I’m a big Miley Cyrus fan. I never saw Hannah Montana. But in the 14 years since the show ended, I’ve watched in awe as Miley navigated a public, sometimes flawed, surreal maturation into adulthood, and emerged as a shiny, fabulous, 32-year-old pop star. I was thrilled when she asked me to moderate a Q&A following the screening of her new visual album, Something Beautiful, on Friday night.
But first, a disclaimer: If you’ve come here for a critique of the new album, you’re in the wrong place. This isn’t a music newsletter. It’s a fashion industry love letter. So, if you want to read about my front row seat to the slow, steady ascent—sure, we can call it a Climb—of Miley into a fully-formed star, fashion doyenne, and perhaps the most significant drag patron in LGBTQ history, pull up a chair.
I first met Miley backstage at a Marc Jacobs fashion show in February 2013 when she was wearing a Mickey Mouse T-shirt and a faux-hawk. Hannah Montana wrapped two years prior, and at the age of 20, she was experimenting with new fashion looks and new pop sounds as she navigated a post-Disney career. That year’s Met Gala theme was Punk. She arrived in a black net-over-sheer Marc Jacobs gown and wore on-theme spiked hair, one of my favorite looks of the night. At dinner, I was mesmerized by the wild-child energy backed by legit music chops. By the way, Vogue called the above picture the first Met Gala selfie in history.
Her infamous performance at the VMAs, wearing a teddy bear leotard, a nude-colored latex bikini, and a giant foam finger, occurred at the end of that summer. That one gig shattered her Disney Channel image with a provocative, raunchy routine—this is when the word twerk entered the lexicon. I remember watching it live on TV at a very preppy friend’s house in very WASPY Southampton, her jaw on the floor the entire show.
It was absurd. It was hysterical! No, it wasn’t high fashion, but it was clear Miley had a point of view. To quote Diana Vreeland, “We all need a splash of bad taste—it’s hearty, it’s healthy, it’s physical. I think we could use more of it. No taste is what I’m against.”
The media backlash was swift—there was a lot of pearl clutching—but suddenly Bangerz was everywhere. (Her SNL skit, “We Did Stop,” is still one of my favorites.)
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That September, I interviewed Miley for the cover of Harper’s Bazaar. The opening paragraph:
Miley Cyrus is wearing an oversized sweatshirt and nothing else, curled up in an enormous trailer parked outside Soundstage 24 at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles. She’s just unpacked her “kit,” which is what the 20-year-old pop star calls the gym bag full of over-the-top, blingy, fabulous accessories that she brings everywhere. There are Chanel logo suspenders and belts, Versace Medusa necklaces and brooches, spiked stilettos, hats, and miles of shiny gold chains. “I never know when I’m going to be like, ‘Photo shoot!’ And need some weird stuff to whip out.” What if there’s a sudden swarm of paparazzi? Or worse: “What if I get to a photo shoot and the stylist just sucks? So I bring my own shit.”
This was the first—and last—time I ever met a performer who packed their own stylist’s kit, just in case.
I fell further in love with Miley when I realized she was a bigger RuPaul’s Drag Race fan. She invited 30 queens from the show (Shangela, Alyssa Edwards, Laganja Estranga, Violet Chachki, Miss Fame, and more) to perform at the 2015 VMAs.
A few years later, she went on Joe Rogan’s podcast and delivered one of the smoothest reads I’ve ever seen. He was dismissive of drag queen lip syncs, saying, “They all do the same move,” referring to death drops. Cool as a cucumber, Miley clapped back, “That’s what I think when I’m watching your shows, too—all the same stuff.” It takes a beat for Rogan to realize he’s just been sliced.
In 2020, I interviewed Miley again, this time for The Wall Street Journal, during the peak of the COVID-19 lockdown, when she was hosting her TV show. “It’s hilarious people call this a TV show when it’s just Instagram Live,” she told me. She also showcased her photography skills, taking self-portraits for the story.
At this point, Miley had won over the skeptics, praised for her powerhouse vocals, killer covers (her viral take on “Heart of Glass” is incredible), and candid discussions of sobriety, sexuality, and self-reinvention. Everyone from Reese Witherspoon to Elizabeth Warren appeared on the show. She was using her style as a form of self-expression, but not taking it too seriously. In my Instagram caption at the time, we IDed her as “Miley ‘not just a random Tiger King mullet’ Cyrus”:
This part of our conversation still resonates with me five years later:
I do not want to be a preacher or a teacher. I want to learn and listen. I want just to pass the microphone that usually is in my hands to someone who does not [have one]. Local activists fighting for their community don’t have the platforms I have, and I wanted to share that. I’m very, very cautious of ever claiming that I know best, because the one thing I know is that I don’t.
Last week, Miley asked me to moderate the panel following the Tribeca Film Festival’s premiere of her visual album, Something Beautiful, with co-directors Jacob Bixenman and Brendan Walter, and producer Panos Cosmatos. I initially passed because my parents were in town. But Miley insisted: Bring ’em! That’s how we got this gem:
Miley has a unique ability to grab everyone’s attention in a room, hold it, and remind us all to be grateful that we’re there together. “This is a very intense amount of energy that we’re sharing in this room right now,” she said when we took the stage.
She didn’t make a mood board for the movie. “I wanted to be the reference,” she said. “You can’t do something that no one’s ever done before with a bunch of other women on your wall.” But she did tip her hat to Tina Turner, Donna Summers, Diana Ross, and “so many ladies before me that paved this path that I’m on. This is my journey, but they made it so much easier because they’ve already broken down all the doors for me.” (Bob Mackie, the most important living costume designer, was responsible for many of those divas’ stage outfits, so it’s no surprise that Miley was wearing an orignal Mackie when she won her first Grammy in 2024.)
How did she assemble her creative team? “I forced them to work with me,” Miley deadpanned. There was Brendan, a director with a music background. “There aren’t many directors who talk about cutting on the snare drum.” Next to him was Panos, who first came on her radar when she wanted to adapt his 2018 psychedelic horror-action movie, Mandy, into a musical. (She wanted to play the Nicolas Cage part, ha.) And finally, there was Jacob—“the most fashionable person in LA,” according to Miley. They began working together in 2023, and he directed several films, including her eighth studio album, Endless Summer Vacation.
What this visual album lacks in a narrative, it makes up for in style. Says Miley, “Fashion is a tool and you can use it to tell stories.” For me, the movie’s climax is Naomi Campbell’s surprise appearance in “Every Girl You’ve Ever Loved.” I asked Miley how she got her. “Force is the magical word here,” she said. “If Naomi wants to do something, just like me or any artist, they make it happen and they do it.” Wearing pieces from Miley’s own Thierry Mugler archive, the two strut through a sparsely decorated warehouse lit by a smoke machine and large industrial fans, much like the set in George Michael’s “Freedom” music video. My favorite of Naomi’s lyrics: “She’s got that kind of grace / Did Botticelli paint her face?”
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Miley called out to the audience to thank Michael Pollack, who co-wrote the songs. They were amazed—relieved?—that Naomi loved what they had prepared. “She had no notes, which was pretty amazing,” she said. “I didn’t believe it when they said she already cut her verse. And it was better than I ever could’ve imagined.” (She also gave her lawyer a shoutout to thank him for the absence of a Miley mug shot in the world.)
Something Beautiful was primarily shot on soundstages, except for “Walk of Fame,” which Miley filmed in the middle of the night on the actual sidewalk on Hollywood Boulevard. She confirmed the story of her contracting a “brutal” knee infection after rolling around on these filthy streets in the middle of the night. Production had brought everything, she said, “except a broom.”
During our panel, fans kept shouting for Miley to sing a song. Maybe they didn’t know the difference between a panel discussion and a live concert? Perhaps they were too excited to be in the room of their favorite singer and not beg for a bit of crooning? (I get that.) Eventually, she gave in, belting out an a cappella version of “The Climb.” Here it is, in a moody video captured by Carol Blasberg:
In 2014, Miley Cyrus was on tour with Lily Allen, and they performed in my hometown, St. Louis. I’m glad I flew in to see it because it turned out to be Miley’s last tour. She has said that trying to connect with hundreds of thousands of people every night left her feeling emotionally and spiritually unfulfilled. The New Yorker’s recent review of the new album mentioned her medical condition, Reinke’s edema, “a noncancerous throat disorder that, when the voice is overused, can cause fluid to accumulate in the vocal folds, making them swell up and feel gummy and thick.”
Backstage after Friday’s panel, I asked if she ever missed touring. “Nah,” she said, flashing all her teeth with a giant smile and slinging her enormous fringed Schiaparelli shawl over her shoulder. “The trunks, the trunks,” she said, giving another reason that life on the road doesn’t work for her. “There’s just not enough room to bring all my clothes.” That’s my fashion girl.
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More soon,
Derek C. Blasberg
“Something Beautiful: The Visual Album” will play in theaters across North America on June 12 for one night only before an international release on June 27.