Miley Cyrus and her godmother Dolly Parton gave fans the performance of a lifetime during the live NBC special “Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party” on Saturday, Dec. 31.
In the minutes leading up to midnight, the co-hosts of the evening finished off 2022 with a moving duet of two of their emotional ballads. Cyrus and Parton ushered in the new year with a medley of Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball” followed by Parton’s “I Will Always Love You.”
The co-hosts tackled Cyrus’ 2013 hit together first. However, when Parton was about to finish the breakdown, rather than going into the final chorus, she began singing the chorus to “I Will Always Love You” instead. The 76-year-old brought it back to the top of the song, with the duo finishing out the rest of the 1974 hit in a stunning duet.
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On social media, fans celebrated the heartfelt duet by Cyrus and Parton, with one fan tweeting, “it’s definitive, they’ve already saved 2023 singing a medley of ‘wrecking ball’ and ‘i will always love you’.”
“Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton performing ‘Wrecking Ball’ and ‘I Will Always Love You’ is so iconic,” another fan wrote on Twitter.
One Twitter user added, “Dolly Parton and Miley Cyrus singing I will always love you is exactly how I wanted to go into 2023.”
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After their performance and before the countdown to midnight, the duo addressed the crowd, with Parton sharing some touching words about the evening and her goddaughter.
“I tell you, this is a thrill of my life to get to host the show with Miley,” Parton said. “We know how much I’ve loved her since she was a little ol’ bitty thing. Now she’s a big ol’ thing and I still love her. I will always love you.”
The 30-year-old echoed Parton’s sentiments, adding, “That’s how I feel about you, Aunt Dolly. To stand on this stage and bring in 2023 with my godmother and all of you here in Miami, it has been a privilege and a pleasure and we have just loved the time that we have gotten to spend together and you all brought us together closer than we’ve ever been before, so we’re grateful for that.”
Last year, Cyrus and Pete Davidson co-hosted her inaugural New Year’s Eve special on NBC, which included guests like Jack Harlow and Saweetie. Much of last year’s special was thwarted by a surge of Covid-19 cases as well as the spread of the omicron variant, disrupting the initial plans for the evening. The show still went on, though not without a wardrobe malfunction for Cyrus while performing her song “Party in the U.S.A.”
This year, Cyrus tackled the co-hosting gig with her godmother. The two were joined throughout the evening by guests including Sia, David Byrne, Fletcher, as well as an appearance from “Saturday Night Live” cast members Chloe Fineman, Sarah Sherman, and the Please Don’t Destroy comedy trio.
Paris Hilton also made a surprise appearance alongside Cyrus and Sia to perform her 2006 hit "Stars Are Blind," which was recently re-recorded by the singer and released on Friday, Dec. 30. The 41-year-old shared a clip from the performance on Instagram, writing in the caption, "I told you I had another surprise!"
" I had so much fun singing #StarsAreBlind on @MileyCyrus’ New Years Eve Special with Miley & @SiaMusic!" she added. "The perfect way to ring in 2023 and celebrate my new version of this iconic song. I can’t wait to show you all the other exciting things I’m working on. This is only the beginning! Happy new year!"
To kick off the show, Cyrus and Parton rocked out with a duet of “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll” by Joan Jett in coordinating edgy black ensembles. Their duets didn’t stop there either. Later in the show, in their coordinating black and pink sequins outfits, they performed “Walkin’ After Midnight” by Patsy Cline before transitioning into another one of Parton’s iconic hits, “Jolene.”
Just before midnight, Cyrus also announced that her new single "Flowers" would be dropping on Jan. 13.
On social media, Cyrus posted a short clip of the singer walking up a hill wearing a metallic gold ensemble, a pair of black sunglasses, and her blonde hair tied up into a blonde. As the clip rolled, Cyrus can be heard singing in the background, "I can love me better, I can love me better, baby."
"NEW YEAR, NEW MILEY, NEW SINGLE," a tweet from Cyrus read. "FLOWERS JANUARY 13."
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