Miley Cyrus doesn't recognize the woman who twerked onstage with Robin Thicke four years ago. "I feel really kind of far away from that person. I just want people to see that this is who I am right now. I'm not saying I've never been myself. Who I was on the last record was really who I am," she says. "It's just myself has been a lot of different people because I change a lot."
The "Malibu" singer, who graces the cover of Harper's Bazaar's August issue, has reinvented herself for the umpteenth time in her 24 years on earth. The stripped down version of Cyrus is more akin to who she was as a little girl in Nashville, and she hopes people will accept that she's not just one thing.
"People get told that it's a bad thing to change. Like, people will say, 'You've changed.' And that's supposed to be derogatory. But you are supposed to change all the time."
For the past few months, Cyrus has been under a "media blackout" to focus on herself. "I think I'm just figuring out who I am at such a rapid pace that it's hard for me to keep up with myself."
It also allowed her time to think about her days as a child star on Disney Channel's wildly popular Hannah Montana. "There's so much I don't remember about being a child entertainer because it was so much to keep in my brain. It's like anything when you are in it," she says in retrospect. "I didn't realize how much pressure I was under and how that shaped me until, like, this year."
Perhaps that's why she didn't grasp the backlash when she danced with Thicke, wagging her tongue and wearing next to nothing. "People were so shocked by some of the things that I did. It should be more shocking that when I was 11 or 12, I was put in full hair and makeup, a wig, and told what to wear by a group of mostly older men. I didn't want to become any sort of man hater because I love all humans; I am a humanitarian," she says. "Beyoncé said, 'Girls run the world,' and that was an important thing to say because I think subconsciously we are beaten down to believe that it isn't true our whole lives. It's no wonder that a lot of people lose their way and lose who they really are because they always have people telling them who to be."
The Bangerz era was about drugs and sex, and Cyrus herself crafted that image. But, over time, it became a little too much. "It became something that was expected of me. I didn't want to show up to photo shoots and be the girl who would get my tits out and stick out my tongue. In the beginning, it was kind of like saying, 'F--k you. Girls should be able to have this freedom or whatever,'" the pop star tells Harper's Bazaar. "But it got to a point where I did feel sexualized."
Cyrus is fully aware that the public's perception of her changed after "We Can't Stop" and "Wrecking Ball" were released. And with new music on the way, she hopes it will change again.
"It's really scary sometimes, someone saying, 'This is who I am.' People have known me since I was so young, they think they know me," the "Inspired" singer confesses. " I heard so many comments like, 'We just want Miley back.' But you can't tell me who that is. I'm right here."
Cyrus hopes the public will allow her to be her authentic self without forcing her to reckon with her past—something she's already done, privately. "How can I f--king be the role model I'm supposed to be? Yeah, I just said f--king role model. Who gives a s--t? Because I got my tits out before doesn't make me less of a role model. I think I show people that they can be themselves. I also think something that has been important for me, in this next little, like, transition phase of my career is that I don't give a f--k about being cool," she explains. "I just want to be myself."
The August issue of Harper's Bazaar is available on newsstands July 25.