Smash hit

“But if I would have been told that I couldn’t have been able to chase my dreams at such a young age…” Stalker alert over, she’s picked up where we left off, albeit in a scatter-gun way. Basically, Miley wants to raise money to help find a cancer cure “to give these kids an opportunity to live their dreams. ’Cause the future is all about the young ones now.” So says the 15-year-old.

The opening episode in the first season of Hannah Montana premiered on the Disney Channel on March 24, 2006. It was astutely scheduled before a rerun of High School Musical, and, in fact, featured a cameo from Corbin Taylor, who plays Chad in that hugely successful film franchise. It was watched by 5.4 million viewers. Miley knew it was a hit straight away.

“I was on Google every five seconds, getting Google Alerts! Same thing as I do for my records.” This tiny tycoon is “always constantly watching the numbers. One more CD will sell and I’ll know. People say, ‘Oh, the numbers aren’t important.’ Yes they are! I wanna know how many people are seeing that episode. For me it’s all about the love of acting and the love of music. But then again, when you see three million, four million, five million pop up on your screen, and say that you’re doing that single-handedly, it’s pretty insane. ’Cause it wasn’t like I just got an easy free ride.”

She’s currently filming a third season of Hannah Montana, and has already completed a big-screen version, to be released next spring. Why has the show been so successful?

“It’s not just showing a pop star who goes out at night and parties and gets to do cool concerts and get free clothes. It’s about making a CD and having someone go to City of Hope and singing for kids with cancer who say the only time they smile is listening to my records. That’s the biggest reward. Nothing that money can buy or a CD can sell. That is something you never forget.”

Don’t worry if you’re a little confused as to where Miley Stewart ends and Miley Cyrus begins. I am, too, and I’ve spent a lot of time in both worlds recently. But one thing is clear: this is a preternaturally “on it” child star with the clear potential to financially outgun all her predecessors, whether original Mouseketeer Britney Spears, former child actor Lindsay Lohan, Disney poppet Hilary Duff, or pan-media entrepreneurs Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.

Little wonder that the realities of Miley Cyrus’s adolescent life – a seemingly semi-nude photoshoot in Vanity Fair and some saucy pics posted on MySpace – have this year been causing such tremors.

Miley Cyrus toured before she walked. When she was just a baby she accompanied Billy Ray Cyrus on the road. Her first memory is of being onstage at an Elvis Presley tribute concert, being passed among the star performers, including Aretha Franklin. Back then she still went by her birth name, Destiny Hope – even in naming her, her parents had big dreams for their baby daughter. Soon the infant’s perennially happy demeanour led to her being nicknamed Smiley, which in turn became Miley. Earlier this year she legally changed her name to Miley, and is now in the process of trademarking the name. (“Why? Why not?”)

She began acting aged seven, eventually landing a recurring part in Doc, a TV series about a country doctor in New York, in which her dad had the lead role. Did she always think she was going to be a famous entertainer?

“Yeah, that’s what I always wanted to do. I never knew if it would be possible but if I’d have ever been told there was no way, I don’t know what I would have done. It just gives you such hope and independence and you feel so… You know, you feel like a superhero! You feel like you can do anything.”

Billy Ray has talked about how his pre-teen daughter would go for audition after audition, and weathered rejection after rejection. But she never gave in, even when he gently reminded her that she was only a kid and there was plenty of time. That drive, she acknowledges, was the product of a pure ambition that coursed through her even at a young age.

“I’ve always been ambitious, and my dad’s been really inspiring to me. He grew up around music, but he didn’t even think he wanted to be an artist until he was older. And I figured that out when I was little, just watching him. And so he was being the protective dad, wanting me to wait till I’m a little bit older. ’Cause maybe it won’t hurt so badly when you get let down. But it makes you so much stronger. If I would have just been told yes every time, or if I would have gotten a handicap, for being Billy Ray Cyrus’s daughter, it wouldn’t have been near as important. I had to work for it myself.”

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