You might have noticed that Miley Cyrus’ current rockstar vocals are quite different to her pop princess vocals in songs like Wrecking Ball.
Her 2024 Grammys performance in particular led fans to comment on the singer’s current raspier, deeper tones, with one commenter saying “Some may argue but I think this is one of — if not the BEST — Grammy performances in a very long time.”
In a 2023 Joe Rogan podcast episode, the star herself said her voice had “definitely changed.”
Why?
In the episode, Miley said that she “learned a lot about the voice, and how our experiences affect our voice” before sharing that she’d had vocal surgery in November of 2022.
“I had something called Reinke’s edema,” she revealed on the podcast.
The University of Pittsburgh’s page on the condition reveals that women are more likely to suffer from it than men. And while smoking is its most common cause, it can also arise from “voice overuse.”
“When my doctor told me about it, he said, ‘no-one shy ever has this. This is for abuse of the voice,’” Miley said. ”‘This is for people who talk way too fucking much.’”
Writing about the condition, the University of Pittsburgh says, “When the vocal cords are impacted by the swelling [that comes with Reinke’s], they cannot vibrate in the usual way. That means the voice will sound different.”
She says her Hannah Montana experience may have contributed to the condition
After sharing that Reinke’s edema usually only shows up in peoples’ 60s and 70s, the singer said that she thinks her hectic Hannah Montana schedule could have led to its early development.
“I started touring... at probably 12 or 13, and... the adrenaline that you have after a show ― it’s not really the singing that affects your voice as much. It’s afterwards, you’re totally on,” Miley commented.
“You stay up talking all night, later the talking all night turned into smoking all night, and now, this is kind of where we’re at.”
Miley has spoken before about the jam-packed schedule she followed as a preteen when shooting Hannah Montana, which show’s tour she was referring to on the podcast.
Still, her beautiful voice is partly to thank for the condition ― could we call that the best of both worlds?