Miley Cyrus Bangerz Era, Hip-Hop Comments Divide Fans

Buzz Feed

10-06-2025

In 2017, Miley Cyrus released her sixth studio album Younger Now, which was described by Pitchfork as a bold 'statement of reinvention' following her infamous Bangerz era.
When Miley released her self-described 'dirty south hip-hop' album Bangerz* in 2013, she embraced a very provocative persona, boldly cutting her hair off, singing about topics like recreational drug use, and, of course, twerking on Robin Thicke at the VMAs.
After a few years, Miley's public image totally shifted. She grew out her hair, rekindled her relationship with Liam Hemsworth*, and started penning songs about inoffensive topics. Enter: Younger Now.
While she was promoting the 2017 album, Miley memorably made critical remarks of hip-hop — the same genre that had influenced Bangerz. She told Billboard, 'I also love that new Kendrick [Lamar] song ['Humble']: 'Show me somethin' natural like ass with some stretch marks.' I love that because it's not, 'Come sit on my dick, suck on my cock.' I can't listen to that anymore. That's what pushed me out of the hip-hop scene a little. It was too much, 'Lamborghini, got my Rolex, got a girl on my cock' — I am so not that.'
Fast forward to today, and Miley has reflected further on her relationship with hip-hop. During a recent appearance on the Every Single Album podcast, Miley was asked if she was 'playing a character' during her Bangerz era. She replied, 'I really did what I wanted to do…It was marketed not just by me, but just by the way that the press perceived it, as this is like some rebellious thing…That to me, that's a strategy, and I, that's not really what I do.'
Then, when asked if she had 'fallen in love' with hip-hop, Miley said, 'Yes, because all my friends, that's all we listened to,' adding, 'It's not a genre, it's a statement.'
'For me, hip-hop at the time was my soul. [Those were] the concerts that I was sneaking out to go to. That was the thing that my parents wouldn't let me listen to, you know,' she went on.
'I wasn't unique in the fact that I was a white girl listening to hip-hop,' she said before quipping, 'Like, just go look at a fucking Coachella set list.'
Miley was later asked if she had 'any different perspective' on her relationship with hip-hop now, and whether or not she felt differently about inserting herself into that world because she spent a lot of time listening to the genre. She replied, 'I wasn't just listening like a regular person with headphones on to Juicy J, I was friends with Juicy J, actually. So like, I don't know what to say. Like, I was actually smoking fat fucking wax bowls with Wiz Khalifa. Like, I'm not faking!'
Reacting to Miley's comments, several fans were left pretty disappointed that she avoided taking 'accountability' for her 'cultural appropriation.'
'she didn't want to be a Disney star anymore. she wanted to be edgy. She benefited from the 'lifestyle' then rejected it when it no longer suited her image. And yes, people change their tastes as they grow older, but she should at least be able to acknowledge all of this after all these years with a few less 'likes' and excuses,' someone said, while another person wrote: 'Every time I think she's going to make a point it doesn't happen. Girl.'
Let me know what you think below. You can find Miley's full interview here.