Chappell Roan Was Inspired By Miley Cyrus’ Disney Channel Character: ‘I Want To Be Like Hannah Montana’

While lots of stars are inspired by their predecessors, Chappell Roan said she wants to be like her hero Miley Cyrus‘ Disney Channel alter ego, Hannah Montana. As she introduced Cyrus for her Disney Legend induction at this year’s D23 convention, Roan gushed about how the identity-switching TV character influences her music to this day — over a decade after she attended Miley’s Hannah Montana concert as her first ever.

“[Miley’s Best Of Both Worlds Tour] was my first concert ever,” Roan recalled. “She came down in a box from the ceiling. I was like, ‘How do I do that one day?’ I still think about it. I still think about the show. I want to be like Hannah Montana.”

Cyrus’ appeal seems for Roan seems evident in the younger star’s striking visual presentation, and in the way Roan uses her pop star character to give herself some distance from the demands of stardom. “The thing that I admire about Miley Cyrus is that she constantly reinvents herself and always works,” she explained. “For a lot of artists, it can seem inauthentic or out of the blue, but she’s very open about her transformations artistically and personally. She puts out music that is so authentic.”

You can watch Chappell Roan praise Miley Cyrus (and Hannah Montana) below.