Miley Cyrus is not staying silent. During her second sold-out Hollywood Bowl show on Sunday, October 18, the singer fired back at critics who accused her of phoning in her comeback concerts, declaring she is “fully present” on stage, according to Just Jared and Indy100.
The two shows — billed as “Miley: Bass Persuades – Live at the Hollywood Bowl” — marked her first live performances in four years. After the October 16 show, social media users claimed Cyrus skipped lyrics to hits like “Party in the USA” and “Flowers” and appeared detached.
“I have never heard that I don’t put my heart into something”
“I have never heard that I don’t put my heart into something,” Cyrus told the Sunday crowd, dismissing the commentary as “clickbait.” “It is hard for me to stand up here and do this show. It does not come as natural as it once did. Like all of us, we change, we grow, we evolve, we find what gets to come with us, what continues to fit.”
“You all are more to me than an experiment. That is absolutely not what this is,” she continued. “This is not an experiment of you. This is an experience for me.”
She almost skipped the show
Cyrus revealed she nearly didn’t come on stage at all. “Before I came out for ‘Orbit,’ I already told myself I wasn’t gonna come onstage, I was gonna run away,” she said. “But never would I leave you all sitting in these seats unfulfilled from a show. 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. I’m fully present.”
The Friday show also featured an emotional tribute to her late godmother Dolly Parton, who died August 25, with Cyrus singing “Jolene” in tears. The concerts centered on her new album Bass Persuades, released September 18.
A defiant comeback
The two Bowl shows were Cyrus’s first live performances in four years, and the Sunday crowd rewarded her candor with a roaring ovation. Whatever the critics said about the first night, the second belonged entirely to her.
“I’m fully present,” she told the crowd — and on a night when she nearly walked away, staying was the whole point. The Hollywood Bowl got its show, and Miley Cyrus got the last word.
