Miley Cyrus is celebrating because she has just received her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. A pop canonization after more than two decades working in the entertainment world. Hers is number 2,845 in the galaxy that stretches along Hollywood Boulevard, and the singer and songwriter unveiled it last Friday in a ceremony surrounded by family and friends to commemorate her career. Neither her mother nor her sister, Tish and Brandi Cyrus, were missing (although her father, Billy Ray Cyrus, with whom she has been estranged for years, did miss it); her fiancé, musician Maxx Morando, or famous friends like actress Anya Taylor-Joy and designer Donatella Versace.
“What I find so special about this star is that it is the result of an accumulation of devotion,” confessed the author of Flowers in her speech. “It’s not something you earn for one season, you can’t chase or collect it. It’s not something you record for the next album and then display as a trophy,” she added about the recognition. She has earned it, in the words of the organization, because “generations of girls have grown up watching her evolve, finding inspiration in her journey and in her fearless creativity.”
The award comes precisely after reconciling with her own myth and her past as a Disney child. Cyrus began working as an actress at just 13 years old, when she took on the role of Hannah Montana and became one of the biggest child stars of the factory. But she grew up and did everything possible to distance herself from that legacy. Now she embraces it: just two months ago she premiered a special for the 20th anniversary of the series that launched her to fame. In these two decades, she has built a solid career in music, crowned with Flowers (2023), one of the biggest hits of recent times and a song with which she won the Grammy for Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance. She also overcame her addiction problems and after the pandemic confessed that she had quit alcohol forever.
Generational icon, one of the girls who grew up watching the artist was actress Anya Taylor-Joy, who accompanied Cyrus at the recognition ceremony in Hollywood: “She not only grew up in front of the world, but she exceeded the expectations placed on her,” the Argentine defended during the event. “She challenged the rules, rewrote them, and occasionally burned them with a teddy bear costume,” continued the actress, now a friend of Cyrus. “Remember that if any of you step on Miley Cyrus’s star,” joked Donatella Versace, “do it with attitude. And if possible, with heels.”
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Cyrus returned the compliment by wearing Versace for the occasion, with a dress from the house’s archive, from the Fall 2015 collection of the Atelier Versace haute couture line. It was chosen for her by Donatella herself, taken from a collection inspired by the Coachella festival. “Some dresses seemed barely held together by threads of flowers, while others combined chiffon silk with subtle openings. As always, the skin was displayed without shame,” wrote critic Nicole Phelps about the collection at the time. Some of the dresses, the journalist said, “were more showgirl than music festival,” surely referring to the design now rescued by the singer of Wrecking Ball.
The Tennessee star’s relationship with the Italian brand goes back many years, right to the time when Cyrus was engaged in breaking away from the Disney child image. Then the brand served as a vehicle to escape the innocent image of her childhood and adopt a much more excessive and provocative femininity. She has worn the house on countless red carpets, in campaigns, or performances. One of the most remembered? The very skimpy and sheer design she wore on the red carpet of the 2015 Video Music Awards, when she became the host of the gala: “It was the culmination of everything Miley wanted to project as the host of the VMAs. It was imposing, provocative, and somewhat ironic,” said her stylist at the time, Simone Harouche, later on.
Tagged as erratic or excessive for years, Cyrus has known how to reinvent herself and stay in a voracious industry, famous for burning its own creations. She has nothing left to prove: “My life right now is perfect,” she told an E! News reporter at the end of the event. “I mean, everyone I love is here, my family, my fans, their loyalty. Everything is perfect.”
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