Between "Beautiful That Way" from The Last Showgirl and "Dream As One" from Avatar: Fire and Ash, Miley Cyrus is becoming one of Hollywood's go-to songwriters for film projects—and that's apparently very much by design.
The 33-year-old "Flowers" singer says her recent film-related songwriting opportunities came about because she actively puts herself out there and takes advantage of the access she has when she finds herself at events with people she'd like to collaborate with.
Miley Cyrus on stage with James Cameron at the world premiere of Avatar: Fire and Ash.
"I kind of throw it out there as I always do,” Cyrus recently told People of connecting with Avatar director James Cameron at the 2024 D23 Expo, where she and the iconic filmmaker were both being honored as Disney Legends.
“I already knew the answer to, ‘So what have you been up to?’ I know he's been up to Avatar for a very long time," Cyrus explained, saying she decided to skip the smalltalk and use her face-time with Cameron to offer her songwriting skills instead. “‘Just lemme know if you ever need any music.'"
As it turns out, Cyrus made that offer at exactly the right time for the collaboration to "organically happen," since Cameron was looking for a song to accompany the end credits of the third Avatar installment.
"I did the same thing to [Last Showgirl star] Jamie Lee Curtis,” she explained of getting the chance to write the film's Golden Globe-nominated song, "Beautiful That Way." “That's how I ended up doing Last Showgirl and now being a part of Avatar."
The strategy has been so successful for Cyrus that she admits she's actually attended Hollywood events—including the 2025 Oscars—with an eye toward looking for opportunities to collaborate with filmmakers.
“No, literally, that's why I went to the Oscars this year," she said. "Everybody that came up and introduced themselves, I said, ‘Well, if you need any music, I'm around.’”