Performer extraordinaire Cher made a grand entrance onto Rockefeller Plaza on Monday morning, riding on the back of a New York Police Department motorcycle with escorts on either side of her.
The day before the official release of her 26th album, “Closer to the Truth," her first record in nearly a dozen years, Cher arrived to talk to TODAY about her return to the road.
The singer, 67, admitted she doesn’t like the mechanics of touring, but said her fans make it worth all the hard work.
“The road is horrible, but the concerts are great,” she told TODAY’s Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie. “I understand why guys in bands tear up hotel rooms and throw TVs out the windows, because it’s a very lonely place. The only time you have fun is at the concerts.”
She then went on to perform “Woman’s World" and "I Hope You Find It," the first singles from the new album. Cher shrugged off buzz calling the record her best yet.
"I’m just not a huge Cher fan," she said. "Having said that, I think it’s good."
Cher admitted fighting laryngitis over the weekend. In a tweet, she compared losing her voice to "jumping out of a plane, in a parachute your mom packed!!! You just pray it opens."
Fortunately, the singer sounded good in rehearsals. But before taking to the stage, she said, "Look, I’ll do my best. It doesn’t make any difference."
It didn't to the crowd, which went wild for her performances.
Later, while talking to Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb, Cher revealed that the ballad she sang earlier, "I Hope You Find It," was a cover of a Miley Cyrus song. She said she didn't learn that until after she drew headlines for criticizing Cyrus over her controversial MTV Video Music Awards performance.
"She could have come out naked, and if she'd just rocked the house, I would have said, 'You go, girl.' It just wasn't done well," Cher said in a USA Today article published last week. "She can't dance, her body looked like hell, the song wasn't great, one cheek was hanging out. And, chick, don't stick out your tongue if it's coated."
Cher then went on Twitter to backpedal her comments. She did likewise on Monday while talking with the Fourth Hour hosts.
“I just got too happy with the sound of my own voice telling everybody what I thought about this,” she said.
Cher insisted there was no tension between her and Cyrus, and even mocked herself over what she said.
“Famous people feel that they need to open their mouths if someone asks them something, and I was thinking, 'God, this is so insightful,’" she said.
They haven't met since Cyrus was a child, but Cher gave the young singer credit for what her VMA performance accomplished.
“She’s doing what’s right for her audience. Her audience is trying to find themselves, too,” she said. “It’s not what I’d love, but still. Look, I sat on huge guns on a battleship in dental floss, and had a blast, but people were like, 'Take her off the air.'”
Here are some of our favorite tweets and pics from our fans who used the hashtag #CherTODAY.