Miley Cyrus is sticking up for fellow pop star, Justin Bieber, opening up about being there for him as he tries to change his image and grow up in the spotlight.

During her Rolling Stone interview, the 20-year-old “Wrecking Ball” singer talks about her 19-year-old friend, saying people don’t “take him seriously” like they should.

She told the mag, "I'm not much older than him, so I never want it to feel like I'm mentoring him. But I do mentor him in a way. Because I've been doing this shit for a long time, and I already transitioned, and I don't think he's quite done it yet.”

She also said of his talent, which some people see past, “he really can play the drums, he really can play guitar, he really can sing.”

Cyrus is famous for shedding her Disney image and going from the wholesome Hannah Montana to a twerking, arguably over-sexualized pop singer. But as she’s pretty much done with the transitional phase in her career, she says Bieber is “trying really hard” to do it too.

“I just don't want to see him f--k that up, to where people think he'sVanilla Ice,” she said. “I tell him that. Like, 'You don't want to become a joke. When you go out, don't start s--t. Don't come in shirtless.' But the thing is, I think boys are, like, seven years behind. So in his head, he's really, like, 12."

Other topics she covered in the interview are double standards, and having one of her neighbors as Steve Carell.

image: FOX