The Life of Miley

At 23, Miley Cyrus has already been Nashville royalty, a Disney-made mogul, a tabloid plaything, a best-selling recording artist, a twerking exhibitionist, a hot dog– riding rock star, an Instagram performance artist, and, with her foundation, Happy Hippie, a champion of homeless and LGBTQ teens. Now, as she steps into her first TV gig since Hannah Montana wrapped in 2011, we find a full-fledged woman who understands her power—there’s a lot of it!—and is determined to put it to good use.

- Amanda FitzSimons

MILEY CYRUS HAS THIS TERM:“doing it.” It roughly translates to “trying” or “acting”—and it’s not a compliment. Because, in Miley World, one of the worst things you can be is disingenuous. (People who suck up to her because she’s famous are “doing it”; the notoriously curmudgeonly Woody Allen, who directed her in this fall’s Amazon series, Crisis in Six Scenes, is, according to Cyrus, “not doing it.”)