Noah Cyrus is just months away from releasing her raw, vulnerable album, The Hardest Part, and she sat down with Billboard‘s Tetris Kelly to share why she decided to open up about her substance abuse and mental health struggles in her music.
“It’s obviously, in America, a huge issue,” she said of drug use. “Everyone I knew was taking downers as a way to party, cope, a way to manage. For me, I was completely engulfed by it so it seemed like there was no escaping it in my lyrics.”
She continued, “My lyrics are the only place for my body to release those feelings and release what I need to say. This is my story, and it’s time that I be open and honest about that. ”
Cyrus also discussed how through her music, she was able to cultivate her own identity outside of her famous family, including her sister Miley Cyrus and father Billy Ray Cyrus. “In the beginning, it was a little bit aggravating and maybe a little tougher — recently, I’ve seen a big shift in that and I feel like I’ve become my own,” she said of being compared to her family members. “I see it happening each time [I sit down for an interview] — I’ve seen it shift and changed to different questions being asked about me and not based on my family.”
The 22-year-old singer added, “Of course, families inspire each other every day just by living, but I am my own person and I make my own music that has nothing to do with my sister or my dad or my two brothers or my other sister, Brandi. But I’m grateful to be in a family where there is so much influence.”
Watch the interview with Cyrus above. The Hardest Part is set for release Sept. 16 via RECORDS/Columbia.
