Miley Cyrus followed up her tribute to late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins this week by revealing the heartwarming inspiration for her performance.
In a tweet Wednesday, Cyrus posted an audio snippet of a voicemail she’d received from Hawkins prior to his death this spring. In it, he suggests she cover Def Leppard’s 1983 hit, “Photograph.”
“What up, Miley? It’s Taylor. Heard you’re moving,” Hawkins said in the clip. “I’m listening to ‘Photograph’ by Def Leppard. You could kill that one.”
Cyrus fulfilled that request Tuesday night, joining Def Leppard onstage at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles to perform “Photograph.”
That performance was one of many highlights at an all-star tribute concert celebrating Hawkins’ life, featuring appearances by Dave Chappelle, Alanis Morissette and Pink, among others.
Catch a snippet of “Photograph” below.
In a follow-up tweet, Cyrus noted she “missed Taylor so much like everybody else.”
“It was such an honor to celebrate him last night and perform [with] Def Leppard,” she added. “So lucky to have known him not just as a superstar but to have spent time watching him just be a dad and a husband!”
Hawkins died on March 25 at age 50. At the time of his death, he was in Bogota, Colombia, ahead of a scheduled performance with the Foo Fighters.
Cyrus previously honored Hawkins at Lollapalooza Brasil in March. Taking the stage just days after the drummer’s death, she dedicated the song “Angels Like You,” from her 2020 album, “Plastic Hearts,” to his memory.
“I would’ve done anything to hang out with him one more time,” she said at the time, wiping away tears. “So I couldn’t imagine how the Foo Fighters feel today.”
