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When Miley Cyrus covered this Queen classic, fans didn’t know quite what to expect. But it turns out that the 32-year-old star’s husky voice is just made for Queen’s rock ‘n’ roll throwback “Crazy Little Thing Called Love.” Smiley oozed charm onstage while delivering a killer rock vocal on the classic, getting plenty of mileage out of her deliciously smoky voice. Rather than trying to match Cyrus’s rock chops, Brittany Howard added a tasteful R&B vocal that gave the performance a touch of old-time charm.
The Music Man always appreciates when a Cyrus cover drops, because the Tennessee star always brings her A-game, and she certainly didn’t disappoint here. Cyrus delivered the cover for the SNL50: The Homecoming Concert, and she was a natural choice as her history with Saturday Night Live goes back more than a decade. You’ll definitely want to tune in to the end of the guitar solo at 1:30, where Cyrus delivers a slayful hair flip then brings home the song with some powerhouse vocal runs.
Cyrus performed at the SNL50 concert on February 14, 2025, and a YouTube fan upload of her performance has been viewed 486,000 times in the month since. Viewers were digging Cyrus’s take on the Queen tune and added comments such as “One of the most underrated singers of the moment. I was one of those who underrated her, but I saw the light a few years ago. This girl can sing!” and “Miley’s ‘don’t care’ rebel vibes and authentic persona suits rock so well. Love her, she should do more things in this style.”
The Music Man’s all-time favorite performance of “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” is Queen’s delivery of the hit at Live Aid in 1985. Every song Queen did that day was a masterpiece of musicianship and showmanship, and they delivered a rollicking good time with “Crazy Little Thing Called Love.” Freddie Mercury showcased a swanky Elvis-style vocal, and watching him rock the mic is guaranteed to put a big grin on your face.
Queen released “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” on October 12, 1979, as the lead single on their eighth studio album, The Game. Mercury is the sole credited songwriter, and the band produced the rocker with Reinhold Mack. Mercury told Melody Maker in 1981 that he wrote the song in five to 10 minutes, saying, “I did that on the guitar, which I can’t play for nuts, and in one way it was quite a good thing because I was restricted, knowing only a few chords. It’s a good discipline because I simply had to write within a small framework. I couldn’t work through too many chords and because of that restriction I wrote a good song, I think.”