Miley Cyrus Admits She Lied to Godmother Dolly Parton About Writing 2 New Songs ArticlePure

Sometimes a little white lie can actually be used for good — just ask Miley Cyrus!

The “Flowers” singer revealed in a new interview that she may have fibbed to her godmother Dolly Parton, but the lie ultimately was the catalyst behind creating two new songs off her upcoming album Something Beautiful.

Cyrus, 32, said in an episode of Apple Music 1’s The Zane Lowe Show that she visited Parton, 79, two Christmases ago, and played her the song “Something Beautiful,” which Cyrus eventually released in March.

“She goes, ‘Alright, I see what you’re doing. Got any hits?’” she recalled in the episode, which premiered on Wednesday, May 21. “And I’m like, ‘I do actually.’ She goes, ‘Oh really? What’s it called?’”

The Grammy winner quickly shared the name of a new song called “More to Lose.” The only problem? She hadn’t actually written it yet.

“[I] had not written it yet. But I knew the title,” she said. “I was like, ‘I’ll send it to you.’ And she goes, ‘Well, you got any more?’ I was like, ‘Well…’”

After inadvertently establishing a new deadline for herself, Cyrus quickly called up her songwriting partner Michael Pollack with an urgent request to get into the studio.

“I said, ‘We got to write this song.’ He goes, ‘Well let’s do it!’” she recalled. “He had a song that he had already started with another writer who I had never met [Autumn Rowe], and I had never heard any of it, but he goes, ‘It’s funny, I think some of this melody will work that I’ve been working on.’ And so I was like, ‘Well I don’t know, but I told her I’ll send it to her, so we’ve got to write this ASAP.’”

By early January, the song was finally written, and Cyrus was able to share it with the “Jolene” singer. After she played “More to Lose” for Parton, though, she was hit with the same question as before: “Got any more?” And so the cycle began once more.

“I was like, ‘I do actually, and I think you’re really going to like the title.’ And meanwhile I’m going, ‘What titles do I have in my head?’ And I’m like, ‘I’ve got a song called ‘Every Girl You’ve Ever Loved,’ and you’re going to love that,” Cyrus said. “She goes, ‘Damn.’ She’s like, ‘I love that title, that should be your everything. You should have a makeup line, all these things.’ I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, no, I am, I’m working on it.’ I hadn’t even written the song yet, so all because of her did those two songs ever get created.”

Cyrus is set to release Something Beautiful — which contains both “More to Lose” and “Every Girl You’ve Ever Loved” — on May 30, with an accompanying film.

Fans will just have to wait and see if the record gets the seal of approval from Parton, who has known Cyrus since she was a baby thanks to her friendship with dad Billy Ray Cyrus.

“I really love her song ‘Flowers.’ That was a big, big song this past year,” Parton told PEOPLE in 2024. “She’s my little sweetheart. You know? My little goddaughter, so I feel very close to her.”