From Teen Queen to Pop Icon, Check Out Miley Cyrus’ Trailblazing Career [ Part 1 ]

The former Voice Coach has been a triple-threat since before she could drive.

Former Coach of The Voice, pop culture renegade, a music industry maverick: Miley Cyrus has been churning out powerhouse performances and cutting-edge career moves since her rise to fame as a teen idol.

The Tennessee-born child of mullet-sporting country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, she first got her start as America’s sweetheart Hannah Montana, and has since led a jam-packed acting and music career. As musician, her pop-rock sound is a tad country, a little hip hop, with a splash of rock-n-roll — a mindful result of her refusal to be pigeonholed as an artist.

Cyrus’ mythic career speaks for itself and it tells a captivating story of authenticity and emotional evolution. Check out Cyrus’ career highlights, from Hannah Montana to The Voice and beyond, below.

Miley Cyrus and Hannah Montana

Cyrus skyrocketed to success on the popular children’s program Hannah Montana, with her as the тιтular pop star. She was also as the inspiration for the main character, Miley Stewart, a seemingly typical high schooler who lived a double life as the teen star Hannah Montana. Her father, Billy Ray, co-starred in the series as Robby Ray Stewart, Miley’s fictional father and country-loving cheerleader. Hannah Montana was a smash success and instantly catapulted Cyrus into star status.

“When my peers are having these experiences and accepting themselves because of something that I demonstrated while they were a kid, that’s when I go, ‘Sh-t, I f-cking am Hannah Montana,'” Cyrus told Rolling Stone in 2020. “Really, Hannah Montana was not a character. That wasn’t what the show is about. It was about a normal girl with a f-cking wig on. Everything was always in me. The concept of the show, it’s me. I’ve had to really come to terms with that and not be third-person about it.”

While filming for Hannah Montana, Cyrus also recorded several albums under her character’s name: Hannah Montana (2006), Hannah Montana 2 (2007), Hannah Montana 3 (2009), and  Hannah Montana Forever (2010). After touring as her character, Cyrus released the live album of her 2008 Best of Both Worlds tour.

In 2009, she starred in the feature film Hannah Montana: The Movie, which followed Miley Stewart as she traveled to her hometown in Tennessee to escape the crushing weight of Hannah Montana’s rising fame. The film’s soundtrack became an instant hit — especially its iconic “Hoedown Throwdown,” a line dance anthem performed by Miley Stewart surrounded by her loved ones, and the coming-of-age hit, “The Climb,” which peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Hannah Montana had a steel chokehold on audiences, leading Cyrus to deliberately distance herself from the character in the years following the series finale. Despite successfully separating herself from the blonde wig and bedazzled belts, Cyrus has since embraced her connection to the beloved persona. In 2021, to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Hannah Montana’s release, Cyrus shared a heartfelt letter penned to her former character on her Instagram.

“Although you are considered to be an ‘alter ego,’ in reality there was a time in my life when you held more of my idenтιтy in your glovette than I did in my bare hands,” Cyrus wrote. “You have all my love and upmost graтιтude. Breathing life into you for those 6 years was an honor.”

Miley Cyrus’ Discography

Cyrus’ first studio album under her own name — 2007’s Meet Miley Cyrus — was a signal to fans that a new era of superstardom was upon us. Released the same year as Hannah Montana 2, Meet had 10 original recordings from Cyrus, including the sensational singles “See You Again” and “Start All Over.”

In 2008, Cyrus kept the ball rolling with her sophomore studio release, Breakout, which further helped her differentiate herself from Hannah Montana. The album featured the smash songs “7 Things” and “Fly on the Wall” — a track that centered around the media’s burning obsession with Cyrus and her “sweetheart” image.

“‘Fly on the Wall’ was really about the media at that time,” Cyrus told Rolling Stone in 2020. “They were already starting to label me as ‘America’s Sweetheart Gone Wrong.’ I was thinking, ‘If you could only be a fly on the wall. It’s worse than you can imagine.’ Or better, I guess.”

The Time of Our Lives and “Party in the U.S.A.”

In 2009, Cyrus released her first EP, The Time of Our Lives, which included Cyrus’ bop “Party in the U.S.A.” Over time, Cyrus has tweaked the patriotic jam’s lyrics to provide social commentary on current events.

“[‘Party in the U.S.A.’] is not even my style of music,” Cyrus told MTV in 2009. “I’m really blessed for it to have done as well as it has. Totally blessed. God has definitely put me in an amazing position with amazing people.”

Can’t Be Tamed 

Cyrus began setting the record straight for the mᴀsses with her third studio album, Can’t Be Tamed. The тιтular lead single was written as a message to the media that Cyrus was dropping the goody-too-shoes routine and refused to be controlled by circulating narratives. To this day, Cyrus has a soft spot for the album as her response to reaching the apex of teen fame and scrutiny.

“‘Can’t Be Tamed’ is like ‘I wanna fly, I wanna drive, I wanna go,’ and you know that I still really relate to songs like that…” Cyrus told Jimmy Fallon in a 2020 interview for The Tonight Show: At Home Edition. “I was already telling ya’ll that something was about to happen, that I wasn’t Hannah Montana.”

Bangerz 

Every teen star must separate themselves from their child star brand at some point, but few icons have made headlines for doing so quite like Cyrus did. The album that undoubtedly separated Cyrus from her Disney roots was the twerk-packed 2013 release Bangerz. While Cyrus had previously typically released pop-rock albums, Bangerz ushered in a new sonic chapter for the fledgling pop icon. Described by Cyrus in a 2012 chat with CNN as “dirty south hip hop,” Bangerz served as Cyrus’ small step away from child star shenanigans and a giant leap into adulthood.

Featuring everything from replay-worthy tracks like “We Can’t Stop” to emotional power ballads like “Wrecking Ball,” Bangerz was executive produced by Cyrus, Mike Will Made It, and now-fellow Voice alum Pharrell Williams. The album earned Cyrus her first-ever Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards.