Miley Cyrus

Miley Cyrus first became known as Hannah Montana on the Disney Channel when she was 13. That character gave her a platform, but she spent much of her early career trying to move past it. Her 2009 single "The Climb" was one of the first signals of that shift, trading teen pop for something more reflective.

By 2013, she had fully embraced a different sound with the album "Bangerz" and its single "We Can't Stop." The music was louder and more confrontational, and it came with performances and interviews that deliberately broke from her Disney image. Some of her younger fans drifted away, but she kept pushing into rock and country influences on later records like 2020's "Plastic Hearts."

She has worked with producers and artists across genres, from Snoop Dogg to The Flaming Lips, though she remains the central writer and performer. More recent songs like "WTF Do I Know" and "Angels Like You" suggest she's still figuring out what she wants to say, but she's long past needing a character to say it for her.