Miley Cyrus is celebrating the 20th anniversary of Hannah Montana, holding multiple Grammys, and, in true plot-twist fashion, quietly planning a wedding. The ring made its carpet debut at the Los Angeles premiere of Avatar: Fire and Ash in December 2025, a chunky yellow-gold band topped with a serious cushion-cut diamond, and suddenly the question was less about her new single and more: Who is the guy who just became Miley Cyrus’ fiancé, Maxx Morando?
If your brain stopped updating at “Miley and Liam,” you are not alone. But this time, the person by her side is not a co-star with his own blockbuster franchise. He is a Gen Z drummer and producer who prefers the back of the stage, the studio, and occasionally the Gucci front row. Here is who Maxx is, beyond “Miley’s fiancé.”
Meet The Gen Z Drummer Quietly Rewriting Miley’s Love Story
Maxx Morando is a Los Angeles-based musician, best known as the drummer of alt-rock band Liily and formerly of punk outfit the Regrettes, where he played from 2015 to 2018. He is not just a timekeeper at the back of the stage, though. He plays guitar, writes, and produces, which is how he ended up on Cyrus’ last two albums.
For her 2023 record Endless Summer Vacation, he produced two tracks, the surreal, spoken-word fever dream “Handstand” and the glittering club track “Violet Chemistry.” On her 2025 album, Something Beautiful, he leveled up from collaborator to true creative partner, contributing as both a producer and songwriter across multiple songs, playing drums on the record, and even popping up in the “End of the World” music video.
Their connection is not just sonic. Morando has dabbled in fashion design, and Cyrus has been his walking canvas. In September 2021, she wore a custom vegan leather set by designer Shane Kastl, covered in cartoon illustrations that Morando drew. “This look is a one-of-a-kind collaboration between two of my favorite emerging artists, Maxx Morando and Shane Kastl,” Cyrus says of the outfit, adding that the upcycled design proves “anything can be reinvented,” which, let us be honest, also sounds like a mission statement for her dating life.
Despite the fashion credits and Grammy-linked discography, Morando is aggressively low-key. He has an Instagram, but mostly uses it to quietly drop Liily updates or share studio snaps. Sources have repeatedly described him to People as a “cool guy” who is “very low-key” and “drama-free,” traits Cyrus clearly finds magnetic after living through a very public first marriage.
From Blind Date To Low-Key Fiancé
According to Elle, friends set Cyrus and Morando up on a blind date in summer 2021. Cyrus revealed in a new interview that her mindset was pretty simple: the worst that could happen was that she would leave. She did not. Instead, by September, she was already shouting him out for that Kastl look, and by November 2021, they were sitting front row together at the Gucci Love Parade in L.A., sparking the first wave of “new boyfriend” headlines.
New Year’s Eve 2021 pushed things further into the public eye. During her NBC special Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party in Miami, cameras caught them dancing and holding hands backstage. By April 2022, they had stepped fully into hard-launch mode with PDA-filled photos in West Hollywood.
Behind the scenes, the creative bond was solidifying. As they worked on Endless Summer Vacation, Cyrus folded Morando into the same category as the people she is closest to. “I’ve always worked with the people that I love,” Cyrus says in a December 2024 Harper’s Bazaar cover story, noting that she once did the same with her dad and, yes, with ex-husband Liam Hemsworth. The difference now is tone. “He’s very similar to me. We just don’t take life too seriously,” she says of Morando. “Maxx just inspires me so much.”
By early 2024, sources told People the pair were living together and that Cyrus seemed “more calm and harmonious” with him. Everyone, the reports added, “loves Maxx.” At the 2024 Grammys, when Cyrus won her first trophy for “Flowers,” he was in the audience, then right beside her for the now-famous kiss that played out on live TV.
There is also the generational twist. Cyrus was born in 1992; Morando in 1998, making him six years younger and solidly Gen Z. “He grew up with a laptop. I had a desktop computer that I shared with my brothers and sisters,” Cyrus says, adding that he is the one raising their dog via Reddit advice threads. Picture a global pop star side-eyeing her fiancé reading comments about puppy nutrition, and you get a sense of how disarmingly normal this pairing feels.
Engagement Now, Wedding Very Much On Miley Time
The engagement itself unfolded with almost old-Hollywood restraint. On December 1, 2025, Cyrus hit the Avatar: Fire and Ash premiere red carpet in L.A. wearing that cushion-cut diamond on a thick yellow-gold band. By the next day, outlets had confirmed the news: after roughly four years of dating, Miley Cyrus and Maxx Morando were engaged.
Even then, the story was how small the whole thing felt. A source told People that Morando is “extremely private” and that when they do marry, it will be “something smaller and meaningful to them. Not a big Hollywood production.” Other insiders, relayed via Elle, say Cyrus is not racing toward a second big wedding, is open to eloping, and wants anything they do to feel fun, deeply personal, and more about the relationship than “being a bride” again.
At the 2026 Golden Globes, Cyrus walked the carpet solo, engagement ring very much present, while Morando skipped the circus entirely, which only reinforced the dynamic. This is a woman who grew up with cameras in her dressing room and a partner who would happily just stay in the studio and text her memes.
As for how she is framing this era, Cyrus told Harper’s Bazaar that she and Morando are “very similar” in not taking life too seriously, which might be the secret to the whole operation. She is in what fans have dubbed a healing era, and he is the guy quietly co-producing the soundtrack, designing the odd cartoon-print look, and raising the dog off Reddit.
So who is Miley Cyrus’ fiancé, Maxx Morando? A 27-year-old drummer, producer, and sometime fashion doodler who happens to be madly in love with a 33-year-old pop icon, and is perfectly happy letting her be the one in the spotlight. In a town obsessed with main characters, he seems content to be the steady backbeat, which, for Cyrus, might be the most romantic role of all.
