On the eve of the release of her fourth studio album, “Bangerz,” Miley Cyrus sat down with the “Today” show’s Matt Laurer for her first live interview since her infamous, twerk-filled VMA performance.
Talking to the show’s longtime host, the 20-year-old pop star spoke about the seemingly endless string of controversies she’s encountered since the MTV award show.
“I don’t ever really plan to offend people, but sometimes that happens because I think people, they’re not open to what they don’t understand,” the “Wrecking Ball” singer said.
While she may not aim to offend, Cyrus made it clear that she was ready for the buzz that resulted from her provocative duet with Robin Thicke, saying that the performance had gone just as planned.
“It’s a month later and we’re still talking about it!” she said.
Cyrus also addressed the conversation surrounding her transformation from child star to adult entertainer. Cyrus broke through as the star of the Disney Channel sitcom, “Hannah Montana,” in 2006.
“This is just who I am,” she said. “It’s only hard if you’re trying to be something you’re not. Being who you are is really easy, if you’re true to that.”
Cyrus also spoke about her feud with Irish singer-songwriter Sinead O’Connor.
The war of words started last week after O’Connor, who Cyrus has referred to as her role model in a recent Rolling Stone interview, wrote the pop star an open letter, telling her to resist letting the music industry “make a prostitute out of her.” Cyrus’s reaction was to refer to O’Connor’s history of mental health issues.
Cyrus took a decidedly different approach when asked about the tiff by Lauer.
“I think she’s an incredible artist, I think she’s an awesome songwriter, and I was really inspired by her for my ‘Wrecking Ball’ video,” the singer said. “I don’t know how someone can start a fight with somebody by saying, ‘Hey, I really respect you and I really love what you did … you know what, you suck.’ That was kind of crazy.”
In addition to the sit-down interview, Cyrus also performed the first two singles off of “Bangerz,” “We Can’t Stop” and “Wrecking Ball,” along with her breakthrough hit “Party in the U.S.A.”