The transformation of Miley Cyrus as a rock and roll act is complete.
Miley Cyrus was seen recently playing with heavyweight metal act Metallica. Cyrus and Metallica performed on The Howard Stern show. Cyrus took over the lead vocals from singer James Hetfield on “Nothing Else Matters.”
Said track is one of the biggest hits from the 1991 Metallica release known as “The Black Album.”
Metallica is celebrating the 30th anniversary of “The Black Album” this year. A comprehensive retrospective album that contains outtakes, remastered versions was released last September 10. The retrospective also featured “The Metallica Blacklist.” The latter is a cover album that features 53 artists who did their own take of songs from the 1991 release. Artists from Elton John, Miley Cyrus Phoebe Bridgers, Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan, WATT, Yo-Yo Ma, Chad Smith, Chris Stapleton and more
For said cover album, Cyrus chose to record “Nothing Else Matters.” During the Howard Stern interview, Miley said that she has been covering the song for years.
Cyrus also added that the song reminds her of when she performed it at the Glastonbury Festival in 2019 and her experience when she lost her home in the Malibu fires.
“It was right before, actually, that the world knew that I was getting a divorce. But I knew that I was about two weeks before Glastonbury. And I had just lost my house in the fires, and this was my first show back. And ‘Nothing Else Matters,’ to me, was about the music.”
Also during the interview with Howard Stern, Metallica’s James Hetfield shared that he was initially hesitant in presenting the song to the band.
“It was one of those just very vulnerable places. We built this reputation of tough guys, we’re made of stone you can’t hurt us,” said Hetfield, adding “and this is one of the most vulnerable things, and obviously, the tougher the armor, the bigger the heart you want to show, but you’re afraid. So I was shocked when Bob Rock and Lars (Ulrich) both said, ‘that is beautiful, that’s an amazing song.’ It was a life-changing experience to be playing this for them, and them accepting it.”
For Miley Cyrus, the performance with Metallica further solidifies her rock credentials. The 28-year old’s most recent album “Plastic Hearts” is a 180-degree turn away from her “Party In The U.S.A.” roots and has earned her a number one rock record on Billboard.