Miley Cyrus had a new album to tell Dolly Parton about when they spoke for the last time. With the record now out, she still plans to send her godmother a copy.
In a September 17th Apple Music interview with Zane Lowe, Cyrus recalled that conversation about Bass Persuades, which was released September 18th.
Parton died August 25th at 80 after a brief battle with cancer, her publicist told ABC News. In her Instagram tribute the following day, Cyrus said she would keep their most private moments to herself.
Cyrus compared listening to Parton to growing older and discovering how much your mother knew, despite all your objections as a kid. As she put it, “Dolly was just always right about stuff.”
Dolly Was First on the Vinyl List
Cyrus told Lowe she was trying to keep herself together as she remembered telling Parton about the album. “The time that we talked, which was the last time we would talk, it was actually me telling her about this record,” she said.
“Dolly has been the first person that when I get a vinyl printed, that’s the first person I send it to since I’ve been making vinyls,” Cyrus told Lowe. “This time around I’m going to send her a vinyl because I always do.”
Dolly Had a Grammy Performance in Mind
Before the 2024 Grammys, Cyrus was still reluctant to perform. She told Lowe that she had suffered a medical emergency during the New Year’s Eve special she hosted with Parton. She finished the broadcast and went to the emergency room afterward.
On a Christmas visit to New York, she discussed getting back onstage with Lorne Michaels during their annual walk around the Christmas tree. Michaels had produced the special, and when she mentioned the Grammy invitation, he told her she was going to do it.
In Nashville, Parton offered to pick Cyrus up and drive, something her godmother didn’t normally do. Once they were in the car, she began telling Cyrus why she should accept the Grammy invitation. “They trapped me in the car,” Cyrus joked to Lowe.
Cyrus still felt she needed rest and recovery. Parton wanted her to get dressed for a performance: “Get your hair teased and get a dress that you love.” She brought up Hannah Montana and RuPaul, urging Cyrus to call on the part of herself that could step into a role and put on a show.
Cyrus credited Parton with steering her toward Bob Mackie for the performance. She took the Grammy stage to sing “Flowers” in a vintage silver-fringe dress by the designer, with her hair piled high.
The Miley Onstage and the Miley at Home
On Hannah Montana, Miley Stewart led a double life as a schoolgirl and a pop star, with a blonde wig separating the two. Her real godmother joined her onscreen as Aunt Dolly.
Cyrus still talks about the difference between herself at home and the person she becomes in front of an audience. She sometimes calls her performances drag. The way she presents herself onstage, she told Lowe, is far removed from “the person that feeds the tortoise every morning,” although both are parts of her.
Parton was her example of how that could work. Everyone knew about the wigs and makeup, yet Cyrus said people were drawn to how real her godmother was. She credited Parton with helping her understand that she could “have a persona and still be who you are.”
For all their differences, Cyrus said, she and Parton were “perfect for each other.” They disagreed about what to do when the tears started during a performance.
Miley Cried During Their ‘I Will Always Love You’ Duet
The pair co-hosted Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party as 2022 became 2023, performing a medley that began with Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball” and moved into Parton’s “I Will Always Love You.” They recorded “Wrecking Ball” together for Parton’s album Rockstar the following year.
When that recording was released, Parton compared hearing Cyrus’ song for the first time to hearing Whitney Houston sing “I Will Always Love You,” Pitchfork reported.
Cyrus remembered crying as she sang with Parton on New Year’s Eve. She told Lowe she was already aware that so many of the musicians she relied on belonged to older generations. They wouldn’t always be available for a phone call asking, “What do I do now?” She had made that call to Parton many times.
Parton had questioned her tears on another occasion, after watching her sing “End of the World” for David Letterman. “What are you crying about?” she asked, according to Cyrus. The song made Cyrus think about the world ending and never seeing her mother again.
“Music is escapism. Let them cry. You need to get through it,” Parton told her. Cyrus said she couldn’t help crying and that her godmother loved her for who she was, even when she couldn’t follow that instruction.
In her August tribute, posted alongside a black-and-white portrait of Parton, Cyrus wrote that her godmother would want her to feel the grief, write a song about it and carry on. She said she still wanted to make Parton proud.
“I have an angel by my side,” she wrote. “I always have.”