Harrison Ford talked Miley Cyrus out of playing new music in forests, singer says

Miley Cyrus is preparing to release her ninth studio album, Something Beautiful — but in a very different way than she intended.

The “Flowers” singer has revealed that some unexpected feedback from Harrison Ford changed her ambitious plans for the record’s tour.

“I’ve known Harrison Ford for quite a while — just growing up in Disney, and [we’ve] been in the same circles,” Cyrus told host Zane Lowe in a recent episode of Apple Music’s Zane Lowe Interview. “And he goes, ‘So what are you up to? Are you in the studio making an album, or what are you doing?’ I said, ‘Well, I have an idea … I could show you.'”

She continued, “I show him my idea of Somewhere Beautiful, which is performing in all the forests and at the pyramids and all these things. He goes, ‘You really want to go and set up in a forest? And do what?’ He’s like, ‘You going to bring a crew? … Looks expensive.'”

Ford’s very on-brand, no-nonsense input struck a chord with Cyrus, who told Lowe she went back to her team and announced, “We’re not performing in the forest anymore. Harrison Ford made a lot of sense.”

So instead of touring, Cyrus has created a big visual component for the album, similar to what artists like Beyoncé have done in recent years. “That’s why I want to create this film — the film is my way of touring,” the Disney alum said.

Something Beautiful will be released on May 30, while the movie of the same name is set to premiere at the Tribeca Festival on June 6 and hit cinemas for one night only, on June 12.

Cyrus explained that she’s releasing the film in theaters so that it’s something fans can watch “night after night after night” and feel like they’re part of the performance. But it also helps keep her from taxing herself by singing live night after night after night after being diagnosed with Reinke’s edema.

The rare condition causes fluid to build up in the outer layer of one’s vocal folds, which in turn causes their voice to sound deeper and raspier. It has given Cyrus the pipes she uses on hits like “Flowers,” “Wrecking Ball,” and “Used to Be Young,” but as Cyrus wryly noted, “Being 21 and staying up and drinking and smoking and partying after every show does not help.” However, she added, that didn’t lead to her condition, which she says “is a part of my unique anatomy.”

It’s complicated for the singer, because she doesn’t want her trademark sound to change if she treats the condition. (She noted that even when she hides under a hat or wears a mask at the grocery store, people still recognize her the moment she speaks.)

“I have this large polyp on my cords, and I’m not willing to sever it, ever, because the chance of waking up from a surgery and not sounding like myself is a probability,” she said, explaining that the polyp has given her “a lot of the tone and the texture that has made me who I am.”

Watch Cyrus recall how Ford changed her extravagant plans for Something Beautiful above.