Miley Dropped The Cyrus From Her Name, Her Dad's Response Was Perfect
Miley Cyrus announced her 10th studio album, Bass Persuades, on September 1, 2026, alongside a detail that immediately sent the internet into speculation: she had changed her social media handles and online presence to display simply her first name, dropping the Cyrus surname she had carried through all nine previous albums and her entire public career. Fan interpretations ranged widely, including a Daily Beast headline declaring the move a rebuke of her father. Billy Ray Cyrus moved quickly to dismantle that reading, posting a long and warm response on social media two days later alongside a throwback photo of himself with a young Miley and her brother Braison. He said family means more than ever now, and that he had always called his daughter by her first name anyway, the same way he had always called his son Braison just Braison. He then revealed the detail that landed most softly: Miley had called him the day before she made the announcement to get his opinion, and he had told her he felt good about her going with her first name.
Billy Ray then added context that reframed the entire conversation. He told his followers that before Achy Breaky Heart came out in 1992, he had been going by just Cyrus himself, with all his merchandise reading simply Cyrus alongside a POW MIA flag image and the words you are not forgotten. His record label had other ideas, and so did the song's commercial momentum, which is how the world came to know him as Billy Ray Cyrus rather than the one-name act he had briefly imagined being. The comparisons he made for Miley were Dolly, Cher, Elvis, Prince, and similar artists who had achieved a level of recognition where a single name says everything. The timing carried additional weight because Dolly Parton, Miley's godmother and one of Billy Ray's closest friends in the music world, had died just days earlier. Miley wrote on Instagram that the feeling of losing her Aunt Dolly was beyond what felt right to share publicly. Her father joined her in mourning, shared his blessing for her new era, and took the occasion to remind his daughter publicly that the word family means more now than it ever has. The album comes out September 18.
