Miley Cyrus and Billy Idol Reunite for Super Bowl Pre-Game ‘Night Crawling’ Performance

Miley Cyrus helped kick off the Super Bowl LV festivities in a unique way Sunday with her performance at the first-ever TikTok Tailgate event. Cyrus brought along one of her Plastic Hearts collaborators, ’80s rock icon Billy Idol, to perform their duet “Night Crawling” during the show. The “Midnight Sky” singer has known the “White Wedding” performer for several years, but this was the first time they collaborated for a studio recording.

Cyrus met Idol in 2013 when she performed “Rebel Yell” at the Vh1 Divas concert. Three years later, they performed the song together at an iHeartRadio event. In a recent Apple Music 1 interview with Zane Lowe, Cyrus praised Idol’s music for “the way that he married rebellion but also his music where he had incredible hooks.” Idol, 65, “showed me that I could have balance, that I could make music that I and other people love,” Cyrus continued. “And sometimes I’ve lost that and I’ve found that again where it’s like, ‘I want to make music for me.’”

Before she started working on Plastic Hearts, Cyrus was hearing Idol’s 1983 hit “Eyes Without a Face” everywhere she went. The song was still stuck in her head when she started working on the new record with Andrew Wyatt. During a discussion, Cyrus told Wyatt she thought Idol’s music videos were like porn because they are “so sexy.” They decided to make an Idol-esque song, but then Wyatt suggested they just get the man himself involved. “I’m like, ‘Yo, that is my porn preference, is Billy Idol music videos,’” Cyrus told Lowe. “And so I’m like, ‘Oh, man. We’ve got to write a song about that.’ And he’s like, ‘Let’s just write a song with Billy Idol. Let’s just get the real deal here.’ So we got Billy to come and write a song.”

Before the TikTok Tailgate event, Cyrus teased Idol’s appearance by sharing a photo with him on Instagram. The show took place just outside Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, with 7,500 vaccinated frontline workers invited by the NFL in attendance. Only about 22,000 fans will be at the game itself, between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The NFL streamed Cyrus’ show on its official TikTok page.

Cyrus released Plastic Hearts in November. It also features collaborations with Dua Lipa and Joan Jett. Stevie Knicks also worked with Cyrus on “Edge of Midnight (Midnight Sky Remix),” which is featured on the deluxe version of the album. Plastic Hearts peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 album chart.