Miley Cyrus took the VMAs stage last weekend to perform her latest single, “Midnight Sky,” while riding a giant disco ball. Behind the scenes, however, not everything went as she wanted. During a recent appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Cyrus explained that a disagreement over performance lighting led to what she described as a sexist experience working with show directors.
Cyrus noted that she asked for no “beauty light” on her set, which is used to illuminate a performer’s face.
“The beauty light is always used on women,” she noted. “And I said, ‘Turn the f-cking lights off. You would never tell Travis Scott or Adam Levine that he couldn’t turn the beauty light off. I want this red lighting.’ And they said, ‘Okay, okay. We’ll do the same thing that we do with the guys.’ Because that’s what I want.”
Soon after, however, the subject came up again. “My bracelets kept getting caught in all this sh-t. And they said, ‘Oh you wanted to be treated like a guy and lit like a guy. We wouldn’t be dealing with this if a guy was doing it,’” she recalled. “And I said, ‘A guy wouldn’t be doing this. Because a guy doesn’t sell your show with sex the way that I’m going to.’ And I’m aware of that… I had this conversation with the directors talking to me. It’s a ridiculous conversation, also embarrassing.”
Cyrus compared her request to that of Kanye West, who is known for having very particular taste when it comes to lighting and stage design.
“The balance that I’ve found is firm and kind. I don’t lose my kindness, but also don’t become a mat, but I am firm about what I want,” she said. “In a way, you might expect someone [to say] ‘She was a diva, she was a b-tch,’ but okay like have The Weeknd come in here and say the same thing, or Kanye is like a creative God and it’s like, come on, why am I not getting that I’m a creative mastermind but I’m becoming a b-tch? No one would ever say that about Kanye West choosing what lighting he wants on a performance.”
The pop singer’s performance of “Midnight Sky” earned positive reviews and has racked up over five million YouTube views. She even channeled her famous “Wrecking Ball” video by riding a giant disco ball during the performance:
Cyrus reflected on the influence of the VMAs, where she’s delivered several career-defining performances. “The VMAs is a pop culture show celebrating pop culture, and I wanted to bring that especially in this time of COVID-19 [with] all these at-home performances,” she said. “I want to give my fans escapism good old pop culture. This is surrealism.”
Catch up on all the lyrics to Miley Cyrus' “Midnight Sky” on Genius now.
