Pop

Miley Cyrus looked back on her Bangerz era — and all the controversy it caused in the early 2010s — in a new cover story for British Vogue published Thursday (May 18).

In the interview, the superstar maintained that she’s “not an attention-seeking person, sitting here as a 30-year-old grown woman” despite the zeitgeist-defining moments of her youth, from that fully nude music video for “Wrecking Ball” to twerking on Robin Thicke in nothing but latex at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards.

“I was creating attention for myself because I was dividing myself from a character I had played,” she explained, referencing her start as Hannah Montana. “Anyone, when you’re 20 or 21, you have more to prove. ‘I’m not my parents.’ ‘I am who I am.’

Cyrus also admitted that she “carried some guilt and shame” for several years after releasing Bangerz because of the public scandal of it all, but these days she gives herself more grace. “Now that I’m an adult, I realize how harshly I was judged,” she tells the U.K. magazine. “I was harshly judged as a child by adults and now, as an adult, I realize that I would never harshly judge a child.”

More than a decade on from Bangerz, the singer is still riding the wave of her latest album Endless Summer Vacation and is mammoth lead single, “Flowers.” In fact, just this week, Cyrus unveiled the sultry music video of her latest single off the record, “Jaded,” but that doesn’t mean she’s not looking to new music that will inevitably come in the (possibly near) future. As the profile closes out, she revealed that an unnamed songwriter recently pitched a track for her to record.

“It was like, you know, the standard f–ked up in the club track. And I was like, ‘I’m two years sober. That’s not where I spend my time, you know,’ she explains, adding that the experience inspired her to write a completely different new song with lyrics she teased in the sit-down: “I know I used to be crazy/ I know I used to be fun/ You say I used to be wild/ I say I used to be young.”

Check out Cyrus’ stunning British Vogue cover below.

Taylor Lautner is learning that “speak now” isn’t always the best advice. In a new interview, the actor acknowledged that his recent viral comment on TODAY about “praying” for John Mayer ahead of Taylor Swift‘s upcoming Speak Now re-release may not have been the right thing to say in hindsight, and clarified that he was 100% kidding when he said it.

“I don’t know if it was the wisest thing to say,” he confessed Wednesday (May 17) on SiriusXM’s The Happy Hour. “I was definitely joking. Clearly it’s taken off.”

Lautner also said that, while he didn’t initially realize how far his words would travel, his “diehard Swiftie” wife — who’s also named Taylor Lautner — knew immediately what the outcome would be. “She’s like, that’s gonna really trigger the Swifties,” he continued. “Or, I mean, they’re supportive of it because, I mean, I don’t know. I personally think John is a very talented musician, but I am aware of a couple songs that were on that album.”

The main song in question would be “Dear John,” a blistering ballad widely believed to be about Mayer, whom Swift dated in 2009. The nearly seven-minute track portrays its subject in an extremely negative light, outlining a toxic relationship plagued by imbalanced power dynamics and emotional manipulation — which is why Swifties, though generally amused by Lautner’s comment, probably don’t think Mayer deserves any prayers on his behalf.

Lautner first said he was “praying for John” in an interview with TODAY earlier this week, after which he posted a TikTok once again saying he was “#prayingforjohn.” In the video, he filmed himself literally getting down on his knees and pressing his hands together to pray while “Dear John” plays in the background.

The Twilight star had also remarked in the original TODAY interview that he felt he was “safe” from Swiftie hate ahead of the July 7 release of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version). That’s because the song he inspired on the original Speak Now after dating Swift in 2009, “Back to December,” showcases him in a much more positive light than “Dear John” does its main character; in fact, it’s a rare confession from the “Anti-Hero” singer that she was the wrongdoer in the relationship.

“It turns out freedom ain’t nothin’ but missin’ you/ Wishin’ I’d realized what I had when you were mine,” she sings on the 2010 track.

Listen to Taylor Lautner reflect on his “praying for John” comment in the video above.