Miley Cyrus Essentials

“I think there’s a time in every artist’s life [when] they have to do something that isn’t for fans, isn’t for success,” Miley Cyrus once told Apple Music. She could have been speaking about any number of moments from her profoundly varied career. Born Destiny Hope Cyrus—the daughter of country singer Billy Ray Cyrus—in Tennessee in 1992, Miley leapt to stardom as Disney’s Hannah Montana on the strength of perky, empowering bubblegum pop. Since then, she has shed her wholesome teen image and secured a reputation for an intense work ethic and an unshakable self-assuredness. Her 2009 summer anthem “Party in the U.S.A.” earned her credibility in the pop world, but it was 2013’s Bangerz—particularly the power ballad “Wrecking Ball”—that cemented it. She detoured into a psych-tinged collaboration with members of The Flaming Lips on 2015’s Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz. 2017’s Younger Now mixed country and pop. And 2020’s Plastic Hearts was a neon-hued explosion of disco, synth-pop and glam rock that featured Joan Jett and Stevie Nicks. Those frequent partnerships helped define her as a pop pace-setter—but on the 2023 smash “Flowers”, Cyrus confidently reaffirmed that she’s more than capable of standing on her own.