Miley Cyrus Details Having Vocal Cord Surgery To Save Her Voice — ‘Why Do My Cords Look Like Stephen Tyler?’

Miley Cyrus is one of the most popular artists of her generation. Having built an enormous fan base off the success of her hit TV show, Hannah Montana, she’s remained a highly sought after artist. 

And although Cyrus has seen immense success at a very young age, it hasn’t come without its share of challenges. She recently revealed that she had to have vocal cord surgery in 2019 in order to save her voice.

Miley Cyrus has an interesting relationship with music 

Cyrus has spoken in the past on the challenges she’s faced with her voice. As a professional singer, it’s obviously important that Cyrus maintains her ability to perform. She recently spoke on the difficulties she’s faced over the course of her career during an interview with Howard Stern. 

“Music is where I can hide,” Miley Cyrus said. “Music is where I feel the most secure. That’s why my voice holds a lot of value to myself and to other people. And I’ve had to kind of work on my relationship with that and find other things that I love about myself too.”

Miley Cyrus compares herself to professional athletes

As an entertainer, there can be a lot of pressure to be able to perform at a high level. For Cyrus, knowing that her livelihood and career largely revolves around being able to sing can be overwhelming at times. 

“You look at other athletes, or—their whole careers are built on these big muscles, you know. And it’s like I’ve got these two little tiny chords, and everything is balanced on top of these little—whenever you get scoped, you actually see it. It’s really crazy when you see how much force and pressure, you know. Everything, my stability in my life, is balanced on these tiny little chords.”

Because Cyrus relies on her body to perform in front of audiences, she likens herself to an athlete. With this mentality, she has a more idealistic approach to training her vocal chords and staying in condition to perform. 

“When you look at these other athletes—which is what I consider myself to really be—and that’s why it’s just so important that now I’ve been really training because I learned what happens when you don’t train,” Cyrus said. “And it’s just really important to take care of these things that is the reason why all of us here have something to do today. So it’s just a lot of pressure.”

Miley Cyrus had surgery on her vocals in 2019 

Earlier in her career, Cyrus didn’t take the best care of here vocal chords. She has stated in the past that she smoked a lot of marijuana in her younger years, which surely couldn’t have helped her maintain optimal vocal health. 

Apparently, her vocal chords were in such bad condition that she had to get surgery to repair them. That was a shocking moment for Cyrus, because artists her age usually don’t have to get vocal surgery so early into their careers. 

“I had surgery last November,” Cyrus said. “I was one of the younger artists that have ever had this surgery. When I was looking at Stephen Tyler’s on the wall, I’m like, ‘I’m not here yet, why do my chords look like Stephen Tyler? And like, you know I’m looking and I’m like thinking about the longevity and sustainability that he’s had, and then I’m looking at myself. I was 26, and I’m getting this surgery that 60-year-old touring artists are getting. But I’m feeling really good and I’ve done the rehabilitation that it takes, so I never wanna do that again.”