Miley Cyrus on Crafting a Vulnerable Anthem for ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ – and Her “Soundtrack Diva Queen” Era
Miley Cyrus’s latest project sees the pop star lending her songwriting and vocal talents to James Cameron’s Avatar franchise, delivering a deeply personal end-credits song for Avatar: Fire and Ash, now in theaters. The collaboration stemmed from a casual offer made during their simultaneous induction as Disney Legends in 2024, a moment where Cyrus playfully offered her services to the acclaimed director.
The opportunity,as Cyrus recounts,felt serendipitous. She also received a similar request from Jamie Lee Curtis to contribute to the 2024 film The Last Showgirl. “He remembered that and took her up on the offer,” according to the artist,who has released nine studio albums and boasts a prolific songwriting career. But approaching a project for someone else presented a unique challenge.
“I kind of approached Avatar in two ways,” Cyrus explained to Entertainment Weekly. “My first approach was showing up and just being the voice and relaying the message that James wanted.” Cameron, having dedicated over two decades to the Avatar universe, possessed an unparalleled understanding of the story. Cyrus initially wondered if she would simply be a vessel for his vision, performing a “scripted” song.However, Cameron’s direction quickly alleviated those concerns.
He specifically requested that she approach the song as she would any of her own compositions – “which is a journal entry, something that’s personal, something that’s intimate and emotional.” cyrus was surprised by the freedom she was given, ultimately “wrecking” initial arrangements, injecting her perspective into the music. Andrew Wyatt contributed key melodic elements, described as having a “classic Disney” theatricality. “What I brought to the table was really the lyrics.I feel that what I bring the most is authentic storytelling.That’s kind of who I am.”
One particularly poignant addition was an ad-libbed vocal section recorded in the same room where Janis Joplin frequently worked at Sunset Sound. Cyrus sought to honor Joplin’s spirit,but initially feared Cameron would reject the inclusion. “I thought,there’s no way I’m gonna get away with James Cameron keeping janis Joplin screaming lyrics in the back. And he kept them in as I think the spirit of that room captured a lot of magic and a lot of her magic.”
Cameron’s feedback throughout the process was minimal, a testament to his trust in Cyrus’s artistic vision. He and Cyrus engaged in extensive phone conversations, discussing life, loss, and the personal meaning of the film. “Sometimes I would want to call him for two minutes to ask him a speedy question because there’s no reason to keep writing if he wasn’t gonna love it, and then I realized we’ve talked on the phone for two hours about everything.”
This marks at least the third original song Cyrus has written for a film, following previous contributions to The Last Showgirl. She playfully embraced the idea of entering a “Soundtrack Diva Queen” era, acknowledging the contrast between her relatively brief involvement in the project and the years of dedication invested by the Avatar team. “Everyone else works on a movie for two years and then I come in at the end, I do two vocal sessions and then I’m like, ‘here I am!'” she quipped. “But hey, it needs the song. Hello, you need that song. There couldn’t be an Avatar: Fire and Ash without it if you asked me.”
Looking ahead, Cyrus expressed a desire to star in a film accompanied by an original soundtrack, Ã la Whitney Houston in The Bodyguard. “yeah, every day. I’m waiting for the right one,but I always keep everything open for the absolute perfect thing for me because I won’t settle. So when the right thing drops in and there it is indeed, I’ll definitely know and it’ll be a full body yes.”
