Not every artist openly admits envy is part of their creative process, but Miley Cyrus is leaning into it. In a recent interview with Variety, the Grammy winner revealed that one of the songs she most wants to reinterpret is “Father Figure” by George Michael, describing the 1987 hit as the kind of track she wishes she had written herself.
Miley Cyrus Has Her Eyes on a George Michael Classic
The conversation arrived during a celebratory moment for Miley Cyrus, who is receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame after years of moving between pop spectacle, rock reinvention, and deeply personal songwriting. While discussing future creative ideas, Cyrus was asked which cover she would want to take on next, and her answer came quickly: “I want to do ‘Father Figure’ by George Michael.”
“I cannot quit listening to that song,” she said, before revealing what makes the idea especially appealing to her: “I think it’d be so cool from a female perspective.” She also explained that her approach to cover songs is intensely personal rather than strategic.
“What I look for in a great cover song is: One, I want a song I wish I would have written,” Cyrus shared. “When I listen to it, I’m jealous because it’s not mine.” That reaction, according to the star, usually begins with instinct before anything else. “I always think about what emotion it’s bringing up, and do I want to share that?” she said, later joking that the impulse “mostly comes from a gnarly sense of jealousy, just a song that I wish was my own.”
Originally released by George Michael as the fourth single from his landmark album Faith, “Father Figure” became one of the defining songs of his solo career, blending gospel textures, sensual storytelling, and understated production into a slow-burning hit. Decades later, the song continues to resurface with new audiences.