Last night, in tribute to Las Vegas following Sunday night's deadly shooting, Miley Cyrus gave a moving performance of Dido's "No Freedom" and her old song "The Climb" to open and close The Tonight Show, respectively. Adam Sandler joined her to sing "No Freedom" in a particularly powerful moment:
She explained to host Jimmy Fallon why she chose to sing "No Freedom" once she sat down with him. "I love that there is no love without freedom," she started. "And I think about that when these tragic events happen. What is music if we can't go see our favorite artist perform because we're scared of violence or we're scared of losing someone that we love to go to a concert or to go see a film? And I think that right now, we're supposed to be the land of the free, but we can't have freedom if we're constantly living in fear so I think never bow down to bullies—that's what my parents always said—and to stand up for what's right, and I think just constantly share hope instead of encouraging any more fear."
Cyrus's closing performance of "The Climb"—the first time she performed her 2009 song in 5 or 6 years, she admitted—was equally heartfelt:
"I'm doing 'The Climb' because it says 'the struggles I'm facing/the chances I'm taking/they sometimes might knock me down but I'm not breaking/You may not know it, but these are the moments that we're going to remember most,'" Cyrus told Fallon before she performed. "The moments we're going to remember most aren't being pulled apart by evil, but coming together through love, you know and all of us uniting and really believing, as your guest on Wednesday [Hillary Clinton] says, 'We are stronger together,' you know?"
Alyssa Bailey is the senior news and strategy editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage of celebrities and royals (particularly Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton). She previously held positions at InStyle and Cosmopolitan. When she's not working, she loves running around Central Park, making people take #ootd pics of her, and exploring New York City.
