Miley Cyrus Explains Why She’s ‘Not Very Active’ With Friendships In The Music Industry (But Beyoncé Is An Exception)

Miley Cyrus Grammys 2024
Getty Image

Miley Cyrus has a famous father and an even more famous godmother, and strangers are constantly prodding for information about her relationships with Billy Ray Cyrus or Dolly Parton.

In the fifth-season premiere of My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman, out now on Netflix, Letterman asked Cyrus about her famous friends. Specifically, he asked, “That night at the [2024] Grammys, it seemed like an enormous celebration of women in music. Are you friends with all of those women?”

Cyrus candidly responded, “I am not very active, I would say, or very a part of my community of other artists and entertainers and celebrities. It just doesn’t feel like my people when I’m in that room. But there are certain artists, like Beyoncé, who — like us — we’ve known each other for a long time.”

The multi-platinum-certified singer continued, “When I was probably 15, I performed with Beyoncé. I was sandwiched between, you know, Rihanna and the Queen Bey, and they’re fully grown up, gorgeous, probably similar to my age now. Towering over me, completely stunning. I am super small, have acne, have braces on the back of my teeth, and I’m standing next to Mariah Carey, who is dripping in diamonds. Beyoncé was so kind to me, and now, just from seeing her, I’ve created a relationship — maybe a bit more in-depth. […] The kindness and the consistency is everything, so I’m a part of my community in that way, but again, it’s all quality, not quantity. I’m not very active in that.”

Letterman’s reference to the 2024 Grammys concerned Cyrus’ first-ever Grammy wins (Record Of The Year and Best Pop Solo Performance), thanks for “Flowers,” which was the root of her show-stopping performance.

Beyoncé welcomed Cyrus as a featured artist on her Cowboy Carter album, and “II Most Wanted” stands to be nominated for Record Of The Year at the 2025 Grammys.

“I wrote that song, like, two and a half years ago,” Cyrus recently told W. “My mom would always go, ‘I love that song so much.’ So when Beyoncé reached out to me about music, I thought of it right away because it really encompasses our relationship. I told her, ‘We don’t have to get ­country; we are country. We’ve been country.’ I said, ‘You know, between you being from Texas and me being from Tennessee, so much of us is going to be in this song.’ Getting to write a song, not just sing, for Beyoncé was a dream come true.”

Will Smith Reveals The Last Time He Cursed In His Raps And Why He Stopped

David Letterman’s Netflix show, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, premiered its fourth season last Friday, tapping musical guests Cardi B and Billie Eilish, actors Ryan Reynolds and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and NBA star Kevin Durant for in-depth conversations and hilarious shenanigans. One guest who straddles the line between actor, musician, and even athlete is Will Smith (y’all saw that episode of Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air where Will is his school’s basketball star), who discusses the audition for his game-changing sitcom, going to therapy, and his rap origins.

Emerging in the late ’80s as one-half of the often-comedic rap duo DJ Jazzy Jeff And The Fresh Prince, Smith rose to stardom behind such wholesome hits as “A Nightmare On My Street.” However, as rap had begun to take a turn into harder-edged fare, the Grammy winners were often ridiculed for being “soft,” something that Smith has admitted in the past weighed on him. When Dave asks whether Will and Jeff felt any pressure to change lanes, Will offers that while he didn’t feel any pressure to change, he disliked that characterization.

“I hated that, being called soft,” he says. “The origin of my style and why I pursued it in that way [is] when I was about 12, my grandmother, she found my first rap book… I couldn’t even curse well. It was like, ‘Shit ass damn/Will, you the man.’ Not even good cursing. My grandmother found my rap book and wrote a letter in [the] front of my book and said, ‘Dear Willard, truly intelligent people do not have to use words like these to express themselves. Please show the world that you’re as smart as we think you are. Love, Gigi.’ And that was the reason I never cursed in any of my records.”

You can check out the full episode here.

Cardi B Talks About Her Responsibility To Speak On Politics With David Letterman

If there’s only one word to describe Cardi B, “outspoken” might be it. Whether it is the unbridled confidence she brings to her music or her social media interactions, the Bronx artist is never afraid to say what is on her mind. Where some public figures use that characteristic to disrupt, the “Bodak Yellow” artist opts to contribute her thoughts to everything from the WWE to the political climate of the country and world. So, the Grammy winner sat down with David Letterman in the newly released fourth season of his Netflix series My Next Guest Needs No Introduction to discuss her responsibility to speak on political matters and keep it separate from her music.

“I don’t really put a lot of political things in my music, but I used the f*ck out of my platform,” she tells the talk show legend. “And I have used my platform even when I was a dancer. Because you might think that people are not looking, but they are.”

Cardi B has made it a point to meet with both Senator Bernie Sanders and President Joe Biden in the last few years, which Letterman admired due to how it can impact her fans.

“I mean, I’m a hood chick, and I’m from the Bronx. A lot of people relate to me and follow me because they want to see how I’m dressed, they want to see my lifestyle. I feel like I have a responsibility to also share to them like, ‘Hey, while you here and you’re checking my outfit and checking my music, check out what’s going on over here in this part of the world.’”

Letterman’s fourth season of My Next Guest Needs No Introduction also features Billie Eilish, Kevin Durant, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Ryan Reynolds, and Will Smith (whose appearance was filmed pre-slap).

Check out a clip of Cardi B’s episode above.

Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.