Why Miley Cyrus is the ultimate 21st-Century pop star

Endless Summer Vacation is the latest example of Cyrus’s flair for reinvention. Here, she offers candid insights into the breakdown of a romantic relationship while offering musical nods to genres she has previously excelled in: country on Thousand Miles, synth-pop on Violet Chemistry, psychedelic rock on Rose Colored Lenses. “You’re not even willing to look at your part,” she sings on the alt-rock-flavoured Jaded, a song addressed an unnamed ex. “You just jump in the car and head down to thе bar ’til you’re blurry.” She describes the record as her “love letter to LA”, which could almost make it sound unassuming, but Cyrus has not lost her fondness for a grand gesture. The album’s cover art shows her confidently hanging from a trapeze; according to a record label press release, this image was “fully executed by Miley without visual effects”. “I love the fact that Miley is so consistent in being her authentic self,” says ABISHA, a British singer-songwriter who hails Cyrus as an influence. “She’s not afraid to push boundaries or be slightly outrageous and I find that really iconic.” The album also features collaborations with chart-topping pop alchemist Sia and Grammy-winning Americana and country singer Brandi Carlile, underlining Cyrus’s high standing among her peers: in the past, she has recorded with everyone from psychedelic rock band The Flaming Lips to country icon Dolly Parton, who happens to be her godmother. 

An old showbiz hand

Though only 30 years of age, Cyrus is already a seasoned industry veteran. The Nashville-born daughter of popular country singer Billy Ray Cyrus and music manager Tish Finley, she launched her performing career in 2001 with an uncredited guest appearance in Doc, a medical drama series starring her father. Five years later, when she was 13, Cyrus became a global teen idol with her starring role in Hannah Montana. This wholesome sitcom, which ran for four seasons and a spin-off film, cast Cyrus as Miley Stewart, a seemingly ordinary girl who lives a double life as tween-pop icon Hannah Montana. The show’s ingenious premise gave Cyrus, a strong singer and natural comedian, ample opportunity to project both down-to-earth relatability and a budding superstar’s flashy charisma. She grabbed the baton and ran with it, releasing three Billboard chart-topping albums in her guise as Hannah.

But because she rose to prominence playing a fictional singer, Cyrus had to evolve – and think outside of the box – right from the beginning. Transitioning from Hannah Montana to Miley Cyrus without alienating her Disney Channel fanbase was, in effect, her first musical evolution. At first, she proceeded with caution: her 2007 debut solo LP Meet Miley Cyrus was released as a double album with the soundtrack to season two of the TV show. See You Again, a standout single from the Meet Miley Cyrus side, offered a glimpse of the pop-savvy but idiosyncratic artist she would blossom into. Describing an embarrassing encounter with someone she is attracted to – “You asked what’s wrong with me? My best friend Lesley said, ‘Oh, she’s just being Miley'” – the song has ear-snagging lyrics that pointed to Cyrus having her own quirky songwriting vernacular.

Cyrus didn’t say goodbye to Hannah Montana until the show’s season finale in January 2011, but by this point, she had established herself as a viable pop star in her own right. She had also demonstrated a healthy amount of musical range by scoring hits with a pop-punk nugget (2008’s 7 Things), a country-flavoured power ballad (2009’s The Climb) and a glossy midtempo pop song (2009’s Party in the USA). The latter was co-written by British singer Jessie J and originally slated to appear on her debut album, but, when it was passed onto Cyrus instead, the lyrics about feeling “nervous” and “homesick” after touching down in glamorous Los Angeles cleverly fed into her persona as an ambitious Nashville girl trying to make it in the big smoke. In reality, though, she had actually relocated to LA around four years earlier.