finding that special moment. >> i thought it was sloppy and i didn't think it was professional enough for her. i think it has to go back to the drawing board. >> about a woman who most of america knew as wholesome hannah. >> i'm so mad! >> a character living a double life. if her recent appearances have made anything clear, it's that miley isn't mountain any more. >> i can give you an update on what she has been up to. she was murdered.

>> reporter: now the life of miley. it was 1994. the first time the world met little miley cyrus just 2 years old on a country music interview show. she was already a show-stopper. >> do your eyes. do your eyes. very talented child. >> reporter: perhaps a sign of things to come. >> now this is very dangerous. you're teaching her to flirt at a very early age. you're going to be in big trouble when she is about, what? 12, 13. >> reporter: you could almost see that little twinkle in her eye, that little i'm going to do something with mize. >> reporter: shirley is the movie editor of "the hollywood reporter." she has followed miley's career from the beginning. >> even she is being a little mischievous, there is a look in her eye. whatever the camera was on, she was on. and you could also see that from

very early age. i always got the sense that she was calculated but like in a good way. >> reporter: calculated and destined for big things and not surprisingly for a little girl named destiny hope cyrus. >> i felt it was her destiny to bring hope to the world. i do think that she -- this is her purpose, her path, you know? i think she's a natural born singer/songwriter/entertainer. >> reporter: it didn't hurt that her father was a hit maker. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: the fact that he had one big hit with achy breaky art puts him in the level where he had access to, you know, musicians and producers and record company people that she probably would not have met were it not for her father. >> reporter: what could be better than having a famous father? having a music legend like dolly

parton for a godmother. in fact, later in life, miley recorded her own classic version of "joey." >> i think looking to dolly, looking at to the sort of eccentric of dolly parton showed her style. >> reporter: she was just a toddler in 1993 when she was on stage with many of music's biggest names. >> we are doing a tribute of elvis presley at the memphis, tennessee, she broke away from the nanny and waddled out on the stage which was the blues version of "amazing grace." she came out on stage with some of the biggest stars in the world and she just kind of became one with every singer and everybody was holding her and she had her hands up. she was singing. the last guy to hold her at the end of the song was tony bennett

and tony bennett came as the song ended and he said, "you got a special little girl here." >> yet despite being surrounded by fame, miley had a normal childhood. raised a born baptist, home in the smoall town of thompson, tennessee, on a five-acre farm. >> i loved being outside. we would sit out and roast marshmallows. i was good those type of things with my kids. i wasn't good at sitting them down and saying, let's do your algebra now. >> reporter: but he was good at watching out for his little girl and as a toddler had her eyes on bigger things. producer steve peterman. >> they were doing something down on the farm and miley was out there and she was 2 1/2,

probably. they were at the barn on the property. she was standing up on a landing and billy said, be careful, honey. and she put her hands on her hips and said, "i'm not afraid of anything!" and that was 2 1/2. >> reporter: she grew up, went to school and became a cheerleader. >> she went to a private evangelical christian school for a year. >> reporter: "rolling stone" editor josh hills had rare access to miley. >> she was asked to leave after a year. she has a couple of different versions of why so i'm not sure which one is really the one and one version, she told the class all about what french kissing was and another version, her teacher, i guess an older woman, got around on a motorized scooter and miley stole at tat one point and was cruising around the classroom with the scooter. whatever the case was, it wasn't a perfect fit. >> reporter: what was a great fit for miley? ♪ if you try to hold me back

use music. >> miley was a good student. she worked hard. she didn't fight your advice. >> reporter: renee grant williams was miley's voice teacher when she was 12. >> she had an ingenuous way of getting what she wanted by being charming and lovely and enthusiastic and willing to take the burden of work on as well. >> reporter: and by 2001, what miley wanted became crystal clear, when the family left tennessee for toronto. where billy ray was filming the tv show "duck." >> miley, she kept saying, daddy, can they write something in for me? so they wrote her in in one episode. from the time she did that one episode, she was, can they write me in next week? a few weeks after, she and i went to see mama mia in toronto and i'll never forget it.

it was that combination of acting and the performance on stage of the singers and she said, that's what i want to do. ♪ >> i'm going to be a great actress and singer and song -- writer and that is what i want to do. >> reporter: and miley went for it. >> i'm miley cyrus and interviewing for hannah montana. >> reporter: and she got the role. >> you can see she knew exactly what she was doing. she knew what the role required and she knew the role would be a stepping stone to other things. >> reporter: but producers weren't so sure. when we come back, miley's battle to become hannah montana.

in 2003, miley thought this would be her ticket to hollywood. >> producer steve peterman was part of the hannah montana casting team. >> she was 11 who looked 9. way too small. way too young. >> reporter: miley dead set on becoming a star wouldn't give up. >> hey, i'm miley cyrus and i'm 12 years old. it's okay for you. but a vegetable? >> reporter: and she read for us and she read for us over and over again. she would do some lines fabulously, wonderfully, and she would miss other lines by a mile. >> oh, my gosh. i know. i'm an idiot! >> reporter: but i couldn't take my eyes off her. >> reporter: two years later

producers still weren't convinced. she gave miley one last shot. >> this is your final audition. >> only my very best friend. >> reporter: and it ultimately came down to miley and one other girl. with miley, there was something about her that was so alive and so fearless and all of us finally agreed to take the chance. >> reporter: at 13, miley cyrus became hannah montana. >> you're so gross! >> reporter: and was living her dream. ♪ ♪ i'm a lucky girl whose dream came true ♪ >> reporter: she was the perfect fit. a double life as a pop teen star. >> your best friend, miley.

sooner or later you have to tell her you're hannah montana. >> reporter: i think that is what connected with hannah montana is the realism, wait, this is our imitating, life imitating art. >> reporter: miley auditioned her own dad for the part of her tv dad. >> baby, get ready. get set. don't go. one of episodes called ready, set, don't go. i wrote that for miley going to california. the series was picked up. i knew that her life and our lives as a family was going to change. >> work it out. work it out. >> reporter: the show and miley were a smash. hannah montana came one of disney's highest rated tv series and miley shot up to teen idol status. >> i think you could see the sort of long-range plan when you

look at her hannah montana audition. you can see that she knew exactly what she was doing. she knew that the role would be a stepping stone to other things. merchandise. tv. music. she was really the first start to engrace all of these things. ♪ >> reporter: in 2007, she relieved hannah montana 2 to miley cyrus and tv souped track and under her name. her breakout hit went platinum. ♪ >> reporter: in 2008, a hit that miley was feeling the pressure of being one of the biggest teen stars on the planet. >> it's kind of like a mother, you know? trying to let their young go and let them grow up and i think they are having a hard time with that. >> reporter: miley's next

conquest, a film career. she landed a part in "high school music 2." and then the voice of "bolt". >> bolt is lost. he could be anywhere by now! >> reporter: and in 2009, miley brought her tv character to life on the big screen in hannah montana, the movie. >> like he says, it's all will the publicity. >> 31 million in its opening weekend it cemented her more than a singer, more than an actress. she was an all-around performer. >> reporter: and she was white hot, but disney's billion dollar baby would soon get hearr first taste of profanity. miley cyrus, no longer the door

nexted door and she spiced up her performance at the 2009 teen choice awards by partying to her hit "party in the usa." the video went viral and parents -- >> reporter: her fans and her parents were like, whoa, this isn't the hannah montana that we know. >> we couldn't do much about that. it's that fearlessness, that sense of responsible tarespons y spontaneity. >> reporter: but miley was unfazed. >> how my parents raised me or how i'm being raised. >> reporter: yet her parents were concerned when video surfaced of miley taking a bong hit. >> i was alarmed for my daughter's safety. >> reporter: miley downplayed

the video saying it wasn't pot she was smoking and apologized for the "vanity fair" spread but her image was changing. her 2010 single on her album said it all. >> look at the album title, "can't be tamed." she put it all out there. i think we saw it before our eyes this person breaking loose of the disney character. >> reporter: in 2011, the split became official when miley quit the show that made her a phenomenon. hannah montana was no more. coming up. >> you are down there and i said, you know what? back the -- >> i love it. >> reporter: like a brand-new miley. a brand-new miley and a brand-new controversy.

i'm the [ bleep ] out of "rolling stone." >> reporter: two years after hannah montana ended, 20-year-old miley cyrus is on the edge. she is sky diving with josh elves of "rolling stone" magazine. extreme and unafraid and ready for reinvention. this is the new miley cyrus. >> what a landing! >> we were both kind of terrified, i think. it was a situation where neither of us really wanted to back down. i think she just likes doing it. she is kind of like pushing the envelope right now. >> it's a very difficult thing and few can pull it off. once you make that break, it has to be a break.

you can't leave one foot in the preteen tween world. >> reporter: miley moved out of her parents' house and in with her boyfriend quit acting and started distancing herself from her wholesome hannah montana image. >> she got a new label and new management. she felt like she needed a change not that they were going to hold her back, but just that they might be sort of scared at the way that she was going to go. >> reporter: and miley was going to go for big risks. ♪ >> reporter: with her first single "we can't stop" she relieved a video full of sex, drugs, and in her words. ♪ feeling like i'm in a strip club ♪ >> it was the first script of hannah montana and we saw a woman white shaped hair rolling around in a bed and playing with

plush toys. >> reporter: he interviewed miley for harper's "bizarre." >> she told the record label, look. if you give me one chance to do it my vision and it goes belly-up and it's a bust, i'll do whatever you want. >> reporter: she risked it all and it worked. breaking records. going viral on vivo and reaching over 10 million views within 24 hours of its release. ♪ >> reporter: now miley could do exactly what she wanted to. and what she wanted was a memorable performance at the mtv music awards where millions of people would get their first look at the new miley. >> she was a little nervous because she is the big rollout of, you know, this is who i'm going to be now. >> reporter: on stage with robin thicke, miley stripped down to

und undis and she twerked. >> i remember turning around just to see what those around me were doing and everyone had the same expression on their face. are you seeing what i'm seeing? >> reporter: it was hot and was it a mess? even her mother told the tooed show. >> i think it's desperate. i want to know who is advising her and why it's necessary. >> reporter: then there were the more than 150 fcc complaints. >> some of them were pretty humus. someone said it was like watching a brothel and others complained about child pornography which, you know, she is 20 years old. >> reporter: miley's reaction? >> she laughed the whole thing off and it didn't seem to faze her. she knew it was going to get a reaction and part of the reason why she did it but everyone is talking about her.

>> reporter: and miley was quick to point that out tweeting, my vma performance had 3,600 tweets per minute. that is more than the blackout or super bowl. and she said exactly what she thought in her mtv documentary, "the movement." >> it's a strip tegic hot mess. right now, i'm in a point in my career where i can be exactly who i want to be. just distinguish for what you want to do. >> reporter: the controversy only fueled her confidence. in her next video, miley was sometimes naked while riding a wrecking ball and licking a sledge hammer and this time she wanted to show something different. her vulnerability. ♪ you wreck me >> two-thirds of the way through the song and you see her shed a tear. >> reporter: a tear over a tortured romance.

rumored to be about her fiance liam hensworth. >> i think she wants to show the more sensitive side of her and not just a party girl side too. >> reporter: soon after its release, wrecking ball became the number one song in the country. miley and liam announced they were breaking up for good. an "snl" invited her to host the show. >> who are you? what do you mean? i'm old you! >> reporter: on everybody's mind? what will the wild child do next? >> miley cyrus! >> reporter: but surprisingly, miley was pretty tame. there was no nudity, no twerking and no apologies for the vmas. >> if i owe anybody an apology, it's the people who make the bottom halves of shirts. ♪ >> reporter: the mild-mannered performance kept the focus on the music. ♪ >> she is showing, you know, the

different sides of miley cyrus, the performer, and the one thing that you can't deny, even going back to hannah matt, she has a really good voice. she knows how to sing and "wrecking ball" just puts it out there. ♪ i came in like a wrecking ball ♪ >> reporter: i'm going to list some words that some people have used to describe her. disaster. >> definitely not. very, very calculated. very self-aware. >> reporter: gifted? >> yes, definitely gifted. has talent. >> reporter: fearless? >> very fearless. >> reporter: and genius? >> i don't know about that. let's not go crazy. >> the new miley is in control. i think she is really smart and knows what she wants to do with her career next. >> reporter: and what she does next, she told mtv will be

unforgettable. >> any time i do anything, i want to remember this is what separates me from everybody else. i do get so overwhelmed when i'm going to perform everything is so huge. everything has to be a moment. the following is a cnn special report." i'm ready. >> reporter: justin timberlake was ready for one of the biggest years of his career. which is really saying something for a mousketeer turned teen heart throb turned solo smash. ♪ >> reporter: he dropped his

first album in seven years. ♪ >> reporter: backed by a slew of a promotion and carefully planned performances on jimmy fallon's show, it was the history of rap. ♪ >> reporter: and on one of the highest rated "saturday night live" of the year he was at times savvy. ♪ >> come on new york! >> reporter: and silly. ♪ oh, freak out >> reporter: the music. the moves. the motivation. that is the justin timberlake experience. >> my name is justin timberlake and i'm going to sing.

>> reporter: long before the billions of fans and megastardom, there was 9-year-old justin timberlake. a small town boy with big-time dreams. ♪ please don't go girl >> people in the music industry always thought about this thing or that thing or whatever but he always had that thing. always. >> reporter: best friend grew up with justin in millington, tennessee, just outside of memphis. ♪ >> memphis is a very, very musical town. everything resolves around music. from the time we were little kids you go to dinner and the bar next door has a band playing. so i feel like it just brings it out in you, you know? >> reporter: whether it was singing a gospel duet in this