Miley Cyrus addressed the criticism of her comeback show at the Hollywood Bowl on Friday night, calling out “clickbait” videos that accused her of not fully investing herself in the performance because she didn’t sing every word of the songs.
“I’ve never heard that I don’t put my heart into something,” she told the audience at her second Bowl concert on Sunday night. “I don’t know if any of you heard that,” she said of the criticism. “That somebody was doing commentary to get clickbait on their video talking about my show on Friday night, but I’m a lot of things and we’re not even going to entertain that.”
The singer, who hadn’t performed live in four years prior to Friday night, added that anytime she’s done something that’s a stepping stone for her life or career it’s been “controversial.”
“And the controversy, it used to be a lot of fun,” she said. “It still can be. I can be pretty melted. I love that about me. I actually used to live my life pretty hard. Because life’s hard so I thought I had to get hard. … But, you know, I didn’t enjoy my life as much when I was living hard. I love pouring myself into something.”
“It is hard for me to stand up here and do this show,” Cyrus continued. “It does not come as natural as it once did to be before. Because, like all of us, we change, we evolve, we grow, and we find what gets to come with us. What continues to fit.”
She clarified that the show is not an experiment for the audience. “This is an experience for me,” the singer said. “And you all make the experience possible. [This is] the only way I get to test my personal boundaries, my limits, what I think I can do.”
She added, “I can take a lot, but one thing I will not stand is any question about where my heart is when I’m on the stage. Not one. I am fully present.”
Cyrus also referenced the issue during her performance of recent single “Bass Persuades,” noting, “Oh I forgot, I’m supposed to sing every fucking word.”
Cyrus doesn’t currently have any further tour dates scheduled. Her latest album, Bass Persuades, came out in September. Rolling Stone wrote of the LP, “The fickle pop public Cyrus once wanted to appease no longer seems to no longer have any leverage over her. Through the thundering sound of Bass Persuades, she can’t hear their defiant rebuttals to the notion that her audience will go where she goes. They aren’t what motivates her — especially not in the way the love she goes home to at the end of the night does.”