"I need my own Rolling Stone column where every issue it's just something crazy I do," Cyrus tells contributing editor Josh Eells in our new cover story.

On her performance at the 2013 MTV Music Video Awards: "No one is talking about the man behind the ass," Miley says. "It was a lot of 'Miley Twerks on Robin Thicke,' but never, 'Robin Thicke Grinds Up on Miley.' So obviously there's a double standard."

Miley has lots of tattoos, including, on her left forearm, the words THAT HIS PLACE SHALL NEVER BE WITH THOSE COLD AND TIMID SOULS WHO NEITHER KNOW VICTORY NOR DEFEAT. "It's from a Teddy Roosevelt speech," she says. "It's about how people judge who wins and who loses, but they're not the ones in there fighting."

Miley was nervous before the VMAs, until she got a pep talk from Kanye West. "He came in and goes, 'There are not a lot of artists I believe in more than you right now,'" she recalls. "The whole room went quiet. I was like, 'Yo – can you say that again?!'"

For her first Rolling Stone cover story, Miley wanted to do something fun. "I thought about going to play laser tag," she says. "But laser tag sucks." Naturally, the next idea was getting a tattoo – ROLLING on her right foot, $TONE on the left.

Follow the pop star's rapid transformation from Disney kid to dirty girl.