In the two years after her mega-hit show ended, Miley Cyrus has gotten engaged, shaved her head, made a couple of movies and is about to drop a hugely anticipated album. Now, this uncensored star answers to nobody but herself.

The room I’m in with Miley Cyrus, just off the entryway of her mansion in Toluca Lake, Los Angeles, used to house her dad’s guitars. Recently refurbished, now it’s one hundred percent Miley: a room stocked with mementos that show who this former child star used to be and who she is now, at age 20.

There’s a picture of 5-year-old Miley sitting in the lap of her dad, Billy Ray, at SeaWorld. Nearby is a photo of her in a passionate clinch with Hunger Games star Liam Hemsworth, taken mere hours after they got engaged. A book of art from Tim Burton, who directed Miley in her first film, Big Fish, dominates a table, while a cast photo from her new movie, So Undercover, sits on a book shelf a little farther away. Under that photo is a tree branch that Miley’s former security guard expertly carved into the shape of a guitar’s headstock and fretboard–a reminder that Miley will soon release a buzzed-about new album, her first since wrapping the show that made her famous.

The room can barely contain the energetic star, who tries to settle in a chair, then bounds up to perch on its armrest, and at other times, leans in to show off the contents of her iPhone, filled with pictures of Liam, her dogs, and screenshots from the TV movie Liz and Dick. She’s dressed casually in a plaid button-down, but her hair is white blonde and shaved on the sides, the kind of look that can be rocked only by a woman who’s truly confident in herself. Whatever else she is, that’s Miley.

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