Miley Cyrus dedicates her cover of Maneater to her ‘future ex-husband’: ‘I warned you first’

Miley Cyrus performed a soulful rendition of Hall & Oates’ hit 1982 track, Maneater, after ending her nearly year-long romance with Cody Simpson in August. 

During her virtual appearance on Thursday evening’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the self-proclaimed ‘freshly single’ singer spoke about the song choice. 

When the 45-year-old late-night host asked what prompted her cover, the 27-year-old Grammy nominee explained she felt it was ‘very important to be transparent.’ 

‘I’m freshly single, so anyone watching that’s my future ex-husband, just know, I told you,’ she joked, after singing about being a seductive woman who uses men.

After 14 years in the public eye, she teased about not having any ‘skeletons’ in her closet and that her performance was a warning to her next partner. 

Cyrus recently split from Simpson, whom she began dating after the end of her marriage to Liam Hemsworth and a short-lived romance with Kaitlynn Carter. 

For her performance, Cyrus looked absolutely stunning in a sequined red minidress, which showed off her sensational legs.

As she crooned, the Wrecking Ball hitmaker sported a bold blue eyeshadow, cherry-hued lipstick and her short blonde tresses styled into an asymmetrical bob.  

‘Watch out boy/ She’ll chew you up (Oh-oh, here she comes)/ She’s a maneater,’ Cyrus cheekily sang, while swinging her microphone’s stand with smoke up to her ankles. 

The former Disney star confirmed she and Simpson, whom she has known for a decade, called it quits on an Instagram Live clip in mid-August. 

Referencing her split from ex-husband in August last year, Miley began: ‘A year ago, almost to this exact date, the media tried to tell my story for me, and control my narrative, and I’m just not accepting that. 

‘So today, it came out that me and my boyfriend have broken up,’ she continued. 

‘It was confirmed by a “reliable source” even though no one is reliable in a relationship except the individuals who are participating in it.

‘But right now, two halves can’t make a whole and we’re individually just working on ourselves to become the people that we wanna be, like everybody else at this age.’

Miley added: ‘We are just deciding who we wanna be in our lives, what we wanna do, and so, don’t make it some drama story if next week we’re hanging out, getting pizza.

‘We’ve been friends for 10 years and we’re going to continue to be friends, so just don’t make it something that it is not.’ 

The pair have known have each for a ten years and became close friends in 2015.

While appearing on the Zach Sang show that year, Cody deemed Miley as ‘the coolest girl I’ve ever met here in LA’. 

The blond hunk – who hails from the Gold Coast – said that he and the Hannah Montana star ‘get along super well’ and she inspired him to ‘not care so much’ about the pressures that come with fame.

He referred to Miley as ‘one of [his] best friends’ in an interview with GQ Australia in December that year.

‘Miley is one of my best friends and she helps with some of that transitional stuff – trying to escape your childhood. She’s super open-minded and I’m working on becoming more like that,’ he gushed.

Her first public kiss with Cody occurred nearly two months after it was revealed that Miley and Liam, 30, were getting divorced.