Miley Cyrus‘ joyous 2024 Grammy Awards appearance may not have happened if she hadn’t spoken to her godmother, Dolly Parton. The queen of the country set the 31-year-old musician on a course for success that fateful evening when she won her very first Grammy Award.
The “Party in the U.S.A.” singer shared what happened behind the scenes ahead of the big day on Netflix’s My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman because she almost turned down the opportunity to perform during the live show. “[Dolly] isn’t afraid to have the tough conversations,” Cyrus admitted. “A tough conversation I had with her: I told her, ‘I’m wondering if I’m going to do the Grammys or not.'” Parton was having none of that negative talk.
Cyrus continued, “And she said, ‘Well of course you’re going to do the Grammys, and you’re not just going to show up but you’re going to show off. And you’re going to be everything that you are sitting right here in front of me.'” The “9 to 5” superstar wasn’t done though, she also added a touch of advice when it came to the sparkle. “And she said, ‘And don’t forget about the beauty. The hair, the makeup, the whole show. It’s armor for us,”’ Cyrus said.
During her performance of “Flowers,” which happened shortly after she won a Grammy for Pop Solo Performance, and later, Record of the Year, Cyrus yelled out, “I Just Won My First Grammy!” in excitement. It was the moment of authenticity that Parton had encouraged her to lean into. This is the wise life advice we can all take to heart, via Cyrus: “[Dolly has] always said this to me: ‘You do you, and I’ll do me, and together we’ll be us.’ So she wasn’t telling me to be Dolly, she wasn’t telling me to be fabulous and hide behind the sparkles and the hair. She was telling me to be me.”
Parton loves her goddaughter right down to every last rhinestone. The 78-year-old singer gushed about her to Good Morning America in 2009, “I’ve known her since she was a baby…Her father’s a friend of mine, and when she was born, he said, ‘You just have to be her godmother,’ and I said, ‘I accept’… We never did do a big ceremony, but I’m so proud of her, love her. and she’s just like one of my own.” Anyone who has Parton in their corner is bound for success, Cyrus is so lucky to have the national treasure rooting her on.
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