Noah Cyrus Opens Up About Substance Abuse and Finding Her Own Voice in a Famous Family

As fans count down the days until Noah Cyrus shares her latest album, The Hardest Part, she sat down with Billboard’s Tetris Kelly to share why this album is set to be her most vulnerable yet. The 22-year-old singer delved into some heavy topics, including drug use and struggling to find her own identity as an artist outside of Miley and Billy Ray Cyrus’ shadow.

“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.”

When talking about her famous family, Cyrus said that she slowly feels like she’s coming into her own. “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 sister and father, “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.

“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,” she said.

Cyrus’ second album is slated for release on September 16 via Columbia. She has teased the album with three singles—”I Burned L.A. Down,” “Mr. Percocet” and “Ready to Go.”

Watch “Mr. Percocet” below.

Photo Credit: Walker Bunting