Destiny Hope “Miley” Cyrus is 14 years old. She sings, dances and acts with
corn-fed vim. And she believes that “pink isn’t just a colour, it’s an
attitude”.
If you are a tween girl in America or Europe (or the relative of one) you will
probably know all these things. You will also be an avid watcher of Hannah
Montana, the Disney Channel show in which Cyrus plays a girl with a
double life. By day she is Miley Stewart, a mild-mannered girl-next-door
(brunette – hair colour is important). By night she is Hannah Montana, a
“teen pop sensation” (and blonde). Nobody knows her secret except her close
friends and family, including her Dad, who is also her manager and who –
rather neatly – is played by her real father, the country music star Billy
Ray Cyrus.
Hannah Montana is the current figurehead of Disney’s global marketing
juggernaut. Last year she trumped the Beatles and Elvis by having seven
singles simultaneously in the Billboard singles chart, and now her
first album is poised to go platinum in the UK. This week she came to Europe
for the first time, visiting London and Paris to promote her new DVD.
Cyrus Sr had to remain in Los Angeles, where he is currently appearing
alongside Heather Mills McCartney in Dancing with the Stars.
11:40am. New Look Store, Oxford Street
A fleet of silver cars disgorges Cyrus’s entourage, which includes several
publicists, a frizzy-haired male stylist and a pair of lantern-jawed Disney
bigwigs. But there’s no Miley herself, who has clearly mastered the art of
the diva entrance.
While we wait, Adam Sanderson, Disney’s senior vice-president of brand
marketing, talks about how excited he is to be “kicking off the European
roll-out”. Hannah Montana, he says, “has quickly grown into a
multiplatform business for the Walt Disney Company. It’s something that all
kids can relate to, whether they live in Boston or Bom-bay. The ideas need
to be big enough to work everywhere.”
When casting began, Cyrus was living with her family on a 500-acre ranch in
Tennes-see. “But she kept coming out to Hollywood and sending audition
tapes. She was very, very persistent.”
He pauses. The multiplatform franchise has arrived, resplendent in orange
boots, kaftan and five-megaton smile. “I’m just really glad to be here!”
Cyrus beams as a flunky applies lip gloss. The man from New Look leads her
on a whistle-stop tour of the store and presents her with a goody bag.
“Awesome! Thank you so much!” she gushes, pulling a face of astonished delight
that melts as instantly as it was summoned. A crowd has gathered. “She
actually talks like that?” a teenaged girl asks her friend, and lampoons
Cyrus’s “Thank yew!”
12 noon. Sightseeing tour, Central London
Team Montana boards an open-topped bus, and Cyrus holds court from the back
seat with her best friend, Tori. I have been allotted interview time, but
first up is ten-year-old Alex Stowcroft, who is quizzing her idol for The
Paul O’Grady Show. I ask Alex for insider tween gossip, but she
remains professionally tight-lipped. Also on board is Kelly Bryant, who is
covering the trip for America’s Teen magazine. “Miley is a
blessing to my industry,” she says. “For a long time we didn’t have anyone
who was really huge. Every little girl knows who she is. She’s genuinely a
good role model.”
First stop is Buckingham Palace, where Cyrus makes a young American tourist’s
day by posing for a photograph. Tori is on the phone to a friend: “We’re in
front of the Kingdom Palace!”
Back on the bus I get my time with Cyrus. The persistence that Sanderson
mentioned has paid off, I suggest. She nods: “If there’s a will there’s a
way, that’s what my Dad always says about me. It’s about getting what you
want done and having a great time while you’re doing it.”
Does she identify with Montana’s double life? “Totally. In real life I just
chill out with my friends and then I get on stage and this whole other
person comes out!”
She breaks off suddenly: “ Dirty Dancing!” She has spotted a sign
for the West End musical, and turns to her manager, Jason Morey. “Jason, if
you want to do one thing for me, you can take me to see Dirty Dancing
on Broadway. That, and the London Eye. And take me shopping!”
That’s three things, Jason points out. “Whatever!” Cyrus shoots back. “You’ll
get it easy in Paris . . .”
2pm. The American Church, Tottenham Court Road
We stop for a buffet lunch. Cyrus makes a beeline for the fruit, shunning the
evil carbs. Then it’s time for a barefoot rehearsal of the songs she will be
performing at tonight’s gig. Halfway through, the backing track cuts out.
“Sorry guys!” says the technician.
“That’s quite all right,” Cyrus shoots back in her best English accent, to
laughter from her dancers and four-piece band, which includes her elder
sister, Brandi. “It’s a good way for Miley and me to spend time together,
since she works so much,” Brandi says. “When she’s not on set she’s in the
studio, when she’s not in the studio she has dance rehearsals.”
Does her more successful Cyrus sibling ever have to be taken down a peg?
Brandi laughs: “Maybe sometimes.”
4pm. HMV, Oxford Steet
At the front of a 200-strong queue outside the record store is Zoyah Ahmed,
12, who has been there since six that morning to have Cyrus sign a copy of
her new DVD, Hannah Montana: Behind the Spotlight. “Why? Because
she’s a teen pop sensation,” Zoyah explains patiently.
The dichotomy between Hannah and Miley is key to the appeal, but she prefers
Miley because her hair is nicer. Zoyah’s father Mohammed admits that he has
started to watch the show too. “But I’m not singing any of the songs for
you. I’d need a couple of bevvies before I do that.”
There is a torrent of tween screams as Cyrus emerges from a white stretch limo
and enters the store, which is packed with fans, many of whom have been
issued with blonde wigs and microphones. “My daughter’s mad about her,” a
security guard admits. Last week’s rock band filled only two aisles, he
says; Cyrus has filled five.
6pm. Koko, Camden High Street
Disney have pushed the boat out for the 500 competition winners and local
schoolchildren who have been invited to see Hannah Montana play live in the
UK for the first time. Inside the club there is a red carpet, chocolate
fountains and indoor fireworks, and Cyrus is introduced by the former Atomic
Kitten Natasha Hamilton, no less.
Wave after wave of ear-drum-endangering screams reverberate round the venue as
she skips through her repertoire, including her double-life anthem, Best
of Both Worlds. The biggest cheers, however, are the ones that greet the
offer of a Disney goody bag for every guest.
