Miley Cyrus says she treated the 2025 Oscars like a working room, walking up to filmmakers and offering to write original songs—an approach that has since translated into high-profile credits and fresh awards traction. Cyrus told People she went because “everybody that came up and introduced themselves, I said, ‘Well, if you need any music, I’m around.’”
That pitch has already paid off on the biggest studio scale. Cyrus co-wrote and performed “Dream as One,” the end-credits song for James Cameron’s “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” after telling Cameron at the 2024 D23 event that she was available if he ever needed music. “Just lemme know if you ever need any music,” she recalled saying. Disney later confirmed the track’s placement over the end credits and credited Cyrus alongside Andrew Wyatt, Mark Ronson, and composer Simon Franglen.
Cyrus has described the work as personal rather than purely assignment-driven. In a separate interview, she said lyrics drew from losing her Malibu home in the 2018 Woolsey fire, including a line rooted in finding a diamond ring in the ashes. She credited Wyatt with steering the melody toward a more theatrical feel, while she focused on story in the words, and said Cameron asked for something intimate. She also recorded an improvised vocal flourish at Sunset Sound as a nod to Janis Joplin, and said Cameron kept it.
The networking push lands at a moment when the original-song field is crowded and campaigning matters. The Academy recently placed “Dream as One” on its 15-title shortlist for Best Original Song, alongside entries tied to films such as “Wicked: For Good,” “Sinners,” “F1,” and “KPop Demon Hunters.” Final Oscar nominations are due Jan. 22, with the ceremony set for March 15 on ABC. Long-running industry criticism has also shadowed the category: commentator Joe Reid has argued that original songs have become rarer and many contenders now appear primarily in the end credits rather than playing a narrative role.
