returned to her Disney Channel roots<\/a> \u2014 complete with the blond, banged hairstyle that has become synonymous with \u201cHannah Montana\u201d \u2014 by touring the old set and pulling her character\u2019s old outfits from her once-iconic rotating closet.<\/p>\n\u201cWe thought she was so confident, and we wanted to emulate that,\u201d said Betaneya Tammerat, 23. \u201cThis 20th anniversary just reminds me how special that she really was to not just me, but so many other people. She seriously is not just a character, but someone who has helped me grow up as a person.\u201d<\/p>\n
Angelica Breton, 28, said the show was such a major part of her childhood that her closet included clothes from the \u201cHannah Montana\u201d Walmart fashion line.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a very beautiful part of my life, just watching \u2018Hannah Montana\u2019 all the time,\u201d said Breton, who attended Tuesday\u2019s watch party, as well as a \u201cHannah Montana\u201d pop-up, at The Grove mall in Los Angeles on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Breton said she has enjoyed watching Cyrus grow up \u201cinto who she is today,\u201d adding that she still likes to blast the \u201cHannah Montana\u201d soundtrack as she drives down the Pacific Coast Highway.<\/p>\n
Spencer noted that part of the show’s appeal came from Cyrus’ character’s being both \u201caspirational yet relatable.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have someone in Miley Cyrus and Miley Stewart who is the girl next door, who feels like she could be your best friend, who feels like you could confide your secrets in her and grow up alongside her,\u201d Spencer said. \u201cBut also she seems very cool, and she seems like someone you look up to.\u201d<\/p>\n
The popularity of early-2000s shows like \u201cLizzie McGuire,\u201d which proved Disney could turn young actors into cross-platform stars, and \u201cThat\u2019s So Raven,\u201d which refined a durable sitcom format, set the stage for \u201cHannah Montana\u201d to blend those elements into one powerful package.<\/p>\n
Cyrus\u2019 success then cemented a consistent formula for many Disney stars to come, including fellow Disney Channel icons Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was really lightning in a bottle in a lot of ways,\u201d Spencer said. \u201cIt was a mix of timing and talent and Disney finally recognizing that they had all the tools at their disposal to make a worldwide hit and a superstar.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the special aired on the Nickel Mine bar\u2019s many TV screens, viewers continued to wander in wearing sparkling sequins and cowboy boots in an homage to \u201cHannah Montana\u2019s\u201d Southern roots.<\/p>\n
Attendees drank themed cocktails, such as \u201cSweet Niblets Margarita,\u201d \u201cParty in the U.S.A. Mule\u201d and \u201cRock Star Mocktail.\u201d They sang along to some of the biggest \u201cHannah Montana\u201d hits, including Cyrus\u2019 performance of \u201cThis Is the Life\u201d and \u201cThe Climb,\u201d and screamed as Cyrus confirmed rumors that she did, in fact, date fellow Disney Channel star Dylan Sprouse back then. <\/p>\n
There was even some karaoke, with \u201cMannah Gaytana\u201d serenading the room to \u201cWrecking Ball,\u201d a hit from Cyrus\u2019 later years.<\/p>\n
In the anniversary special, Cyrus said she\u2019s proud of the way the show was able to \u201cbring people together.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI used to think of Hannah as something separate from myself. I would think of [her] as a character, even though it was me,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd what I\u2019m loving about this special is that it\u2019s my kind of reclaiming, of merging, Hannah and Miley together.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES \u2014 There\u2019s no official test for being a superfan. But at the Nickel Mine sports bar…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":366317,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[93,61,60,278],"class_list":["post-366316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}