Miley Cyrus On Filming ‘The Last Song’: ‘I Felt So Alive’

Miley Cyrus was happy to get out of the media spotlight to film the coming of age drama, “The Last Song,” the star told the February 2010 issue of Harper’s Bazaar.

“I got on the plane [to Georgia], and I was lying in my mom’s lap and crying and saying, ‘I’m so happy to be getting out of LA,’ she told the mag. “I went out every night with my friends. I did karaoke. I danced. All this stuff would’ve been such a big deal in Los Angeles: Who’s she with? Why is she dancing? I felt so alive and real.”

And getting out of LA helped the young star find herself.

“It’s so much easier to know who you are when there aren’t a thousand people telling you who they think you are. I felt like I was really figuring myself out,” she said. “Usually I have someone whispering in my ear, but I was on my own.”

Miley has been under superstar-sized pressure in recent months, drawing controversy for subjects ranging from a 2009 performance that appeared to include a pole dance and a June 2008 Vanity Fair photo by Annie Leibovitz that depicted the teen with a bare back.

“Here, my parents are thinking they’re seeing a beautiful photograph by a major photographer, and the people of America want to see something dirty in that?” Miley said. “It doesn’t make sense to us because [my family] doesn’t look for negativity. But people don’t want to say ‘What a great performance’ or ‘What a great shot.” No one wants to look at something like that and see the positive because it doesn’t sell a magazine.”

Still, the star said she’s happy to be a role model to her young fans – but that doesn’t mean she’s right every time.

“My job is to be a role model, and that’s what I want to do, but my job isn’t to be a parent,” she said. “My job isn’t to tell your kids how to act or how not to act, because I’m still figuring that out for myself. So to take that away from me is a bit selfish. Your kids are going to make mistakes whether I do or not. That’s just life.”

“The Last Song” is due in April.