Miley Cyrus says she wasn’t taken seriously by the Recording Academy until she released her hit song “Flowers,” which earned Cyrus her first-ever Grammy wins for best pop solo performance and record of the year.
Speaking with W magazine, Cyrus reflected on the achievement from earlier this year after releasing music since 2007. “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 questioned.
“I’ve had a hard time figuring out what the measurement is there, because if we want to talk stats and numbers, then were the fuck was I?,” Cyrus continued. “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.”
Cyrus was previously nominated in 2015 for Bangerz under the best pop vocal album category, but she lost to Sam Smith.
The multi-hyphenate also discussed being honored at this year’s Disney Legends Awards Ceremony, where she will become the youngest honoree to be named a Disney Legend. She noted that her time at Disney “was a great, safe experience overall” but she had to make many sacrifices as a child while starring in Hannah Montana and starting her music career.
“People have 50- or 60-year-long careers, but mine has been close to 20 years, and I’m 31. I have been in the public for more of my life than I haven’t. They say that the creative adult is the child who survived. I worked really hard as a child,” she explained.
The pop star added, “I didn’t go to prom. I didn’t go to dances. I didn’t have so much of that social experience or time for friends. Disney, they were doing very well off of the amount of work that I was putting in as a child. I don’t have any bad feelings about that. It’s just the truth. And so I think they have to give me this award.”
The Disney Legends Awards Ceremony will be held on Aug. 11 at Anaheim’s Honda Center. Cyrus will be honored alongside fellow stars such as Angela Bassett, Jamie Lee Curtis, Harrison Ford and Kelly Ripa.
