Disney's Pop Prodigies: How Miley Cyrus, Hilary Duff, and Demi Lovato are Rewriting the Rules of Child Stardom
From Hannah Montana to global tours, Disney's iconic stars are proving their lasting power and reshaping the landscape of pop music.
"Everybody's touring right now," says Disney Music Group president Ken Bunt. "So it became evident."
In early March, Hilary Duff appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, showcasing the viral choreography to her 2007 hit “With Love.” The song was off her album Dignity, her final release on Hollywood Records.
A few weeks later, Miley Cyrus embraced Hannah Montana to celebrate the show’s 20th anniversary. She co-produced a Disney+ special, threw a premiere party, and released “Younger You” via Hollywood Records.
Following the special, Hannah Montana’s catalog had a 306% streaming gain, according to Luminate. “Younger You” debuted with 1.1 million streams on its first day.
Ken Bunt notes the eagerness of Disney's veteran pop stars to revisit their beginnings. “Really, I think it started to coalesce last year with the Jonas Brothers tour... Aly & AJ’s team [also] reached out. Everybody’s touring right now… So it became evident.”
In June, Duff will embark on her first global headlining tour in nearly two decades, including dates at Madison Square Garden and the Kia Forum. Her early hits will be essential to the setlist, alongside her new album, luck… or something, which debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200. She even released “Come Clean [Mine],” a new recording of her 2004 single.
Demi Lovato, who starred in Camp Rock and released six albums on Hollywood Records, is also touring this year with the It’s Not That Deep tour. Camp Rock 3 will arrive this summer, with Lovato co-executive producing alongside the Jonas Brothers. Selena Gomez is making her directorial debut with Wizards Beyond Waverly Place.
Bunt is proud that Disney can still be considered home for these stars. He mentions Cyrus’ Avatar: Fire and Ash end-credits song, “Dream as One,” and Gomez's role as a producer on Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building. Duff has also “been doing more with the company” that could be “coming out soon,” and there have been discussions about getting “all [those original stars] on screen… to have them tell their story.”
Cyrus
Bunt highlights how Disney Music Group has grown. “After all these years, I feel like there’s a way for talent to mature with the company.” He cites Sabrina Carpenter and Olivia Rodrigo for connecting some dots. Rodrigo “is one of the few” who wrote a song for a Disney series in which she also starred.
Disney is also developing another class of superstars across various franchises, including The Descendants, Zombies, and Camp Rock 3. Kylie Cantrall of Descendants just signed with Republic Records, while Hollywood Records breakout Freya Skye released her debut EP, Stardust, with single “Silent Treatment” becoming her first entry on the Billboard Hot 100.
Bunt sees the late-2000s class as singular. “This class is just unique in music history,” says Bunt, who has worked at Disney for 28 years. “To have this level of talent still resonate culturally 20 years later, I can’t think of another class that’s really been like this from a historical standpoint... they all have an incredible work ethic."
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