Miley Cyrus’s Unmistakable Voice Gives Metallica’s ‘Nothing Else Matters’ a Different Weight

Miley Cyrus does not need a dramatic entrance to establish her presence in “Nothing Else Matters.” The grain in her voice is audible as soon as she begins, placing a familiar Metallica melody inside a different vocal texture. With the band beside her, the performance becomes an exchange between a song audiences know intimately and a singer whose identity remains clear in every phrase.

The collaboration was recorded for The Howard Stern Show during the celebrations surrounding the Black Album’s thirtieth anniversary. Cyrus joined James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo in Los Angeles while Stern hosted from New York. The appearance brought together musicians involved in the anniversary’s wider tribute project, The Metallica Blacklist.

The setting gives the voice room to register. In the performance footage, Cyrus holds a sparkling microphone against a dark studio background, wearing a loose white shirt. Close camera angles concentrate attention on her delivery and the musicians around her. The limited distance between performer and camera suits a song whose opening depends on patience and atmosphere.

Her lower register gives those opening phrases their weight. The smoky edge is present even when she sings quietly, so she can establish intensity before increasing the volume. Rather than rush toward the song’s larger passages, she lets the ends of phrases settle. That measured approach makes the gradual lift in the arrangement easier to hear.

Metallica provide the instrumental continuity. The recognizable guitar figures, bass and drums keep the ballad grounded while Cyrus changes the vocal surface. Hetfield’s presence at his own microphone adds another point of connection with the original recording. The attraction lies in hearing her phrasing take shape inside a sound that remains distinctly the band’s.

As the accompaniment grows, Cyrus brings more pressure into the sustained notes without losing the rough texture that identifies her voice. The transition from restraint to force gives the performance its shape. Hearing the complete build matters: the larger moments draw their impact from the space and control that precede them.

The strongest reason to return to the clip is its continuity. A short excerpt can highlight a forceful note, but the full performance shows how Cyrus prepares the listener for it. Her quieter delivery establishes a mood that carries forward into the fuller arrangement, making the rise in intensity feel connected rather than abrupt.

That sense of identity is also why the collaboration works beyond the novelty of seeing the artists together. Cyrus brings the same recognizable grain to a restrained line and a more emphatic one. The performance keeps attention on how she uses that texture: stretching a phrase, holding back at its start or giving its final word additional weight.

Hetfield’s part in the performance adds a different kind of familiarity. Viewers hear the song’s original singer within an arrangement led by another voice, while the instruments preserve its underlying character. The result makes the relationship between interpretation and authorship unusually immediate. The familiar musical foundation becomes the setting for a new vocal perspective.

The live appearance should be distinguished from Cyrus’s separate studio recording for The Metallica Blacklist. That recording brought together Elton John, Yo-Yo Ma, Chad Smith, Andrew Watt and Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo. In the Stern Show clip, Cyrus performs with Metallica themselves. The two versions share the song and lead singer but have different personnel and settings.

The accompanying interview supplies context for her connection with the material. Cyrus described music as a source of stability during a difficult period in her life and recalled performing the song at Glastonbury. Hetfield also discussed his early uncertainty about sharing such a vulnerable composition. Their accounts help explain why the ballad gives both artists room for emotional directness.

For the listener, that connection is most useful as a way into the music. Knowing the interview adds background, but the performance communicates through the pacing of the lines and the relationship between voice and accompaniment. The lyrics have space around them, allowing small changes in emphasis to register before the band expands the sound.

The contrast with Cyrus’s more driving rock covers is revealing. Here, much of the appeal comes from a slower pace and a darker vocal color. A ballad can expose details that a faster arrangement might carry past: how a singer begins a note, how long a phrase is allowed to breathe and how the voice changes as the music grows.

Her performance of Blondie’s “Heart of Glass” offers a useful companion. Its firmer rhythmic pulse shifts the energy, while the texture of her singing remains easy to recognize. Hearing the two performances together makes the consistency of her vocal character more apparent across different songs and arrangements.

Metallica’s performance of “Nothing Else Matters” with the San Francisco Symphony provides a second perspective on the ballad. Filmed for S&M2, the orchestral setting expands the music around its central melody. It offers a clear comparison with the more concentrated sound of the Stern studio collaboration.

Across these versions, the melody provides a familiar point of return while the surrounding voices and instruments change its atmosphere. Cyrus’s contribution stands out because her own character remains so audible within Metallica’s sound. The collaboration rewards listening from beginning to end, following the gradual movement from a close, smoky vocal to a fuller shared performance.