"There is no one in the world that hasn’t had their heart broken," says Miley Cyrus, someone who has seen her love life discussed more times than her music of late.
The former child star, engaged to Aussie actor Liam Hemsworth (despite various break-up reports), is preparing to release her first 'grown-up album' since stepping out of Hannah Montana's shoes and admits she's nervous about putting it all out there. Heartbreak and all.
Talking about her ballad 'Wrecking Ball', which fans are yet to hear but she says is a song for "everyone to cry to", Cyrus worries because "people dissect everything".
"They are going to try and know who and what it’s about," she says, as she sits curled up on a sofa in a white-washed East London studio.
Her latest single, 'We Can't Stop', got everyone talking with its raunchy video depicting the type of hedonistic party scenes expected from a rock star and not a former Disney sweetheart. But Miley reassures us her whole album won't be presented this way…
"'We Can’t Stop’ was so chaotic… I want to bring 'Wrecking Ball' down to a real ballad and something that is really talking to my fans."
The chirpy 20-year-old, who speaks at an alarming rate, is honest and unapologetic about her talent. There's a reason why two years ago she was named #1 on the Top 10 Richest Teens in Hollywood, with $120 million - and it's not just because her dad is the country singer Bill Ray Cyrus.
Miley courts controversy with just the right amount of headline-grabbing ways, while keeping her millions of fans happy, and she's already got her eye on her next hit while people are still talking about 'We Can't Stop'.
"I think ‘Wrecking Ball’ will probably go pretty massive just because everyone in the world has felt that feeling at some point. There is no one in the world that hasn’t had their heart broken, even if it’s not what you’re going through right then,” she explains.
I ask Miley, who despite being 'dressed down' in a white sweater still has on her trademark-of-late red lipstick, how she copes with heartbreak - is music her therapy?
“It is like having therapy, it will be like a four-hour conversation just to write a song because you just have to go through every detail.
"That’s kind of how I wrote 'Drive' [another track off her new album], not about what I was going through right at that moment but things I had gone through, so that’s even harder because you’ve got to dig like therapy."
And despite her new tough girl image, Miley's not averse to shedding a few tears: "I always come out of there having cried and cracked up. Sometimes in the booth - I’m like teared up even thinking about it - people will say ‘we need you to cry on this one girl’ like on 'Drive'… it’s stressful in the studio when it comes to writing those songs."
From a first listen to a handful of tracks from Miley's forthcoming album, it's clear she has left the syrupy sweet pop days behind her, does she agree?
“I definitely think this record has to be honest and first impressions are everything. So I’m taking this as me being a new artist… I want people to now know me as this rather than what they might have in the past.
"It's not about my show anymore but people think I’m this person who went from being on TV to just like partying in LA and that isn’t what I do.
"I go out and have fun and be crazy but I focus when I have to do work, I’m the most driven person you’ll ever meet. I haven’t lost my priorities. I work hard and I play really hard."
WATCH: Miley Cyrus's 'We Can't Stop' video below. The single is out on 4 August and you can pre-order it on iTunes now...