Miley Cyrus
photo: raphael pour-hashemi · cc by 2.0 ↗Born Destiny Hope Cyrus in Tennessee to country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, she rose to fame as a child playing the pop-star alter ego of Disney's 'Hannah Montana' before pivoting through a series of dramatic reinventions — the raunchy 'Bangerz' era, a psychedelic detour with the Flaming Lips, a country-leaning retreat, and a leather-clad rock turn on 2020's 'Plastic Hearts.' Her restless shape-shifting and husky, powerful voice made her one of the defining pop chameleons of the 2010s and beyond.
Parton is Cyrus's godmother, and Cyrus has repeatedly honored her — covering 'Jolene,' duetting with her, and folding Parton's plainspoken country storytelling and warm twang into her own writing even at her most pop. The country-rooted balladry Cyrus returns to across her career traces directly back to the woman she calls a second mother.
listen forPlay Parton's aching 'Jolene' and then Cyrus's 'Malibu' — listen for the same unhurried, conversational vocal phrasing and the way a simple, heart-on-sleeve melody is left uncluttered so the storytelling carries it.
Jett co-wrote and appears across Cyrus's 2020 album 'Plastic Hearts,' the record where Cyrus fully committed to leather-clad glam rock, and Cyrus has cited Jett as a hero for that turn. The snarling, riff-driven swagger and shout-along choruses of Jett's catalog are the blueprint for Cyrus's rock reinvention.
listen forCue Jett's 'Bad Reputation' next to the title track of 'Plastic Hearts' — hear the same buzzsaw guitar chug and defiant, don't-care vocal attitude driving a fist-in-the-air chorus.
Cyrus invited Madonna to join her 2014 'MTV Unplugged' special for a mashup of their songs, and Cyrus's career-long strategy of provocation and constant reinvention echoes the template Madonna established. The pop shape-shifting — courting controversy and remaking her image with each era — is squarely in Madonna's lineage.
listen forSet Madonna's cowgirl-strut 'Don't Tell Me' against Cyrus's 'We Can't Stop' — notice how each pairs a laid-back, defiant vocal with a beat built for spectacle, turning independence and self-possession into the hook.