The 2025 Grammy attendees were exposed to the chic and eccentric hairstyle trend that swept the night’s red carpet. Hair aficionados Billie Eilish, Lady Gaga, and Miley Cyrus all sported the same jellyfish cut in their awards looks, which perfectly suited each of their bold styles. The “Malibu” singer rocking a new look is no surprise, since Cyrus has been an explorative hair nomad for the greater part of her career.
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Upon reflection, Cyrus’ entire music career has been grounded in the art of disguise. When performing as Hannah Montana, the Miley Cyrus persona was completely masked. For most of her career after her teenage-born secret identity, the bona fide pop princess found herself repeating history. From “Can’t Be Tamed” to “Endless Summer Vacation,” we’ve observed the birth of new Miley eras within the ebb and flow of her ever-changing discography.
Some of these eras are notably weirder than others. “Bangerz” and “Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz” were the musical pedestals for the singer’s most chaotic fashion looks, and of course, hairstyles. She’s seemingly found her way back to early 2000s Miley with her styles from 2024 and 2025, but as she said in a TikTok video, “The journey is usually the part that you remember anyways.” And yes, Miley, we do remember the journey …
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Miley’s pixie cut era
The infamous canon of events after a break-up usually starts with a bold hair change; Miley Cyrus was no exception. In 2012 and 2013, around the same time as rumors ran rampant about one of Cyrus’ many breakups with actor Liam Hemsworth, the pop star entered a new, no f**ks era, exploring some avant-garde style statements, including her now notorious blonde pixie cut phase. In the same era, Cyrus released her pivotal album “Bangerz,” which is widely believed to be heavily influenced by her relationship with Hemsworth.
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This hairstyle was the gateway to an edgier, more raw side of Cyrus, whose blonde ‘do is mostly synonymous with ballads like “Wrecking Ball,” a song that is equally emotional as it is wild — the song’s music video featured a naked Cyrus swinging from an actual steel wrecking ball. Her fans couldn’t help but sound the alarm bells in the comment section of the 2012 X (formerly known as Twitter) post where Cyrus debuted hair chopped hair. “WTF DID YOU DO,” someone wrote. “@MileyCyrus [I] foresee an engagement being called off in your future,” said another user, who predicted what was to come because about a year after that tweet in September 2013, Cyrus and Hemsworth broke their engagement off.
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The out-of-this-world space buns
One of Miley Cyrus’ most infamous and controversial looks evoked the worst chatter about her wild side. Breaking down her memorable teddy bear costume from the August 2013 MTV Video Music Awards — yes, the night she twerked on Robin Thicke — to British Vogue, Cyrus said that a sculpture from the artist Todd James inspired her costume. According to Cyrus, and all the headlines following the event, “This teddy bear costume, which was extremely controversial and made a lot of people angry. I repeat, this teddy bear costume made a lot of people angry.”
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To top it all off, Cyrus pulled her hair back into two tiny space buns, which looked like diminutive, gold pom-poms glued to the crown of her head. At the time of her space bun look, Cyrus reportedly hated her hair, per E! News. She told Kelly Osbourne, co-host of “Fashion Police,” that she was taking supplements to grow her hair out. “I’m secretly tugging on it every night and taking Viviscal,” she said. “I’m not going to lie. But I’m going to rock it while I have it!”
Miley Cyrus’ controversial hairstyles
Miley Cyrus is no stranger to wigs; she wore them all throughout her teenage years as Hannah Montana. Her 2015 wig-centric hairstyles, however, were less pop princess and more cultural appropriation. After releasing her experimental album “Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz,” Cyrus went on a brief style journey, which was seemingly motivated by psychedelics and a substantial amount of glitter. In a December 2015 selfie on Facebook, Cyrus debuted her new wig — rainbow box braids — that had a lot of people talking about whether she should be wearing a traditionally Black hairstyle. “You still rocking that appropriation jive? Miley, what’s good?” a user commented. Another wrote: “Lol yikes.”
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It wasn’t the first time Cyrus received backlash for appropriating Black culture. In one of Cyrus’ most rebellious red carpet moments, the “Flowers” singer walked onto the red carpet at the 2015 VMAs wearing a revealing, silver, strappy Versace number and her hair tied in a ponytail, accompanied by long, blonde hair extensions made of dreadlocks. Understandably, the public’s reaction was mostly negative. “Lord please tell me that Miley Cyrus didn’t just abuse her whiteness and wore dreadlocks to the VMA’s tell me this is all a bad dream?” someone posted to X at the time.
The achy breaky mullet phase
To ring in the 2020s, Miley Cyrus grew out her 2010s pixie cut and opted for an even edgier hairstyle to compliment her rock n’ roll era: a blonde mullet. Cyrus released her seventh studio album in 2020, titled “Plastic Hearts,” which paid homage to the vintage glam rockers that came before her — a vintage hairstyle completed this new phase in her career.
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When she debuted the look on Instagram, the hair admittedly looked refreshing and chic. Cyrus’ dramatic quarantine haircut was a shorter, shaggier version of the mullet. As time went on and the hair grew out, the edgy mullet became a wild, stringy mess, likely prompting her father, Billy Ray Cyrus, to sing “I Want My Mullet Back.” The longer it got, the wavier her hair became — at one point, her Instagram started looking like a Rod Stewart fan page.
In a circa 2008 interview with Cyrus, which she posted to X in 2020, the star admitted that she thought a spikier-looking mullet was trendy. Her older self captioned the interview clip: “The mullet is officially back when ’08 Miley says so….. perioTTTTT.” While some fans in the comments thought it suited her well, others thought it was just plain ugly. “The mullet died awhile ago, there’s no point and it doesn’t look good,” an X user asserted.
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Miley’s 2024 lioness Grammys blowout
Miley Cyrus finally left her blonde stage behind her and embraced her natural brunette color at the 2024 Grammys. It was a relief for many to see her return to her roots (literally), but the hairstyle she chose was equally as out-of-the-box as the rest on this list. The artist walked out on the red carpet in a gold, Princess Leia-esque safety pin dress and unbelievably quaffed hair — surprisingly inspired by one particular celebrity. Her hairstylist, Bob Recine, did not hold back on the hairspray and seemingly replaced his hair dryer with a category-five tornado.
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Recine explained the look on his Instagram, writing, “This last year l featured Miley’s wet look for hair. This year we decided we wanted something dry and bigger, more fuller hair, but sexy and tousled and touchable.” Users in his comment section were 50/50 on whether the hair was fantastic or a flop. “I loved EVERYTHING except for the hair,” someone wrote, comparing the style to a lion’s mane in “The Lion King.” Another fan compared her ‘do to the same thing, but added, “This hair was gorgeous!”
