Miley Cyrus' iHeartRadio Music Awards Speech Includes a Heartfelt Hannah Montana Shout-Out

Miley Cyrus picked up the Innovator Award at the iHeartRadio Music Awards and used the mic time to do exactly what you want from an Innovator speech: tie her current era back to the kid in the blonde wig. It was part gratitude, part origin story, and very Miley in the best way.

The moment at the Dolby

The 33-year-old 'Slide Away' singer hit the stage at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Thursday, March 26, to accept the honor, and immediately clocked the math: it has been 20 years since Hannah Montana first hit TV. She called that milestone a total dream, then poked fun at her own throwback wardrobe choices, joking that her double denim and gold scarf have been dying to leave the closet for over a decade.

Cyrus didn’t sidestep the obvious: playing Hannah shaped the real-life performer she became. She talked about how building a character gave her nerve and, over time, gave her a clearer sense of who she actually is.

"Sometimes the fake you can actually reveal the real you."

How she defines innovation

For her, innovating hasn’t meant abandoning older versions of herself; it’s been about keeping the process of finding that self fun. She made it clear that awards are nice but not the thing that steers her ship — if trophies were the compass, she said, she’d probably get lost. The real win, in her words, is making work that lands with people she may never meet. She even took a second to acknowledge her younger self, saying that kid would be thrilled to share this night and to tell fans how much they matter.

Why this trophy matters (and where Miley already stands)

iHeartRadio’s Innovator Award has been around since 2014 and goes to artists who have moved music and culture in a real way. Miley’s now in a club with some very familiar names:

• Past Innovator honorees: Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Justin Timberlake, Pharrell Williams, Alicia Keys, Chance the Rapper, and U2.

This isn’t her first iHeart win, either. She previously took home Best Lyrics for 'Wrecking Ball' in 2014 and Pop Song of the Year for 'Flowers' in 2024.

Back to Hannah (again), on purpose

The Innovator moment arrived just days after a Disney+ special marking the 20th anniversary of Hannah Montana’s premiere dropped on Tuesday, March 24. The way it came together is very showbiz and very Dolly Parton: Miley says her godmother once told her to promote the thing you want before it exists so nobody can say no later. So Miley started talking up a 20th-anniversary special that wasn’t real yet — and then, suddenly, it was. She also admitted that even Disney occasionally loses sight of how tightly she and Hannah are linked, while she gets reminded daily. Fans hand her Hannah merch when she travels and ask straight up if she’ll ever do another season.

What she told the room at the screening

At a screening for the special, she thanked Disney for rolling the dice on her in the first place. By her own telling, she had no business thinking she could carry a series or play a pop star when she first came to Los Angeles — a little theater, sure, but not much else. She said there were stretches where it was clear the studio felt good about their choice, and in the end it all worked out, especially with the cast (many of whom were there) who helped make the show what it became.

Then she dropped the kind of line only she can: she’s probably the only person in that room who never got to attend a Hannah Montana concert — because she was the concert. Seeing it now from the crowd’s side, she finally gets the fun of dressing up like Hannah, wig, scarf and all. Which brings us neatly back to the denim joke at the Dolby.