When looking at Miley Cyrus’s tour photos from 2020 to 2023, one hair detail consistently stands out: a modernized mullet, in a shaggy, layered version, worn both on stage and behind the scenes. This is not a hairstylist’s accident. The singer explained to the New York Times in November 2023 that she sees it as a way to embody her rock influences from the 70s and 80s without falling into pastiche.
The mullet, long reduced to a hair joke, now serves as a genuine visual communication tool for artists.
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The mullet as a marker of gender fluidity on stage
The mullet is often discussed from a retro or kitsch perspective. The angle that is often missing in most rankings is its role in queer and non-binary scenes. Artists like Sam Smith and Christine and the Queens have explicitly associated this haircut with a gender non-conformity aesthetic.
Sam Smith mentioned in i-D in June 2023 the link between his haircut and his relationship with gender. Christine and the Queens, in a portrait published by The Guardian in September 2023, described the mullet as a tool for deconstructing masculine/feminine codes.
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What is at play here goes beyond hairstyle trends. The mullet becomes an immediate visual signal, recognizable in a split second on a concert poster or a YouTube thumbnail. For these artists, adopting the haircut is like making a hair manifesto before even opening their mouths. Several famous singers and actors with mullets have contributed to anchoring this hairstyle in the collective imagination, far beyond a mere aesthetic choice.
Miley Cyrus and the rock mullet: a thread through a musical era
The case of Cyrus deserves attention because it illustrates a specific use of the mullet: the haircut as a visual storytelling element over several years. During the Plastic Hearts era, the shag/mullet was not a one-off look for a TV show. It accompanied music videos, live performances, and magazine covers.
This logic can be seen in other artists who anchor an album or a tour around a strong hair identity. The mullet works because it is recognizable from a distance, photogenic under stage lighting, and sufficiently quirky to mark a break from an artist’s previous image.
Cyrus’s strength in this area is that she has kept the haircut long enough for it to become inseparable from her rock period. A change in haircut for the singer signaled a change in musical direction, not just a simple trip to the hairdresser.
Pinterest and Google searches: the modern mullet in numbers
Pinterest has reported a notable increase in searches related to the “modern mullet” in recent years. This is no coincidence: every media appearance of a celebrity with a mullet generates a spike in queries in the hours that follow.
The same phenomenon is observed on Google Trends. Search spikes for “men’s mullet haircut” or “mullet haircut” coincide with specific moments: an awards ceremony, a widely circulated music video, a standout scene in a new series.
This link between media exposure and search volume explains why the haircut does not disappear. As long as visible artists wear it at high-profile events, the mullet remains on the trend radar. Opinions vary on the longevity of this trend, but the mechanism of celebrity-driven revival is documented.
Contexts where the mullet generates the most visibility
- Musical ceremonies (awards, galas) where artists are photographed from all angles, with images picked up by hundreds of media outlets within hours
- High-rotation music videos, where the haircut becomes an element of the artistic direction alongside costumes or sets
- Tours and festivals, where the mullet is easily seen on giant screens and provides an immediately identifiable silhouette
Mullet in cinema: when the character dictates the hairstyle
Beyond music, the mullet has a long history in cinema. We are not talking here about actors who wear a mullet in real life, but those who adopt it to embody a character from a specific era. The haircut then serves as a narrative shortcut: it immediately situates a scene in the 80s or in a specific social milieu.
What makes the mullet so useful in costume design is its ability to code a character in a second. An actor with a mullet in a period film does not need ten minutes of dialogue for the cultural context to be understood. The haircut does the work.
Character mullet or personal mullet: the blurred line
Some actors keep the haircut after filming, which blurs the line between role and personal style. This phenomenon is also found among musicians who maintain the look from a music video or album cover long after the promotion. Once adopted, the mullet tends to stick—both literally and figuratively.
The class of this hairstyle lies in a delicate balance. A successful mullet plays on the contrast between short in front and long in back, without falling into caricature. Too tame, it goes unnoticed. Too pronounced, it veers into costume.
- Short and textured version: suitable for fine faces, often chosen by actors for contemporary roles
- Long and rock version: favored by musicians, with volume on top and tapered strands at the nape
- Shag/mullet hybrid version: the most worn since 2020, softening lines and suitable for a wide range of hair textures
The mullet is far from finished circulating between film sets, concert stages, and red carpets. Its longevity is not due to nostalgia, but to its ability to reinvent itself with each new generation of artists who choose to wear it as a conscious choice, not as an ironic reference.