As the Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special hits Disney+ and Hulu Tuesday, the Hannah Montana mania that dominated the pop culture landscape in the mid-2000s is experiencing a resurgence.
Fans reported waits of five or more hours for a Hannah-inspired pop-up sponsored by Maybelline at The Grove over the weekend, while brands including Starbucks, Adidas and Stoney Clover Lane have launched themed collaborations and a swarm of supporters gathered outside the El Capitan Theatre on Monday night to catch a glimpse of star Miley Cyrus at the special’s purple carpet premiere.
A few weeks earlier, a select group gathered inside a soundstage in Hollywood to witness Hannah’s resurrection in person and see Cyrus perform as the character who made her a star for the first time in nearly two decades.
Some members of the crowd were recognizable influencers like Hayley Baylee, Carter Kench and Kate Steinberg, but most were Cyrus fans plucked from the depths of stan social media, many of whom have been running accounts dedicated to the “Flowers” singer since Hannah Montana aired on Disney Channel from 2006 to 2011.
However, whether you were a superfan, a TikTok creator with millions of followers or even a next-gen Disney star, like the young actresses from the forthcoming Camp Rock 3 movie who were in attendance, everyone had to lock up their phones in pouches and wait in three different lines together before the trip down memory lane began.
Few of the fans dressed in their 2006-best were from Los Angeles, as most flew in from around the country and the world for the chance to witness Hannah history. Two Brazilian supporters, Lucas Müller and Renato Filho, received invites from Cyrus’ official fan club, MileyWorld, just a day before the taping. So, they bought last-minute plane tickets, flew overnight and became friends in the customs line before catching a ride together to Sunset Gower Studios.
Another fan, Axel Cazenave from Miami, described the experience as “healing” for his “inner child,” as he felt that he couldn’t express his true love for the show when it originally aired before he came out as part of the LGBTQ+ community.
“When Hannah Montana came out, I was 11 or 12 and I feel like that’s a very pivotal moment in life where you’re starting to find things out about yourself,” said Cazenave. “I felt the pressures of others feeling a certain way about that, whether it was family or friends or just in school, so Hannah Montana was something that I shelved in my head a little bit. I loved it when I was alone, but I didn’t really express it the way I wanted to. So, to be able to be here 20 years later with my fiancé, it really feels so full circle.”
Once Cyrus took the stage, she echoed similar sentiments about having a full-circle moment and “reclaiming” her Disney era with the special. The Grammy-winning artist also shared that while she used to think of Hannah as “separate” from Miley, she was finally “merging” the two.
That merger was apparent in the slinky sequin dress she stepped out in to sing a mashup of “This Is the Life,” the song she performed in the series’ pilot episode, and “The Climb,” the iconic ballad from 2009’s Hannah Montana: The Movie.
“It’s like hybrid-Hannah; it’s a little confusing,” the Disney Legend told the in-studio audience of her look. “A little bit of Hannah, a little bit of Miley.”
However, watching from the crowd, it didn’t seem confusing at all. Despite the passing of two decades, Cyrus’ blonde bangs made her look strangely like her younger self — only with a few more tattoos and the sequin gown seemed perfectly fitted to what Hannah would wear if she was still a star in her 30s.
A decade ago, Cyrus’ feelings around her time playing the character who was a normal high schooler by day and pop star by night seemed less than positive, with the “Wrecking Ball” singer saying that touring as both herself and Hannah as a teen did “some extreme damage in my psyche” in a 2017 interview with CBS Sunday Morning.
“From the time I was 11, it was, ‘You’re a pop star! That means you have to be blonde, and you have to have long hair, and you have to put on some glittery tight thing,’” she told Marie Claire in a 2015 interview. “Meanwhile, I’m this fragile little girl playing a 16-year-old in a wig and a ton of makeup. It was like Toddlers & Tiaras.”
During the taping, Cyrus cheekily spoke about her time wearing the wig and joked that “Disney was the first to do drag on TV,” earning laughs from the crowd.
The RuPaul’s Drag Race references didn’t stop there. After singing her mashup of “This Is the Life” and “The Climb” twice live for the cameras, she commented that it was time to “lip sync for her life” during an up-close beauty pass. Cyrus then teased, “You’re about to be so gagged by what’s to come,” before dipping out for a quick costume change.
It turned out she was right. A larger-than-life Hannah Montana logo fell from the ceiling and the audience was instructed to chant Hannah’s name before the 33-year-old singer rose from underneath the stage to perform the show’s theme beloved song, “The Best of Both Worlds,” complete with the original choreography and backup dancers.
The crowd, ranging roughly in age from mid-20s to mid-30s, appeared instantly transported back to a simpler time as they sang, danced and clapped along to Hannah’s most iconic track. Cyrus’ mom Tish Cyrus-Purcell and the singer’s fiancé Maxx Morando were both in the mix to witness it, as was Call Her Daddy podcast host Alex Cooper, who interviewed the star for the special and executive produced it.
Once the cameras stopped rolling, the audience’s cries quickly turned from “Hannah!” to “Miley!” which was music to Cyrus’ ears. Her face lit up as she remarked that the fans in attendance “get it,” referencing their understanding that the heart of the hit Disney Channel show was never a blonde pop star, but the real girl underneath the wig. While she didn’t say it aloud, it felt like a healing moment for her inner child, too.
“We grew up together,” she told the audience before leaving the stage. “I loved being Hannah then and I’m so living for it now.”
Inside ‘Hannah Montana 20’: Special Taping Marks “Full Circle” Moment for Both Fans and Miley Cyrus as She “Reclaims” Her Disney Era NYT News Today.
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