previous touring plan initially designed to promote the record.
Speaking to Apple Music’s Zane Lowe in a sprawling interview, the Grammy winner said, “I wanted to have that experience [bringing community back to music] for my fans, so that’s why I really wanted to have something where you don’t just, like, lay in your bed and say, ‘We’re gonna put that Miley thing on, I’m gonna kind of pay attention.’ I really wanted it to be in a theater because that experience, there’s something about — I don’t know if you watch Severance, but you know when they walk in and their brain changes? That’s what I hope — I don’t hope to sever anyone’s mind — only a little, but I do just want them to walk into that theater and something to change, to go, ‘I’m here now, I’m invested and this is my focus.’”
Cyrus, who hasn’t been on tour for over a decade, also discussed an original intimate concert series that she was dissuaded from doing after speaking to Ford at a 2024 Disney Legend event in her honor; becoming the youngest to earn the distinction, the award was presented by the Shrinking star and Jamie Lee Curtis (that’s where The Last Showgirl‘s “Beautiful That Way” track was first born).
Called “Somewhere Beautiful,” the musician said it involved “performing in intimate places that are filled with beauty … you can’t find in a stadium,” which meant settings including “a cathedral in the middle of a forest that is not set up for sound.”
When asked by Ford at the time if she was working on anything, she pulled out a PDF of the project outline on her phone, saying, “And I show him my idea for ‘Somewhere Beautiful,’ which is performing in all the forests and at the pyramids and all these things. He goes, ‘You really wanna go and set up in a forest, and do what?’ He’s like, ‘You gonna bring a crew?’ He’s like, ‘Looks expensive.’ And I came back to the trailer, I was like, ‘Guys, we’re not performing in the forest anymore, Harrison Ford made a lot of sense.’ That’s why I want to create this film, is the film is my way of touring. That’s why I’m putting it into theaters because it’s something you can watch night after night after night and you get to discover, and you get a feel like you’re a part of a performance, but I don’t have to tax myself in that way.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Cyrus discussed having “unique anatomy” through a rare condition called Reinke’s edema; characterized by a large polyp on one of her vocal cords, it’s the reason behind her signature rasp but also requires the singer-songwriter to be diligent about taking care of her instrument.
“I put a tour together every other week because I want to do it, but it would have to be in a way that is sustainable for me in all the ways … and also with what I got going on, I don’t lip-synch, I sing live and these songs are big,” she explained.
With a world premiere at Tribeca in June, the visual accompaniment is a one-of-a-kind pop opera featuring 13 original new songs from the Something Beautiful album. It’s directed and written by Cyrus, Jacob Bixenman and Brendan Walter, and produced by Cyrus, Panos Cosmatos, Nick Spicer, Nate Bolotin and Aram Tertzakian.
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