Hannah Montana had only been on the air for a few months when I went to a benefit for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS fFoundation. I remember the exact date, June 11 2006. It was the day I met my first love. Let’s call him Prince Charming. I don’t want to use his name because this isn’t about who he is or what I meant to him. It’s about how I felt and what our relationship meant to me. Know what I mean?
So we were at this benefit, and I didn’t know anything about this prince, except I knew from a friend that he thought I was pretty. He came up to me with a bunch of guy friends and introduced himself. Instantly, I wanted them all to go away just to be with him. He started to shake my hand, and I said “I don’t do handshakes, I do hugs.” When he hugged me, I noticed his scratchy shirt and I blurted out: “I hate your shirt!” So that was the first thing I said to him: “I hate your shirt.”
I had an insta-crush, so what do I do? Did I act smooth? Nope! I asked him to do karaoke with me and put our names down for “I Wanna Be Like You” from the Jungle Book. It would have been a funny, silly song to do together. But when the song came on, I couldn’t find him, so I had to do it all by myself. Let’s say people were laughing at me, not with me.
Later that night, he and his friends were going out, and he invited me along. My mom said she didn’t want me out too late. I guess I had a busy day the next day. I asked her if I could go out for just a little while. She said fine. So Brandi and I ended up going to dinner with Prince Charming and his friends. I remember it took me forever to get dressed, but when I finally ran downstairs, I was wearing sweats. I didn’t want to look like I was trying too hard. Believe me, they were just the right sweats.
After dinner, we talked on the phone. He asked me what my beliefs were. I said, “I’m a hard-core Christian.” He said, “Thats what we call ourselves in my family.” I thought it was a sign. We were on the phone that night until four in the morning. And just like that, I was smitten. It felt like the whole world stopped. Nothing else mattered. I know it sounds silly, but my family doesn’t set rules around love. My mammie met her husband on a Monday, and they got married on a Friday. They were together for twenty seven years. My mom doesn’t believe there’s such thing as being too young or too naive to be in love. In my family, when you fall in love, that’s it. No one called it puppy love, or made fun of me.
He really was my Prince Charming, and I knew it right away. You should have seen the sappy smile on my face when I hung up the phone that first night. I was mush. I slept holding the phone close to my cheek as if it would keep him close. From the very beginning, we were best friends. We talked all the time. He lived on the East Coast, but would fly to Los Angeles, and i’d see him when I was in New York. Then he moved to L.A, to a house, get this, a few blocks from mine, and everything got more intense and more fun. Suddenly, we were neighbors. It felt natural and so easy. He’d ask me to come over at five in the morning to say Hi before I went to work, and i’d just walk down the street.
In the beginning, we’d play basketball in my backyard, or play Nintento at his place. His family always made yummy Italian food for dinner. I love to ride my bike, and he would walk along next to me as I rode, singing “My Girl.” But instead of “My Girl,” he’d sing “Miley, talkin’ bout Miley.” Wow! I was so in love. Do you know what i’m talking about? The kind of love where the sun could shine or not shine all day long and you wouldn’t care. The kind of love that makes you want to jump in the pool in December. The kind of love that makes you want to dance in the rain. (Who am I kidding? This is L.A. It never rains!) This was the most magical journey of my life and it was a total rush.
You would think Prince Charming would distract me from my work, but it was actually kind of the opposite. I was in love, I had a lot to say about it, and good thing, because I needed to write a whole album of songs, pronto. At this point, Prince Charming and I were almost a year, and things were mostly good. So lots of the songs on Meet Miley Cyrus were songs for him, and about him. I’d call him every night and say, “I wrote you another song!” People might wonder how I could write so many songs about one boy, but I knew I could write a bajillion songs. Actually, now that I think about it, most of the songs on that album were about Prince Charming.
Don’t get me wrong. The relationship wasn’t perfect. But I think about it a lot like the farm, and how everything is so tranquil there. Yes, there are storms, but even the storms feel natural, like part of what is meant to be. I would always let the storms carry me away. On the other hand, sometimes you would rather have endless days of blue skies.
At some point, we decided that we needed to take a break. I thought we were going to break up for good. I was so brokenhearted that I wrote “Girls Night Out” to make myself smile. But immediately afterward, I wrote “Right Here” to play for him as a way to tell him: No matter what, i’ll be there for you. No matter where we are in life. Some of the songs on the album, like “Clear,” are what I think of as “pre-breakup” songs, where i’m imagining what it would be like to break up and how much that would suck, and kind of taking on that emotion.
The Egg Roll was around the time I wrote “Girls Night Out,” meaning Prince Charming and I were on a break. We were young and living strange lives. But it just so happened he was also at the Egg Roll. The instant I saw Prince Charming, my heart did a cartwheel. (I was doing a lot of actual and metaphoric tumbling that day!) It didn’t matter how we fought, what was said, how hard it might be, or if we were taking “time.” There was no question in my heart, we were back together. Or we’d never broken up. The point was, everything was right in the world.
Prince Charming and I broke up on December 19th, 2007. The hardest day ever. My life felt like it had ground to a halt, but the rest of the world kept right on rolling. I was on tour. People were counting on me, but my heart was dizzy. I’ve always used words to connect with people, and i’ve always felt that if I just let the words flow, said what came to me, it would be from the heart and it would be understood. The day before the tour ended, I wrote ten pages, front and back, about why I loved Prince Charming. When I love someone, I love them with everything in me. But when the loves not there anymore, what do you do? Deep down I knew we weren’t being our best selves, and that was what I wanted, and I thought I deserved in a relationship. To be my best self and bring out the best in someone else.
But still, I was angry when I wrote “7 Things.” I wanted to punish him, to get back at him for hurting me. It starts with a list of what I “hate.” But i’m not a hater. My heart knew from the start that it was going to turn into a love song. Why does he get a love song? Because I don’t hate him. I won’t let myself hate anybody. That’s not the way my heart works. It’s a song about how I should hate him, but I don’t, and I don’t know why. It’s a song about forgiving, not forgetting. Here’s what I feel: It’d hard to imagine that our love is a story with an end. But you know, at least i’m getting some good songs out of it.
The last time I saw Prince Charming, we hugged. I closed my eyes for a moment. It was a strange hug, but I did not want to let go. In that moment, I wanted to imagine that it was two years ago, and things were the way they used to be.
So we were at this benefit, and I didn’t know anything about this prince, except I knew from a friend that he thought I was pretty. He came up to me with a bunch of guy friends and introduced himself. Instantly, I wanted them all to go away just to be with him. He started to shake my hand, and I said “I don’t do handshakes, I do hugs.” When he hugged me, I noticed his scratchy shirt and I blurted out: “I hate your shirt!” So that was the first thing I said to him: “I hate your shirt.”
I had an insta-crush, so what do I do? Did I act smooth? Nope! I asked him to do karaoke with me and put our names down for “I Wanna Be Like You” from the Jungle Book. It would have been a funny, silly song to do together. But when the song came on, I couldn’t find him, so I had to do it all by myself. Let’s say people were laughing at me, not with me.
Later that night, he and his friends were going out, and he invited me along. My mom said she didn’t want me out too late. I guess I had a busy day the next day. I asked her if I could go out for just a little while. She said fine. So Brandi and I ended up going to dinner with Prince Charming and his friends. I remember it took me forever to get dressed, but when I finally ran downstairs, I was wearing sweats. I didn’t want to look like I was trying too hard. Believe me, they were just the right sweats.
After dinner, we talked on the phone. He asked me what my beliefs were. I said, “I’m a hard-core Christian.” He said, “Thats what we call ourselves in my family.” I thought it was a sign. We were on the phone that night until four in the morning. And just like that, I was smitten. It felt like the whole world stopped. Nothing else mattered. I know it sounds silly, but my family doesn’t set rules around love. My mammie met her husband on a Monday, and they got married on a Friday. They were together for twenty seven years. My mom doesn’t believe there’s such thing as being too young or too naive to be in love. In my family, when you fall in love, that’s it. No one called it puppy love, or made fun of me.
He really was my Prince Charming, and I knew it right away. You should have seen the sappy smile on my face when I hung up the phone that first night. I was mush. I slept holding the phone close to my cheek as if it would keep him close. From the very beginning, we were best friends. We talked all the time. He lived on the East Coast, but would fly to Los Angeles, and i’d see him when I was in New York. Then he moved to L.A, to a house, get this, a few blocks from mine, and everything got more intense and more fun. Suddenly, we were neighbors. It felt natural and so easy. He’d ask me to come over at five in the morning to say Hi before I went to work, and i’d just walk down the street.
In the beginning, we’d play basketball in my backyard, or play Nintento at his place. His family always made yummy Italian food for dinner. I love to ride my bike, and he would walk along next to me as I rode, singing “My Girl.” But instead of “My Girl,” he’d sing “Miley, talkin’ bout Miley.” Wow! I was so in love. Do you know what i’m talking about? The kind of love where the sun could shine or not shine all day long and you wouldn’t care. The kind of love that makes you want to jump in the pool in December. The kind of love that makes you want to dance in the rain. (Who am I kidding? This is L.A. It never rains!) This was the most magical journey of my life and it was a total rush.
You would think Prince Charming would distract me from my work, but it was actually kind of the opposite. I was in love, I had a lot to say about it, and good thing, because I needed to write a whole album of songs, pronto. At this point, Prince Charming and I were almost a year, and things were mostly good. So lots of the songs on Meet Miley Cyrus were songs for him, and about him. I’d call him every night and say, “I wrote you another song!” People might wonder how I could write so many songs about one boy, but I knew I could write a bajillion songs. Actually, now that I think about it, most of the songs on that album were about Prince Charming.
Don’t get me wrong. The relationship wasn’t perfect. But I think about it a lot like the farm, and how everything is so tranquil there. Yes, there are storms, but even the storms feel natural, like part of what is meant to be. I would always let the storms carry me away. On the other hand, sometimes you would rather have endless days of blue skies.
At some point, we decided that we needed to take a break. I thought we were going to break up for good. I was so brokenhearted that I wrote “Girls Night Out” to make myself smile. But immediately afterward, I wrote “Right Here” to play for him as a way to tell him: No matter what, i’ll be there for you. No matter where we are in life. Some of the songs on the album, like “Clear,” are what I think of as “pre-breakup” songs, where i’m imagining what it would be like to break up and how much that would suck, and kind of taking on that emotion.
The Egg Roll was around the time I wrote “Girls Night Out,” meaning Prince Charming and I were on a break. We were young and living strange lives. But it just so happened he was also at the Egg Roll. The instant I saw Prince Charming, my heart did a cartwheel. (I was doing a lot of actual and metaphoric tumbling that day!) It didn’t matter how we fought, what was said, how hard it might be, or if we were taking “time.” There was no question in my heart, we were back together. Or we’d never broken up. The point was, everything was right in the world.
Prince Charming and I broke up on December 19th, 2007. The hardest day ever. My life felt like it had ground to a halt, but the rest of the world kept right on rolling. I was on tour. People were counting on me, but my heart was dizzy. I’ve always used words to connect with people, and i’ve always felt that if I just let the words flow, said what came to me, it would be from the heart and it would be understood. The day before the tour ended, I wrote ten pages, front and back, about why I loved Prince Charming. When I love someone, I love them with everything in me. But when the loves not there anymore, what do you do? Deep down I knew we weren’t being our best selves, and that was what I wanted, and I thought I deserved in a relationship. To be my best self and bring out the best in someone else.
But still, I was angry when I wrote “7 Things.” I wanted to punish him, to get back at him for hurting me. It starts with a list of what I “hate.” But i’m not a hater. My heart knew from the start that it was going to turn into a love song. Why does he get a love song? Because I don’t hate him. I won’t let myself hate anybody. That’s not the way my heart works. It’s a song about how I should hate him, but I don’t, and I don’t know why. It’s a song about forgiving, not forgetting. Here’s what I feel: It’d hard to imagine that our love is a story with an end. But you know, at least i’m getting some good songs out of it.
The last time I saw Prince Charming, we hugged. I closed my eyes for a moment. It was a strange hug, but I did not want to let go. In that moment, I wanted to imagine that it was two years ago, and things were the way they used to be.
