Miley Cyrus slams Grammys for lack of recognition and years of waiting for her first win
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Miley Cyrus recently opened up about her experience winning her first-ever Grammys in a recent interview with W Magazine.
At the same time, the 'Flowers' singer talked about the path that eventually allowed her to feel "taken seriously" at the esteemed awards ceremony.
Miley Cyrus had a hard time figuring out why it took her 20 years to win a Grammy Award
In a W Magazine cover story published on Monday, June 3, Cyrus reflected on her first-ever Grammy wins at the 66th Annual ceremony.
With her recent Grammy victories, the 31-year-old pop singer felt validated despite having an intense career spanning 20 years and eight studio albums, highlighting her pride in her achievements.
"No shade, but I've been doing this for 20 years, and this is my first time actually being taken seriously at the Grammys?" said Cyrus, expressing her disbelief at winning her first-ever Grammy for the smash song 'Flowers'.
She questioned the industry's methods for recognition, drawing attention to the discrepancy between her nominations in the past and her influence on culture.
The 'Wrecking Ball' hitmaker added, "I’ve had a hard time figuring out what the measurement is there, because if we want to talk stats and numbers, then where the f**k was I? And if you want to talk, like, impact on culture, then where the f**k was I?"
Cyrus asserted that she is simply "proud" of what she views as an underappreciated body of work and that "this is not about arrogance."
The songstress told W Magazine that her "12-year-old self got to come out and play" with her song 'Flowers', which won her Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance Grammy awards in February.
She recalled her goals for the ceremony, saying, "I wrote on this dream board that I wanted to show up to the Grammys with a childlike confidence, like when a kid isn’t scared to just dive into the deep end or do a backflip because they don’t know what’s on the other side."
Her eighth studio album, 'Endless Summer Vacation', was also nominated for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards.
Cyrus had been nominated twice before for Grammy Awards: in 2015 for Best Pop Vocal Album for 'Bangerz', and in 2022 as part of Lil Nas X’s album 'Montero'.
Miley Cyrus wanted her 2024 Grammy Awards performance to be a 'celebration of bravery'
Cyrus embodied the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll" Tina Turner while performing 'Flowers' at the Grammy Awards. The Tennessee native first appeared on the Grammy stage in 2009 when she performed 'Fifteen' with Taylor Swift.
She did not hold back when addressing the crowd's seeming lack of enthusiasm at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards, asking, "Why are you acting like you don't know this song?" as per Variety.
While talking to W Magazine, Cyrus admitted that she intended the performance to be a "celebration of bravery because I perform out of fear."
She further shared, "I didn’t always have the fear of performing that I have now. But going from spending two years alone and seeing no more than one person a day during lockdown to knowing that millions of people watch the Grammys is a big shock to the nervous system."
Cyrus further noted, "It doesn’t matter if it’s eight or eight million people — that fear is there. Before I went onstage, right as that curtain was about to lift, I was screaming at the top of my lungs, ‘I am free!'"
