Miley Cyrus Paid Homage to Britney Spears With Super Bowl Pregame Performance

Miley Cyrus joined the growing number of celebrities showing their support for Britney Spears following the debut of Framing Britney Spears. Ahead of Super Bowl 2021, the 28-year-old singer headlined the TikTok Tailgate pregame concert, during which she gave a special shoutout to Spears. Singing her 2009 hit “Party in the U.S.A.,” Cyrus paid homage to Spears by adding the singer’s name in the lyrics and stating, “We love Britney.”

Cyrus’ sweet shoutout followed the release of Framing Britney Spears, the latest installment of The New York Times Presents documentary. Debuting on FX Friday and now streaming Hulu, just ahead of Sunday night’s big game, the 75-minute documentary dove into the media’s coverage and exploitation of Spears throughout her career as well as explored her current legal battles over her conservatorship, including the Free Britney movement. The documentary immediately prompted an outpouring of support from fans and fellow celebrities, including Haley Kiyoko, Sarah Jessica Parker and more.

Elsewhere in her performance, Cyrus gave shoutouts to several other women, with Cyrus stating, “When folks think of football weekend, they don’t always think [of] strong women, but after this I think they will.” She was joined onstage by Joan Jett for performances to sing “Bad Karma,” “Bad Reputation,” and “I Hate Myself for Loving You.” She also paid homage to Dolly Parton, whom she called her “fairy godmother,” performing a solo version of the country icon’s song “Jolene.” Cyrus was also joined on stage by Billy Idol for a performance of his 1982 song “White Wedding,” as well as their duet, Night Crawling,” on Cyrus’ new album, Plastic Hearts.

During the performance, Cyrus took the stage in bedazzled outfits, kicking off the pregame event with a remix of the 1981 song “Mickey” by Toni Basil, singing “Hey Miley” instead of “Hey Mickey.” She performed songs from her latest album, as well as songs from earlier in her career, including “We Can’t Stop,” “Wrecking Ball,” and “The Climb.” She even showed a little love to her Disney Channel persona, Hannah Montana, stating, “Hannah Montana’s not here, but I’ll check in the back and see if we can get her.”

Cyrus was confirmed to be headlining the NFL TikTok Tailgate in late January, with her Sunday afternoon performance wowing social media. She was one of several musical performers of the day. Before the Super Bowl officially kicked off, H.E.R. gave a stunning rendition of “America the Beautiful” and Jazmine Sullivan and Eric Church sang the national anthem. The Weeknd, meanwhile, headlined the halftime show.