Miley Cyrus Said Her Former Label Didn't Think "See You Again" Would Be A Hit

Miley Cyrus has a plethora of classic hits and generation-defining anthems — but her first hit almost wasn’t meant to be. As part of her TikTok interview series to promote her new single “Used To Be Young,” the singer said that her former record label didn’t think her debut single “See You Again” would become a hit. As history quickly proved, the song was a smash.

The former Hannah Montana star explained that she wrote “See You Again” as her first step in clearly separating her own music persona from her iconic Disney Channel alter-ego. “I have my own name in the song, I say ‘my best friend Lesley’ in the song, so this was really the beginning of me storytelling for my fans,” she explained. “I wrote that song in a way that would feel really personal to Miley so there would be no confusion between me and the character.”

However, she claimed that her former label didn’t believe in the song, and as a result, it didn’t get its own music video. “My record label at the time didn’t think the song was a hit, so there was never a music video made for it,” she said. However, after Cyrus performed the song on platforms like the Disney Channel Games, it naturally became a success. “[They] told me this song wasn’t gonna be a hit, and my fans decided otherwise,” she added. “It’s always been us.”

“See You Again” was included on Cyrus’ 2007 debut album Meet Miley Cyrus, which was released under Hollywood Records and attached to the Hannah Montana Season 2 soundtrack, but featured her first self-written songs. While it didn’t take off right away, “See You Again” eventually caught on at Top 40 radio stations and climbed the Billboard Hot 100 in 2008, resulting in her first-ever Top 10 hit and proving her teenage instincts were correct.

Over 15 years after “See You Again” came out, Cyrus still stands by it. The Grammy nominee added the song to her festival setlists in 2021, and when “See You Again” started playing during the interview, she immediately started dancing along and chanting “Work, work, work” to her younger self. “Hannah’s for kids, Miley’s for grown *ss men in heels,” she joked.