Noah Cyrus found it “absolutely unbearable” growing up in her sister Miley’s shadow.
The 20-year-old singer dropped her new EP The End of Everything on Friday, with the record including her new single Young & Sad. The tune sparked concern among fans due to lyrics including “My sister’s like sunshine, bringing good light wherever she’ll go/ and I was born to rain clouds, blessed in her shadows”, and Noah opened up about the meaning behind the song during an Instagram Live session on Saturday.
Struggling to control her emotions as she spoke to her fans, Noah explained: “I think just the message in the second verse, being born in the family I was in, everyone gave me such a hard time for having a hard time being Miley’s little sister. But you know, I always felt like I was that person that no one gave a s**t about due to what people said to me online.
“It was absolutely unbearable. And that’s why I write, ‘My sister’s like sunshine, bringing good light wherever she’ll go/and I was born to rain clouds, blessed in her shadows.’ Because, that’s why everybody always says to me, that no matter what, I was going to be in that shadow.”
The constant comparison to Miley meant that Noah “always believed” she’d never be able to escape from her sibling’s shadow – a thought that was hard for her to get over.
“That was something I heard my whole life, every single day, my whole life. It was either that or that I wasn’t enough in some way, whether it was the way I look or the way I am. Like I said the other day, sometimes I feel like I don’t even breathe right sometimes,” she continued.
“Basically, that is what the song is about, and I just wanted to open up about that once and for all, because that’s been a big part of my life, and I probably won’t talk about it anymore. I just wanted to put it out.”
Breaking down in tears, Noah concluded: “Everybody always says you’re giving the people power by seeing it, but I can’t control seeing it. You guys are young, you know the internet. It’s been really tough on me, so that song is just pretty tough to get through.”