Miley dropped "Cyrus" from her stage name, Billy Ray supported the decision ahead of the album "Bass Persuades"
Miley Cyrus is entering a new professional chapter under a shorter stage name: simply Miley. The change became visible in late August and early September 2026 on her official digital channels, while the official website and store associated with the singer now present her under the mononym MILEY or Miley. At the same time, her tenth studio album "Bass Persuades" was announced, which according to the official store is scheduled to be released on September 18, 2026. This is a change in professional identity, not a confirmed change to her legal name: publicly available posts and media reports refer to the way she will present herself as a performer. The decision attracted additional attention because the surname Cyrus has for decades been associated both with her family story and with her rise from a Disney star to one of the most recognizable American pop performers.
The question of how her father Billy Ray Cyrus would react to the change quickly became part of the public discussion. On September 2, the country singer published a message in which he made it clear that he supports his daughter's decision. As reported by People, Entertainment Weekly and other American media outlets, Billy Ray wrote that he had always called his daughter simply Miley and that using her first name as a standalone artistic identity seemed to him like a natural step in her career. He compared her with performers who became globally recognizable under one name, including Cher, Prince and Elvis, and also mentioned Dolly Parton as one of the key figures in Miley's life. In doing so, he rejected speculation that dropping the surname could represent a message against the family or a sign of a new rift.
The change first appeared on official channels
The change was not presented as a traditional press conference or a formal announcement of a new stage name. Instead, audiences first noticed it through the renaming of profiles and the visual identity, after which new materials for "Bass Persuades" began using only the name Miley. The performer's official website is currently titled simply "MILEY", while her official store describes the album as "Miley's 10th studio album". Pitchfork reported on September 1 that Cyrus now, at least professionally, presents herself simply as Miley, while Rolling Stone Canada stated that the surname had disappeared from her social profiles and that the mononym was being used in materials related to the new era.
This manner of presentation is important because it leaves a clear distinction between artistic branding and legal identity. There is currently no public confirmation that Miley has changed her legal surname or that she intends to remove the family name from her private life. What has been confirmed is that only "Miley" is being used in the campaign for the new album, in the titles of official channels and in promotional materials. This means that it is most accurate to speak of a change of stage name or professional presentation rather than a legal change of surname. Such a nuance is especially important with famous people, whose stage name can exist independently of official documents.
In his reaction, Billy Ray Cyrus placed that very decision within the broader context of the music industry. According to his post, at the beginning of his own career he had considered using only the surname "Cyrus", before becoming known by his full name in the early 1990s after the success of the song "Achy Breaky Heart". In his daughter's case, the situation is different because the name Miley has already been a globally recognizable standalone brand for decades. For that reason, shortening the stage name does not necessarily mean breaking with the past, but rather an attempt to condense already existing recognition into a single word.
"Bass Persuades" arrives on September 18 as the tenth studio album
The name change is part of a much broader campaign for "Bass Persuades". Miley's official online store states that this is her tenth studio album and that physical editions are expected to begin shipping on September 18, 2026. The album will be released in collaboration with Atlantic Records, which is also confirmed by Apple Music and music media covering the release. The official store lists ten songs, including the title track "Bass Persuades", "Different Religion" with the group Model/Actriz, "Let's Get Married", "Orbit", "Aftermath", "REDLIGHTS", "Neon Signs" with Andrew Wyatt of Miike Snow, "Innocent Ways", "Snow" and "Bass Persuades Remixx". Digital platforms may display slightly different item counts before release, but the official physical editions are currently presented as an album with ten songs.
Alongside the album announcement, the singer explained that the title describes for her the way music takes hold of a person and conveys a wide range of emotions. In a statement reported by Pitchfork and Good Morning America, she spoke about music as something that can be powerful, vulnerable, sweet and firm at the same time and encompass both fulfillment and pain. That wording points to an album that aims to connect the physical, rhythmic side of pop with emotionally direct songwriting, which fits the direction Miley has followed throughout the last several stages of her career. At the same time, this is not merely a change of signature on the cover: the new visual identity, music and announced performances have together been positioned as the beginning of a distinct era.
The first concrete glimpse of the project arrived on September 3, when the title track "Bass Persuades" and the accompanying music video were released. ABC News and Pitchfork reported that the video was directed by photographer and director Mert Alas, who also participated in the project's visual identity. Pitchfork described the song as a blend of pop and post-punk, while other media highlighted its pronounced dance and synthesizer component. Releasing the title single two weeks before the album further confirms that the name change is not an isolated marketing move, but a central part of presenting the new musical cycle.
Hollywood Bowl performances mark a return to major concerts
Alongside the album, two concerts were also announced at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, one of the best-known outdoor concert venues in the United States. According to information from Ticketmaster and Miley's official website, the performances are scheduled for October 16 and 18, 2026. Ticketmaster states that the presale for members of the American Express program is expected to begin on September 8 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time, while general sales are announced to begin on September 10 at 10 a.m. according to the venue's local time. These dates come approximately one month after the album's release, so the concerts will serve as the first major stage presentation of the new phase.
These performances are additionally interesting because of Miley's relationship with touring in recent years. After intense concert periods earlier in her career, the singer has repeatedly spoken about not wanting to automatically enter the standard cycle of major tours after every album. For that reason, two focused performances in Los Angeles carry a different weight from a traditional announcement of a months-long tour. Instead of constant travel, this is a limited number of events that will probably be closely tied to the concept and aesthetics of "Bass Persuades". The official Ticketmaster event also lists the performer simply as "MILEY", thereby carrying the new professional identity into the concert market as well.
The Hollywood Bowl announcement also fits into a geographically important part of her career. Miley has been connected with Los Angeles for years through the television, film and music industries, and that city was one of the centers of her transition from a child and teenage star into an independent pop songwriter and performer. Although her musical roots are often associated with Tennessee and the Cyrus family, the new campaign emphasizes a contemporary pop identity built across multiple scenes and genres. The Hollywood Bowl therefore also functions as a symbolic stage for a phase in which her first name is enough to carry the entire project.
From "Hannah Montana" to a performer audiences recognize by one name
Miley's decision carries additional weight because of the length of her career. A broader global audience first came to know her in the mid-2000s through the Disney series "Hannah Montana", in which she played a teenager who hides her identity as a pop star. After that phase ended, she systematically changed her sound and public image, from radio pop and the album "Bangerz" through psychedelic experiments to rock influences on "Plastic Hearts" and the more sophisticated pop of "Endless Summer Vacation". It was the single "Flowers" from that album that brought her the first Grammy Awards of her career in 2024: the Recording Academy confirms that she won awards for Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance.
Such development explains why the mononym in her case is not an attempt to build recognition from scratch. The name Miley has long functioned as the main marker of her public identity, while the surname Cyrus simultaneously pointed to the family musical lineage and to a period in which audiences often focused on the relationship between her and her father. In the new phase, the focus is shifting toward the career she built independently. This does not mean rejecting the family, which Billy Ray explicitly sought to emphasize, but redefining the way the artist presents herself to the public.
Comparisons with Cher and Prince are therefore more than a rhetorical compliment from a proud parent. Music history knows many performers whose mononym became sufficient for global identification, from Madonna and Beyoncé to Adele and Shakira. In each of those cases, one name functions as a sign of cultural recognition, but also as a very powerful market identity. Miley is now formalizing something that has long existed in everyday communication with her audience: the fact that she often does not need a surname to be recognized.
Billy Ray's support is also important because of earlier family tensions
Billy Ray Cyrus's reaction attracted so much attention also because American media have intensively followed relationships within the Cyrus family in recent years. After his divorce from Tish Cyrus in 2022, speculation emerged about periods of distance among family members. During 2025, Miley publicly spoke about how her relationship with her father had changed and how, over time, there had been an emotional rapprochement. Because of that context, part of the audience immediately interpreted the stage-name change as a potential message about the family relationship.
Billy Ray's post directly contradicts such an interpretation. According to Entertainment Weekly and People, he emphasized that family means more to him now than before, that he has always called his daughter Miley and that he is excited about her new album. His support was neither reserved nor ambiguous, but public and affirmative. This returned an important part of the story from private speculation to what can be verified: her father supports the professional use of the mononym and does not present it as a rejection of the surname in a personal or family sense.
That position also allows for a different reading of the symbolism itself. The surname Cyrus remains part of the family's history and legacy, but Miley as an artist no longer has to depend on it to explain who she is. After more than two decades of public work, her catalog, awards, tours, television past and global hits give her first name enough context. In that sense, the change is less a radical erasure of an old identity and more the final step in a process through which the name Miley became a distinct cultural marker.
The new era arrives after the album "Something Beautiful"
"Bass Persuades" arrives relatively quickly after the album "Something Beautiful", released in 2025. Pitchfork states that Miley has since expanded that project with a deluxe edition, collaborated with musicians such as David Byrne and Lindsey Buckingham and continued working on other projects. That pace shows that 2026 is not intended as a period of withdrawal, but as a continuation of a highly active creative phase. At the same time, the new album arrives at a point when the singer no longer needs to build a transition between her television past and her adult music career; that transition ended long ago, and the focus now is on the finer positioning of the identity of an established performer.
An important emotional context ahead of the album was also the death of Dolly Parton, Miley's godmother and longtime professional mentor. American media reported in late August 2026 that Parton had died at the age of 80, after which Miley dedicated a personal message to her. Her influence is mentioned again in announcements for the new project, but it has not been confirmed that the entire album was conceived as a tribute to Parton. It is more accurate to say that "Bass Persuades" is appearing during a period of significant personal and professional transition in which a new visual identity, a stage-name change, fresh music, a return to a major stage and the loss of one of the most important people in Miley's musical life all overlap.
By September 4, 2026, the key facts about the new era are already sufficiently clear: official channels use the name Miley, "Bass Persuades" has been announced for September 18, the title track and video were released on September 3, and Hollywood Bowl concerts are planned for October 16 and 18. Billy Ray Cyrus publicly supported the shortening of the stage name and compared the move with the tradition of major performers recognizable under a single name. What has not been officially confirmed is any legal change of surname, so for now the new identity is most accurately viewed as professional rebranding. For audiences, the first full test of that change will arrive on September 18, when "Bass Persuades" is expected to be released as the first album presented under the name Miley.
Sources:
- Official MILEY website - current professional identity and information about the new era (link)
- Official Miley store - release date, status as the tenth studio album and track listing for "Bass Persuades" (link)
- Ticketmaster - confirmed Hollywood Bowl concert dates and ticket-sale information (link)
- Pitchfork - reports on the stage-name change, album and title single (link)
- People - Billy Ray Cyrus's reaction to the stage-name change and the context of his support (link)
- Entertainment Weekly - additional confirmation of Billy Ray's message and the context of the family relationship (link)
- ABC News - release of the title single and music video "Bass Persuades" on September 3, 2026 (link)
- Recording Academy / Grammy - confirmation of the Grammy Awards for "Flowers" in 2024 (link)