Miley Cyrus Describes Last Conversation With Dolly Parton, Prompted by Sending Over Her New Album: ‘Though We Were So Different, That’s What Made Us Perfect for Each Other’

Miley Cyrus, who now goes by just Miley, opened up on Zane Lowe's Apple Music podcast about her most recent contact with her godmother, Dolly Parton. The subject arose because Cyrus had sent Parton an advance vinyl copy of her forthcoming album, Bass Persuades. According to Cyrus, Parton has always been the very first person to receive a vinyl whenever a new pressing is made. She told Lowe that this tradition dates back to the moment she started putting out records on vinyl. The latest exchange between the two involved Cyrus handing over the new album. Even though the two women occupy wildly different stylistic universes, Cyrus believes that gap is exactly what makes their bond so durable. She noted that while Parton is famous for her wigs, makeup, and larger-than-life stage presence, audiences are really drawn to her raw honesty. "There's a part of her that I think is what everyone gravitates towards… how real she is and how authentic she is," Cyrus said. Parton, whose career stretches back more than sixty years and includes standards like Jolene and 9 to 5, has built a reputation not just on songwriting but on her capacity to blend showbiz sparkle with down-to-earth sincerity, a combination Cyrus plainly treasures.

Cyrus also described how Parton helped her navigate the tricky line between public persona and private self. During the Hannah Montana years, much of her life revolved around a constructed identity. "You can have a persona and still be who you are is because I had Dolly," she said. Cyrus even likened her own stage character to drag performance, calling it something separate from the person who feeds her tortoise each morning. The conversation turned to Cyrus's tendency to weep during concerts. After watching her on Letterman, Parton asked, "What are you crying about?" Cyrus explained that the song End of the World is about the apocalypse and the fear of never seeing her mother again. When Lowe suggested Parton might have been nudging her toward a more professional stage demeanor, Cyrus agreed. "That's pretty much what she said," Cyrus replied. "She was like, 'Music is escapism. Let them cry. You need to get through it.' And I was like, 'I know, but this is who I am.' And she loved me for it," Cyrus added, even though the two hold opposing views on displaying emotion in public. That exchange highlights a wider generational split in performance philosophy: Parton emerged in a period when entertainers were expected to keep their composure, whereas Cyrus belongs to a generation that frequently treats emotional openness as part of the art itself.

Cyrus also spoke about her acute awareness that the stabilizing figures in her life will eventually die, just as Parton has. "I cried singing 'I Will Always Love You' with her," she said. "But I think she knew at that time that the reason I was crying is the reason that I cry now." For Cyrus, many of her most grounding peers come from earlier generations. They have laid down, brick by brick, the road she now travels. "They aren't always going to be here for me to call them and say, 'What do I do now?' which I always did with Dolly. And she was always right." Cyrus compared this to the way a child ignores a mother's wisdom, only to later marvel at it. "Dolly was just always right about stuff," she said. Parton, who was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022 and has won 11 Grammy Awards, represents a rare constant in an industry known for its volatility, which makes Cyrus's dependence on her guidance all the more moving.

Bass Persuades is set to arrive at midnight Thursday night. Cyrus recounted how producer Max Martin pushed her toward a more energetic, driving sound on the album, despite her initial reluctance to abandon songs originally conceived as ballads. One track, Aftermath, initially featured the lyric "the Titan sinks" and was written as a deeply sorrowful ballad about a submarine. "I was playing the record as it was with Max and I said, 'Is there anything? Like, be brutal, tell me what you don't like,'" Cyrus recalled. Martin's reply was candid: "God, that 'Aftermath' song is boring. I'm just going to be honest with you." When Cyrus asked what he would do with it, Martin offered a rapid-fire series of ideas. "And then boom, boom, boom, boom and I was like, that is better," she said. Cyrus had been aiming for a Thom Yorke-like atmosphere, but Martin dismissed that direction as dull and overhauled the song. "So he made that song so much better," Cyrus concluded. Max Martin, the Swedish producer behind countless chart-topping hits for artists like Britney Spears, Taylor Swift, and The Weeknd, is known for his knack for reshaping raw demos into polished pop anthems. His intervention on Aftermath follows a long tradition of producers pushing artists outside their comfort zones, a dynamic that has yielded some of pop music's most memorable recordings, from Martin's own work on Spears's "...Baby One More Time" to Rick Rubin's stripped-down productions for Johnny Cash.