Miley Cyrus channels pain into a soundtrack anthem
Miley Cyrus has always been fearless about wearing her heart on her sleeve, but her latest track, Dream As One – written for Avatar: Fire and Ash – takes vulnerability to another level.
The song springs straight from a place most pop stars would never touch: the moment she lost her Malibu home in the 2018 Woolsey Fire, one of the biggest wildfires to hit Southern California in years.
At the time, Miley was living with then-fiancé Liam Hemsworth and their pets. The fire destroyed almost everything: the house itself, personal belongings, her art collection, and countless memories built over years. Miley has spoken about how surreal it was to watch familiar rooms go up in flames, and how devastating it felt to have so much of her life literally reduced to ashes.
But instead of letting it break her, she turned the experience into something universal. ‘Dream As One’ is a meditation on loss, resilience, and finding hope after destruction.
Lines like “Even through the flames, even through the ashes in the sky, when we dream, we dream as one” land all the harder knowing they come from lived experience.
Working with Mark Ronson, Andrew Wyatt, and Avatar composer Simon Franglen, Miley wove her personal story into a cinematic soundscape. The result is intimate and massive at the same time – her voice soaring over sweeping orchestration, carrying both grief and triumph.
“Having been personally affected by fire and being rebuilt from the ashes, this project holds profound meaning for me,” Miley recently shared.
“The film’s themes of unity, healing, and love resonate deeply within my soul… to be even a small star in the universe the Avatar family has created is truly a dream come true.”
It’s the kind of song that reminds you why Miley has always been more than a pop star. She’s a storyteller, turning pain into art, and in this case, giving the fire and ashes of her past a chance to shine on the big screen.
