“Acting like a salty high schooler”: Netizens react as Calvin Harris seemingly shades Miley Cyrus over their scrapped collab ‘Ocean’ 

Calvin Harris and Miley Cyrus’s unreleased collaboration Ocean has become the subject of heated debate after the former appeared to shade the Flower singer while teasing a reworked version of the track. Harris initially previewed the song in May 2024, and fans immediately recognized Miley Cyrus’s vocals on the demo.

Yet, the collab is said to have been canceled due to issues with the label, and Harris later confirmed that Ocean would instead be released with a different artist. His comments made during the promotion of the new version have now become the subject of controversy, and it is widely discussed online.

Pop Tingz

@ThePopTingz

Calvin Harris shades Miley Cyrus after he announces the release of "Ocean", with an unknown artist. The song originally featured Miley Cyrus, but her record label blocked its release.

One simple release has turned into a whirlwind of speculations and fan theories. Critics of Harris’s approach questioned his attitude, with an X user @APhaseImIn, noting:

“Mileys label always seems to be working against her but why’s he acting like a salty high schooler towards her he’s a full grown man & knows how labels work🙄”

Leigh ❤️‍🔥🧡

@APhaseImIn

@ThePopTingz Mileys label always seems to be working against her but why’s he acting like a salty high schooler towards her he’s a full grown man & knows how labels work 🙄

“Why’s he mad at her and not the label?”, a netizen mentioned.

“Why are male artist man in general so obsessed with shading and degrading woman so much”, another netizen echoed.

On the other side, defenders of Harris dismissed the idea of conflict altogether:

“Come on now. Those are not shades. Already heard the new version and it’s a banger. And agree with Calvin Harris, the new version suits the Jessie Reyez vocal better,” an individual stated.

“Where’s the shade? He’s just moving on with the release of the song from what I can see,” another individual added.

This controversy has arisen even though the original Ocean song was never technically released.

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Calvin Harris announces reworked Ocean without Miley Cyrus

In May 2024, Calvin Harris performed his then-upcoming track Ocean during a live event at the Tecate Emblema Festival on May 18, with fans identifying vocals by Miley Cyrus.

Miley Edition

@MileyEdition

Calvin Harris has removed all promo videos of “Ocean”, his collaboration with Miley Cyrus, from all his social media accounts.

Soon thereafter, snippets of the song began circulating online, further fueling reports of collaboration between the two artists. By July 2024, all teasers of the song had been deleted, and media outlets reported that Miley Cyrus's record label had stopped the collaboration.

Although at the time, neither Harris nor Cyrus made an official public announcement, several sources claimed that it was related to unspecified creative or contractual issues between Cyrus and her label.

On August 17, 2025, Harris revealed that the album would be released after all, but in a modified form with another unrevealed artist, replacing Cyrus. He also previewed this new version of the song on TikTok to advertise the upcoming release.

The post had attracted a flood of comments. With one netizen asking, “Is this the Miley Cyrus song?” Harris, abruptly, responded, “No.” Another fan added, “I like this better than the Miley version,” and Harris wholeheartedly replied, “Yes it is!”

Answering the question “Where is Miley!!!“, he said, “I do not know”. Harris went even further, igniting the debate by saying, “This is way better.”

At this point, neither Calvin Harris nor Miley Cyrus has given a formal statement about the situation surrounding the cancellation of their work.

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Calvin Harris’s Ocean will continue its progress in the reworked state, but the initial recording with Miley Cyrus remains shelved.