I really have to give some kudos mama to Miley Cyrus. It’s not easy being a child star, especially one with a chaotic, famous family. Though Miley didn’t navigate every era leading to adulthood with, erm, grace (yes, I’m talking about Bangerz, and I won’t apologize), she still made it to the other side to deliver daring music. (And she’s also low-key a makeup business mogul on the side, too.) But I guess Miley didn’t feel the need to share those same kudos with her former co-worker Dua Lipa (co-workers always have petty beef, amirite?) when speaking about their collab on Miley’s grunge rock album from 2020, Plastic Hearts.

Miley goes pretty method with each of her musical releases (see: twerking on stage in a bedazzled mouse costume with Robin Thicke), and the vibe for Plastic Hearts was very bad girl, very Blondie, very bloody, whereas Dua’s music is historically very disco, very dancey, and very dazzling on the pop girl spectrum. So I guess that’s why Hannah Montana woke up and chose a teeny tiny drop of violence when Miley spoke about working with Dua Lipa on Miley’s song “Prisoner.”

Miley Cyrus, Dua Lipa Feud Rumors

What did Miley say about Dua Lipa on “Prisoner”?

Miley said that choosing Dua as her partner to sing on the “Prisoner” duet song “just isn’t cohesive with the album” and wasn’t Miley’s idea, but added “no shade to Dua Lipa” (lol, that’ll do it). Miley shared during an interview with The Ringer’s Every Single Album podcast that Dua “would’ve been much better on Endless Summer Vacation,” referencing her subsequent 2023 album that included the breakout single “Flowers.” Miley thinks Dua’s voice and brand would’ve been a better fit for songs like “Wildcard” or “River.” “Can you imagine?” Miley mused about how those collabs would’ve gone.

Is Miley’s song “Every Girl You’ve Ever Loved” about Dua Lipa?

Some fans seem to be wildly connecting dots, based on a few lyrics, to conclude that Miley’s new song could be about Dua. The lyrics in question are:

She speaks the perfect French/

she can dance the night away /

and still, she’ll never break a sweat

Dua, the European baddie that she is, is known to speak French (as she does in Troye Sivan’s “Talk Talk”). She also is, of course, a dancing queen of modern-day disco and hits that damn choreo on stage, so the dancing reference hypothetically tracks. The last line (“still, she’ll never break a sweat”) has conspiracy theorists considering whether the lyric takes a jab at Dua’s early era of performing on stage, as in the “go girl give them nothing” meme days when it didn’t appear as though Dua was working too hard.

TBH, her fanbase treasures that time as a part of her very pop, very camp journey to becoming a now excellent dancer (it’s me, I’m the fan base), so I’m not so sure. Also, let’s try being Positive Pollys for a sec: it could be a genuine compliment about how smooth she looks on stage, if it even is about Dua, right? Right!