Miley Cyrus has been making music her whole life, but it was Hannah Montana, the Disney series she starred in alongside her country crooner dad, Billy Ray, that launched her career when she was just 13. Though the show was fictional, the ties between Miley and Hannah were strong, and the similarities between Miley and Hannah had a ton to do with why she loved her time on the show so much.

It wasn't necessarily easy, though, and Miley got candid in an intimate new interview about the impact Hannah Montana had both on her career and her growth as a person. CBS Sunday Morning visited Miley at Singin' Hill, the Tennessee home Billy Ray bought after "Achy Breaky Heart" was a runaway hit. Hannah Montana came up, and Miley opened up about how she looks back on the show and why it was intense in both good and hard ways.

"I knew that I was getting to live what I wanted to do," she says. "I got to do two things that I loved: I got to act, at that time, and I got to be funny. I got to wear a wig, and that was awesome; I got to wear a lot of sparkly things, so that was cool. I think, now that I'm older, I realize, that's a lot to put on a kid. It's a lot to put on a kid to have them have to get their makeup done, and then also balance school, and then also have me dress up in a wig, as a kid, is a little weird. It's a little Toddlers & Tiaras."

Still, the hard work and difficult schedule didn't outweigh the connection she felt to her character and her growing fan base.

"I think why people loved Hannah Montana is because Hannah Montana did feel real, and that's 'cause I was under there — and people forgot that sometimes," she continued. "And I loved being that character. That's what made people love her. And honestly, music is everything. All people want to have is great music. For that audeince, for what that was, that was great music for kids to listen to. There's a song called 'Life's What You Make It.' Never forget that. Wise words! That's a good thing to tell kids."

Indeed. Watch Miley's interview in full below to hear her thoughts on Bangerz, her game-changing performance at the 2013 MTV VMAs (that recently inspired Paris Hilton's Halloween costume), and more.