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Earlier this year, Miley Cyrus recalled the devastation left by the California fires. For her, it wasn’t a distant drama, but a personal catastrophe: in 2018, she lost her house in Malibu during the Woolsey Fire – along with diaries, notes and hard drives full of music.
“It felt like life was telling me that these songs weren’t meant for me,” Cyrus said of the decision to abandon her planned EP trilogy, She Is Coming, She Is Here, She Is Everything. The flames had not only engulfed her home, but also her creative direction at the time.
Now, seven years later, she’s found a new song that’s hers – perhaps more than ever. An original recording for James Cameron’s upcoming film Avatar: Fire and Ash.
Music as rebirth
“Having personally been affected by fire and rebuilding from the ashes, this project has deep meaning for me,” Cyrus wrote on Instagram. She shared a short snippet of the song, the release date of which is yet to be announced.
She then sings, accompanied by a gentle piano melody:
“Even through the flames / Even through the ashes in the sky / Baby, when we dream / We dream as one.”
The lines seem like a spiritual extension of her own life path – from destruction to renewal. The song was written together with Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt, their long-time musical companions. Ronson and Cyrus already created the hit “Nothing Breaks Like a Heart”while Wyatt was involved in She Is Coming back in 2018.
“Avatar”: More than just a spectacle
It’s no coincidence that Cyrus sings this song. The themes of the film – unity, healing and love – reflect exactly the energy that she rediscovered within herself after the fire.
“Thank you, Jim, for the opportunity to turn this experience into musical medicine,” she continued. “Being even a small star in the Avatar Family universe is a dream come true.”
James Cameron himself sees more than just spectacle in “Avatar”: “I never justified the films with revenue, but with the hope that they connect us – with the part of us that respects nature. ‘Avatar’ is a Trojan horse: it draws you in with entertainment and leaves something in your heart and mind.”
Cyrus, who was nominated for a Golden Globe in 2025 for the song “Beautiful That Way” (from Gia Coppola’s “The Last Showgirl”), seems to have internalized this idea. Their music has long been more than pop – it is self-healing, memory and renewal.