Photo Credit: Raph_PH / CC by 2.0
Miley Cyrus opens up about a rare medical condition that contributes to her signature whiskey-soaked voice—and makes performing a challenge.
In a recent appearance on Apple Music’s The Zane Lowe Show, Miley Cyrus revealed her struggles with a rare medical condition that contributes to the sound of her “ashtray” voice. The Grammy-winning singer has Reinke’s edema, a condition that causes swelling in the vocal chords and affects her vocal performance.
“It’s part of my unique anatomy,” she said. “This is what I look like. So I have this very large polyp on my vocal chord, which is giving me a lot of the tone and texture that has made me who I am, but it’s extremely difficult to perform with, because it’s like running a marathon with ankle weights on.”
Sometimes, she said, the condition even affects her voice in conversation. “When I’m talking, sometimes at the end of the day, I’ll call my mom, and she’ll go, ‘Oh, you sound like you’re talking through a radio.’ And that’s how you know I’m really tired, because it creates that ultimate vocal fry.”
Lifestyle choices such as drinking and smoking can exacerbate the condition, but Cyrus clarified that she has had the condition for years—thus not habit caused. “Being 21 and staying up and drinking and smoking and partying after every show does not help, but also, in my case, it does not cause it,” she explained. “So my voice always sounded like this.”
The star said she has opted against surgery due to the risk of losing her unique sound. “I’m not willing to sever it, because the chance of waking up from surgery and not sounding like myself is a probability.”
The biggest side effect of the condition, says Cyrus, is that she must prioritize her vocal health—which means staying away from touring.
“I put a tour together, like every other week, because I want to do it, but it would have to be in a way that is sustainable for me,” she said. “With what I got going on, like, I don’t lip sync. I sing live. And these songs are big.”
Cyrus has previously opened up about the strain that touring can take on a person, even before she revealed her condition. “If you’re performing at a certain level of intensity and excellence, there should be an equal amount of recovery and rest,” she said on TikTok in 2023.
“Having every day the relationship between you and other humans being ‘Subject’ and ‘Observer’ isn’t healthy for me, because it erases my humanity and my connection. And without my humanity, my connection, I can’t be a songwriter, which is my priority.”
Recommended Comments
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.