Whoever said "never meet your heroes" clearly wouldn't have understood Sabrina Carpenter's undying fangirl love for Miley Cyrus.
The fact that the "Espresso" singer's intense appreciation for Cyrus dates wayyy back to when she was just 10 years old is common knowledge on social media, where a photo of a young, fedora-clad Carpenter proudly posing with her idol has been making the rounds for years.
So, when the singers crossed paths again at the 2025 Grammy Awards on Sunday (Feb. 2) and posed for a modern recreation of the now-famous photo, fans were most definitely here for it.
the cutest full circle moment ever !! #GRAMMYs pic.twitter.com/YuTUIvTlt5February 3, 2025
FWIW, Carpenter has opened up about her early fangirling over Cyrus multiple times over the years. In an interview with MTV UK, she reflected on the meeting memorialized in the aforementioned fedora pic.
“When I was ten years [old] it was Miley Cyrus," Carpenter said (per J-14). "I was wearing a fedora when I met her and I regret it entirely. She had a cold but she was super sweet to me when I met her and I’ll never forget that."
Cyrus was more than just Carpenter's personal idol though. In someways, the Hannah Montana star played a role in discovering the Short n' Sweet singer.
According to a 2009 article from a Pennsylvania newspaper called The Morning Call, 10-year-old Carpenter's chance to meet Cyrus came after she made it into the final four in the “Are You a Superstar?” contest through Cyrus' official fan club site, Miley's World.
Carpenter, who was in fifth grade at the time, was the youngest of the contestants in the final four and won front row tickets for Cyrus' “Wonder Tour” concert at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia.
“I was kind of starstruck,” a young Carpenter told the paper at the time. “It was a really awesome experience.”
Carpenter's success in the content also earned her a meet and greet with Cyrus, who encouraged the then-10-year-old aspiring singer.
Miley Cyrus and Sabrina Carpenter posed for a picture together at the 2025 Grammys.
“She told me I was doing awesome in the contest,” Carpenter explained. “I wish I could do it all over again. It was really cool.”
As of her meeting with Cyrus, Carpenter was working on the next stage in the contest, which involved producing a video of herself singing a song from a "favorite diva," according to the Morning Call report. Carpenter ultimately placed third overall in the content (beating out all but two of the 7,000 hopefuls who entered), but was hopeful about her chances at winning and had some pretty prescient things to say about her future as an artist at the time.
“I think I have a really good chance,” she said. “Hopefully someday maybe at a little girl’s birthday party they’ll have my music on. That would just be an awesome feeling.”