There’s another reason that Dolly Parton will always love Brandi Cyrus and Miley Cyrus.
And that’s because the country superstar is actually related to the two, which Brandi was delighted to learn at the 2024 People’s Choice Country Awards in Nashville Sept. 26. (Click here to see all the red carpet fashion.)
The 37-year-old, who sparkled in a short silver dress, pointed out that Dolly has always felt like family and that was only confirmed after learning her half-sister Miley is seventh cousins with Dolly—a connection that even the “Jolene” singer was thrilled by.
“She’s Miley’s godmother,” Brandi exclusively told E! News cohost Keltie Knight on the red carpet, “so I always say she’s mine by association.”
The musical families share a mutual great-grandfather named John Brickley, who lived in Blunt County, Tenn., in the early 1800s. And since they’re now related, Brandi is already thinking about how she and her newfound cousin can work together.
“There should be a Brandi and Dolly collab,” the DJ mused, “maybe next year. That sounds right to me.”
“I feel like we could do a sick ‘9 to 5’ remix,” she said, explaining that the key to a good remix is picking a song “that people love and know, and that people are gonna sing along and dance to.”
So Brandi is going to put that out into the universe, which is what she told E! she’s been doing the past year, adding that she’s been “working hard and the payoff has been great.”
“It’s been a crazy year for me,” she confessed. “I kinda manifested this Wynn residency in Las Vegas. It’s been my goal for a few years now that I’ve been doing this. I want the Vegas residency, I wanna be at the Wynn. So I’ve been doing that all year. It’s been incredible.”
Brandi also had her debut release with a remix of Lainey Wilson‘s “Wildflowers and Wild Horses,” which she noted was “another dream come true.”
But more than that, Brandi shared that she’s finally feeling like herself and comfortable in what she’s doing as a DJ, joking that while people are surprised to learn about her new vocation, they realize how much it was meant for her when they see her in action.
She added, “It feels like me.”
To see more from the 2024 People’s Choice Country Awards red carpet, keep reading.
(E!, NBC and Peacock are all part of the NBCUniversal family.)