Miley Cyrus Stops by the Stern Show to Debut Her Holiday Duet With Robin Quivers

Wednesday’s surprise guest also tells Howard about texting with Ariana Grande, losing her home in Malibu, and her upcoming “Black Mirror” episode

December 12, 2018
Photo: The Howard Stern Show

Stern Show fans have been wondering all week who the surprise international superstar was on Robin Quivers’ newest holiday duet and on Wednesday, Howard finally revealed it to be the one, the only, Miley Cyrus!

Miley dropped by to debut her and Robin’s rendition of “Silent Night,” a song Cyrus has previously sung alongside George Clooney and Bill Murray. Performing the classic tune on the same track as Howard’s co-host, though, was an experience she’ll never forget.

“Honestly, I was honored and it was a privilege,” Miley said. “Most singers, they take all this time to warm up and all these technical things. She just goes right for it and right for the big notes.”

But as Robin previously announced, her duet with Miley will most likely be her last as she no longer wants to sing on the Stern Show, despite the rave reviews she’s received from the audience. That news did not sit well with Miley, who tried to talk Robin out of calling it quits as a recording artist.

“Please don’t retire. The industry can’t lose a voice like yours,” Miley told Robin.

Click the button (above) to hear Miley Cyrus’s full interview with Howard and her “Silent Night” duet with Robin Quivers.

Liam Hemsworth Saves the Animals

When the Woolsey Fire ripped through Southern California in November it destroyed more than 1,600 buildings throughout the region, including Miley’s home in Malibu. Miley was out of the country at the time of the wildfires and told Howard she’s yet to go back and see the damage.

“I haven’t had a ton of time to deal,” Miley said.

Countless possessions of hers were lost – some easily replaceable, others now gone forever, such as her book of handwritten lyrics for every song Miley’s ever written. “That was the hardest thing for me to lose … every song, including ‘Malibu,’ I lost because I always write it on paper,” she told Howard.

Though many outside of Malibu might think only the rich and famous live in the coastal California community, Miley explained that’s a misconception and that some of her neighbors have been living there for generations in houses hand-built by their relatives. As hard as it was to lose so much in the wildfire, she also experienced a sense of connection with those who lived around her going through the same hardship she was. To help some of those neighbors rebuild, Miley donated $500,000 to the Malibu fire relief efforts.

Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth attend the 2018 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth attend the 2018 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Photo: Shutterstock

Lucky for Miley, all of her many pets were pulled from harm’s way by actor Liam Hemsworth whom she shared the Malibu home with. Dogs, cats, and even Miley’s pigs had to be moved off the property as the blaze moved ever closer to the house. Howard asked if Liam was still Miley’s fiancé but she revealed she’s been referring to him by a different title these days: her survival partner.

“You have to come over because he’s like an amazing chef,” Miley told Howard, inviting him over to dinner so he can taste Liam’s cooking firsthand. Liam tends to make (and eat) more food than the average person would consume but somehow only gets more muscular with every meal. “I end up just smoking weed and eating and he has these weird genetics where him and his brother [Chris Hemsworth] are actually fucking superheroes … he just eats and eats and eats and he gets more ripped,” Miley said with a laugh.

Texting With Ariana Grande

Photo: Shutterstock

Miley hasn’t spent a ton of one-on-one time with fellow pop singer Ariana Grande, but she told Howard she already considers her to be a true friend.

“Anything I’ve ever asked her to be involved in … she’s always done it. So I can never say a bad thing about her because she’s always been so great,” Miley said of Ariana. “It’s not about how many hours spent or how many inside jokes you have, but it’s about the real shit.”

After Ariana went through her very public breakup from “Saturday Night Live” star and recent Stern Show guest Pete Davidson, Miley picked up her phone and sent her friend a text.

“I’m an emoji person so I just sent a bunch of hearts and the little cat with the heart eyes,” she told Howard. As for if Ariana sent any message back, Miley revealed Ariana also sent an emoji – a single cloud.

‘Nothing Breaks Like a Heart’

Last month, Miley put out the new music video for the song “Nothing Breaks Like a Heart” which she co-wrote with famed music producer Mark Ronson. The video features a lot of eye-opening shots, like a high-speed car chase, strippers performing lap dances, and a group of nuns praying by the side of the road. But perhaps the most memorable scene is of Miley climbing into the backseat of a car and giving viewers a quick glance at her backside.

“It makes people watch the video,” she told Howard. “You lure them with the ass. I always use the ass.”

Live From New York, It’s Miley

In addition to visiting the Big Apple to record a duet with Robin and chat with Howard, Miley came to New York to appear with Mark Ronson as musical guests on this weekend’s episode of “Saturday Night Live.” Miley wouldn’t rule out also appearing in one of the show’s comedy sketches, though she told Howard that might be tricky since she skipped an “SNL” meeting to appear on the Stern Show.

Miley said she’s slated to perform two songs on Saturday’s episode of the NBC show: “Nothing Breaks Like a Heart,” with Ronson, and John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s 1971 Christmas tune “Happy Xmas (War Is Over),” which she’ll perform with recording artist Sean Ono Lennon, their son.

Considering Miley made headlines with her shiny silver outfit in the “Nothing Breaks Like a Heart” music video, Howard wondered what she planned to wear while performing the song in Studio 8H. She told him she would strike a balance between femininity and masculinity by wearing an open men’s tracksuit with no shirt underneath.

Miley didn’t say what she’d wear opposite Lennon for their Christmas duet, but she raved about Sean’s skills as a musician. “He’s really inherited magic,” Miley said, telling Howard “every hair on her body” stands up when she hears him sing. She also said she and Sean would be recording a studio version of “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” later in the day, and it would be releasing it later in the week.

Miley on ‘Black Mirror’?

Before becoming a Grammy-winning music superstar, Miley was of course an actress who at a young age starred on Disney’s “Hannah Montana” and even appeared in the Tim Burton film “Big Fish.”

During Wednesday’s interview she told Howard she was acting once again, confirming reports she’s starring on an episode of Netflix’s genre-bending anthology series “Black Mirror.”

Miley said she recently filmed her scenes in South Africa and the shoot went great. “It was the first time that I’ve left somewhere feeling really proud of my work,” she told Howard.

She didn’t spoil any plot details and in fact couldn’t even mention the show by name, but she did offer insight into her role. “I play one character, but I play a lot of different sides of that character and there’s a lot of dimension to it,” Miley said.

She also revealed her performance was affected by the fires in Malibu which raged on while she was filming overseas. “I learned a lot about myself and I think I was able to kind of use that and put that into it,” she said. “Maybe I love it because I loved the memory attached to it because somehow art and life were imitating each other the whole time.

Watch Miley Cyrus’s music video “Nothing Breaks Like a Heart” here.