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Travis: So you and Miley are pretty close?
Hannah: You have no idea.
"You get the best of both worlds!
Chill it out, take it slow
Then you rock out the show!
You get the best of both worlds!
Mix it all together and you know that it's the best of both worlds!
"
- "The Best of Both Worlds", sung by Hannah Montana

Hannah Montana (2006-2011) is about a teenager named Miley Stewart (played by Miley Cyrus) who seems like an ordinary girl to the kids at her school. But secretly, she is also teen pop sensation Hannah Montana, and the only people who know besides her family are her best friends, Lilly (who learns in the pilot) and Oliver (who gets in on it in the second episode).

For its fourth and final season, the show was Retooled and re-branded as Hannah Montana Forever. In the process it became only the second live-action Disney Channel show to reach four seasons (and third overall), behind That's So Raven and Kim Possible (not counting The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and its Sequel Series The Suite Life on Deck as one series).

Chronologically it is the third series in the Disney Channel Live-Action Universe and one of the first to participate in a Massive Crossover Event: That's So Suite Life of Hannah Montana (which also codified the DCLAU in the first place). Until 2013's Good Luck JESSIE, it was the only series to participate in two such Cross Overs with Wizards On Deck with Hannah Montana (though not the only one to have the same characters go through two crossover events, as Zack and Cody bring up when they meet Hannah Montana a second time).

Now has a Character Sheet.


Hannah Montana provides examples of:

  • 555: -0127. Oliver's number, as he so annoyingly announces in "Mascot Love".
  • Acquired Situational Narcissism: Though no stranger to the occasional bout of egocentrism, Oliver takes it to Jerkass levels after appearing on America's Top Talent, acquiring his own Groupie Brigade, and very nearly scuttling his relationship with Lilly.
  • Adam Westing:
    • Billy Ray Cyrus plays his own Captain Ersatz.
    • Miley herself does her fair share, both as Miley Stewart and her evil lookalike cousin Luann.
    • Ray Liotta as Principal Luger seems like he came right out of one of his movies complete with threats to throw Miley out the window. Both Miley and Robbie seem stunned by it. Milley even seems to think Luger might have killed his predecessor.
  • Added Alliterative Appeal: From "It's My Party and I'll Lie If I Want To":
    Reporter: What pouty pop princess pummeled the paparazzi last night-
  • Adjective Noun Fred: The title of the Japanese dub, Secret Idol Hannah Montana.
  • An Aesop: One per episode, generally. More prevalent during the series' early run — the third and fourth seasons have quite a few episodes that manage to avoid this trope.
  • Affectionate Parody:
    • The Hannah character, and much of the music, seems to parody the teen-pop images of the likes of Hilary Duff and the younger Britney Spears. Also some of the things used might have also been a tribute to the show Jem from the 1980's.
    • In her 2013 MTV documentary Miley: The Movement, Cyrus admits to Britney (they perform a duet on Miley's album, Bangerz) in an interview that the Hannah character was modeled after her.
    • One episode has a parody of Happy Gilmore, in which Robbie Ray encourages Rico to find his Happy Place as he coaches him in horseshoe-pitching.
  • The Alleged Car:
    • "Loretta", Mamaw Stewart's rickety old Cadillac Eldorado.
    • In Season 1, the car Jackson buys for himself.
      Jackson: Jackson Stewart, come on down! You are the proud owner of a brand new... used car! Yes, over the last fifteen years this pre-owned beauty has been driven around by heavy smokers and sloppy eaters, and one Wilma McDermott whose cat popped out six kittens in the front seat! Yes, some stains just don't come out!
  • Allegedly Dateless: Jackson is portrayed as an uncouth, socially-awkward loser who couldn't get a date if his life depended on it. This in spite of the fact that he's played by the boyishly-handsome Jason Earles, takes a different girl out every third episode, and has even had a few random girls come on to him, usually when he's not trying to be charming.
  • Alliterative Name:
    • Oliver Oscar Oken, who gets double credit for this trope as he is played by Mitchel Musso.
    • Lilly's alter-ego, Lola Luftnagle.
    • Robbie Ray Stewart's alter-ego, Robbie Ray.
    • Miley and Jackson's deceased mother, Susan Stewart.
    • Amber Addison, the Alpha Bitch.
    • Karen Kunkle, Jackson's—and later, Miley's—Stern Teacher.
    • Music critic Barney Bittman—again, extra credit for Gilbert Gottfried.
    • Gary Green, radio DJ.
    • Movie producer Baz B. Berkley.
    • Special mention goes to Dandruff Danny, Liposuction Liza and Brainless Becky.
    • And finally, Ray Romano, Joe Jonas and Rob Reiner, appearing as themselves.
  • Alpha Bitch:
    • Mikayla, who acts bitchy and antagonistic to Hannah every chance she gets.
    • There is also Amber and Ashley from Seaview Middle and High School, who do the same to Miley, Lilly, and sometimes Oliver.
  • Alter-Ego Acting: Miley is also a singer in Real Life — as Hannah Montana as well as herself, no less.
  • As Herself: Taylor Swift and Tyra Banks in The Movie.
  • Asian Airhead: Ashley DeWitt...so pretty, so stupid. Misjudged comments in response to Amber's certainly don't help.
  • Awkward Father-Son Bonding Activity: "Schooly Bully" has a fishing trip taken by Jackson and Robbie be awkward for an entirely different reason - a sudden snowstorm renders it impossible, thus making them stuck in a feminine honeymoon suite.
  • Back for the Finale:
    • Done in a series of episodes where Lilly's Dad, Aunt Dolly, and Mamaw all return.
    • Literally with Oliver who actually only comes back as a Plot Device.
  • Bait-and-Switch Performance: Inverted in "The Idol Side of Me". Miley hears what she thinks is her rival Amber singing horribly in the girls' restroom and, seizing an opportunity to humiliate her, calls her as Hannah to select her to be her partner on Singing with the Stars. However, when Amber shows off her singing after getting picked, Miley discovers she actually has a great singing voice, and that the voice she overheard was really her dumb lackey.
  • Basement-Dweller: Francis Corelli, Seaview High's Social Studies teacher.
  • Bathroom Stall of Overheard Insults: Defied; Miley checks for feet under the doors before talking about being Hannah.
  • Bedtime Brainwashing: An episode used Command when Lilly and Oliver had discovered that Miley's boyfriend was cheating on her, and Lilly tried doing this to encourage Miley to break up with him.
  • Beneath the Mask: A major theme in the show. Thanks to the Hannah Montana persona, Miley is able to see Beneath the Mask of people. She isn't fooled by the facade put up by someone like Amber or Rico when they're dealing with Hannah, because as Miley, she knows what they are really like. In fact, most everyone but her true friends treat her better when she is Hannah.
  • Berserk Button:
    • Do not, I repeat, do not call Lilly stupid within earshot of Oliver!
    • It's a NAZEL condition!
  • Be Yourself: The show's overarching Aesop, which seems ironic given that the series is all about a girl who puts on a disguise so she can live a life of fame and fortune... until you realize it merely sets up Miley for the supporting lesson, that friends and family are more important.
  • Big Bad: Lucinda is this in The Movie, as she's the one calling the shots to Oswald Granger, who is The Heavy. Because of her, the town has to deal with the land developers trying to build a mall, creating the movie's plot.
  • Big Damn Movie: Hannah has to save her Tennessee hometown from a land developer who wants to build a mall there.
  • Big Eater:
  • Big Fancy House: Miley's new home in season 4.
  • Blind Without 'Em: Lilly can't tell a person from a post without her contacts.
  • Boxing Kangaroo: Boxing a kangaroo was among the demeaning jobs Jackson subjected himself to in "Wherever I Go".
  • Brainless Beauty: In addition to the beautiful and stupid Ashley DeWitt, there's also Brainless Bodacious Becky, a Satellite Love Interest of Jackson's.
  • Breathless Non Sequitur: When Miley is ordering dinner from her mom in 1987 in "The Way We Almost Weren't", she orders "Eggs, a glass of orange juice, you to look lovingly into that man's eyes, and a side of bacon."
  • Broken Pedestal: In "Bye Bye Ball", Miley goes through the trouble of trying to get Jackon's signed baseball replaced by getting his hero to sign one. The trouble is, he exploits her desperation to sing at his pizzeria in order to earn it. When Jackson witnesses this, he calls his former hero on his selfish attitude and storms off. The epilogue later reveals that , after arranging a deal on Miley's terms, he earned Jackson's respect again.
  • Broken Record: In the movie, during the filming of the video for "The Best of Both Worlds", the CD that they're lip-syncing to keeps repeating, "Best of both, best of both, best of both..." until the CD player gets smacked, and it finally ends, "Best of both worlds."
  • Butt-Monkey: Jackson whenever Rico, his boss, shows up to torture him.
  • Buy or Get Lost: In one episode Miley was secretly hiding in the department store so she can easily work with Lily to help Miley's dad pick out a birthday present she would like. The plan hits a snag though when a store clerk catches Miley hiding and tells her she needs to buy something or get lost. Miley continues to try and stay "hidden" by switching herself and her clothes out with a Hannah Montana mannequin display.
  • California University:
    • Jackson considered The State College of Santa Barbara, then attended Tennessee University for a time, before settling upon Malibu Community College. None of these institutions exist in real life.
    • Lilly and Miley both apply to Standford University. Yes, spelled like that — it's quite visible on a couple of folders in the episode, and Miley clearly sounds out the first D more than once. There's no such school, and if you Google the name, the results pages will keep insisting you meant something else.
  • Camping Episode: "Ooh, Ooh, Itchy Woman" in Season 1. Miley, Lilly and Oliver go on a school camping trip. Miley and Lilly have to share a tent with Amber and Ashley, while Oliver has to share a tent with mean boys.
  • Captain Obvious: From the episode "You Never Give Me My Money", in which the three friends arrive at Rico's to find a large tent:
    Lilly: Yeah, I meant what's going on at Rico's?
    Oliver: Oh. There's a tent up.
    Lilly: Thank you, Captain Duh!
  • Catchphrase:
    • "Sweet niblets!"
    • "Dang flabbit!"
    • "TVTropeseditorsayWHAT?"
    • "What in the Sam Heck?"
    • "Hey-O!"
    • "Rrrrrrrico! Muahahahaha!"
    • "Eep!"
    • "Oh yeah! I went there!"
    • "Ya think?"
    • "Ooooh! Sssss!"
  • Caustic Critic: Music critic Barney Bittman, played by the legendary Gilbert Gottfried.
  • Celebrity Paradox:
    • This trope is actually quite important, as Hannah and her father are often in many of the same settings and situations that their actors experience in Real Life. They even interact with many real celebrities playing themselves in the show.
    • Played straight for Miley Cyrus, even more so because her character is The Danza. Justified because the entire premise of the series requires that "Miley" be a girl who is not famous. People in the show have never heard the name before, and later struggle to remember it. For example, when Miley Stewart is dating Jake Ryan and she ends up being interviewed on TV, the host calls her "Milky" — and when corrected, doesn't care that he was wrong.
    • Given the above, you'd think the trope would also apply to her father, Billy Ray Cyrus. However, it's subverted when a direct reference is made. Robbie Ray puts on a mullet wig and claims to be Billy Ray — which couldn't happen if the celebrity did not exist. A double subversion occurs when the woman Robbie is talking to thinks he's crazy and quickly leaves.
  • Chained Heat: Oliver handcuffs Miley and Lilly in "Cuffs Will Keep Us Together".
  • Changing Yourself for Love: In "You Are So Sue-Able to Me", Miley decides to try and turn Lilly into a Girly Girl to help Lilly win over her crush (and because Lilly's antics were annoying her), especially after seeing the Alpha Bitch duo flirting with him. However, this only makes the boy less interested in her, to the point where he stands her up at the dance; it turns out, he liked her because she was a cool skater-chick.
  • Character Development:
    • Miley in the first season was a ĂŹshy, timid, awkward girl. Somewhere along the line she managed to pick up large amounts of sass. She stayed clumsy though.
    • Lilly started out as a funny, quirky tomboy. By the time she got together with Oliver, she had turned into a giggling girly girl.
  • Character Tic: Whenever the snobs Amber and Ashley say something in unison, they say "Oooooooh!", then hiss as they touch fingers.
  • Child Prodigy: Rico starts out as one, eventually aging into a Teen Genius. He is in the same class as Miley and Lilly, despite being three years younger.
  • Chivalrous Pervert: Despite his womanizing habits he developed as a preteen, Rico has been shown to care for his dates whenever he has them.
  • Christmas Episode: "Killing Me Softly with His Height" (Season 3) and "It's The End Of The Jake As We Know It" (Season 4) have Christmas-related settings and subplots.
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: A number of characters were quite unceremoniously Put on a Bus, including:
    • Two of Jackson's best friends — Cooper, not seen since Season 1, and Thor, not seen since Season 2.
    • Roxy, not seen since early Season 2.
    • Mikayla, also not seen since early Season 2. Although there's probably a good reason for that.
    • Dandruff Danny, not seen since Season 1.
    • The Movie gives Hannah Montana a publicist played by Vanessa Williams who is never seen after the movie, and also a love interest played by Lucas Till who is never mentioned again (even when listing old boyfriends).
  • Clapper Gag: In "I Will Always Loathe You" Mamaw buys Miley a giant indigo silk hat with lights that take advantage of this.
  • Clark Kenting: All Miley has to do to be Hannah is put on a wig. This was even lampshaded by Jackson in one episode while watching Superman.
  • Cleaning Up Romantic Loose Ends: Inverted. It takes a double-length episode in Season 3 for Miley to realize that she loves Jake and not Jesse. The next time we see Jake, however, it's revealed that he has been cheating on Miley. This cuts him loose from the storyline and opens the way for Jesse's return in the next episode.
  • Comic-Book Time: Averted. While there are some continuity errors, each season clearly shows the teenage cast progressing to a new school year. Dealing with the issues of growing up is a recurring theme in the series.
  • Community-Threatening Construction: In Hannah Montana: The Movie, one of the subplots is a greedy developer attempting to put up a shopping mall in the beloved meadows of Miley's hometown.
  • Commuting on a Bus: In Season 4, Mitchel Musso was removed from the billed cast, with Oliver only appearing in a couple of episodes.
  • Corrupted Contingency: The b-plot of "My Best Friend's Boyfriend" has Rico installing new security measures in his concession stand after a pair of glasses are stolen. The measures don't prevent any further burglaries by the "robber" (which turns out to have simply been a raccoon) and only succeed in causing bodily harm to Jackson and inconveniencing Rico's customers due to the many levels of security needed to go through just to get their order.
  • Costume Porn: Every single one of Hannah's outfits looks super extravagant.
  • Could Say It, But...: While on their flight to Florida, Roxy says what she would say to Miley in her situation l, claiming she's not actually talking to her otherwise.
  • Counter-Productive Warning: Miley's identical cousin comes to visit and starts disguising herself as Hannah Montana to take advantage of her. Then Miley's friend Lily catches her and asks her to not expose the secret that Miley Stuart is Hannah Montana... To which her cousin says it never crossed her mind, but then she becomes focused on exposing the secret.
  • Covering for the Noise: One episode had Hannah, Lily and Aunt Dolly pull a Zany Scheme to get a tape back from Jake, which featured Hannah admitting she had a crush on him, before he watched it. Hannah hides in a trash can while Dolly pretends to be a custodian. When Hannah ends up making noise, Dolly claims she's a dissection frog that isn't quite dead yet.
  • Credit Card Plot:
    • In the episode "Debt it Be", Miley's dad gives her and Jackson credit cards. But Miley goes overboard with it and Jackson has to help come with a plan to keep her dad from finding out about it.
    • In a later episode, Miley gets her own bank account (with $5,000 in it) and—remembering what happened with the credit card—becomes obsessed with defying this trope by refusing to spend a single penny.
  • Crossover: Wizards On Deck with Hannah Montana and Thats So Suite Life of Hannah Montana. Characters and settings from Cory in the House appear in the episode "Take This Job and Love It". Because Selena Gomez plays both Alex Russo and Hannah's rival, Mikayla, none of the Hannah Montana cast directly interact with any of the Wizards of Waverly Place cast.
  • Crowd Song:
    • In "Get Down and Study-udy-udy", Miley leads her class in singing The Bone Dance to prove she hasn't been cheating, just learning differently. Notable for ignoring the otherwise ongoing plot point that Lilly can't sing by having her be the first one to join in and sing it well. Since Miley Stewart is not the kind of person her classmates would expect to put on a song and dance routine, it leads to Rico having a Master of Delusion moment.
    • Also played straight in The Movie, where Miley gets most of the town to join her in singing and dancing the "Hoedown Throwdown".
  • Dance Party Ending: In The Movie half the end credits have the cast doing the Hoedown Throwdown. Boom-boom-clap, boom-de-clap-de-clap...
  • Deadpan Snarker:
    • Miley/Hannah, in practically every episode — especially after the first season. She's cute, she's funny, but sometimes she can be downright obnoxious. It's why the audience can comfortably laugh at her when the Zany Scheme invariably backfires.
    • Lilly also tends to fall into this role — she and Miley are best friends, after all. In some cases (such as the time where Miley and Jackson were thought to be dating) she basically spends the entire episode doing nothing but make snarky comments.
    • Rico is particularly snarky, as per his personality.
    • Robbie Ray has his moments, particularly with Dontzig or when his kids get out of line or he has to play Papa Wolf.
  • Deep South:
    • Miley Cyrus hails from Franklin, Tennessee in Real Life, and her dad comes from Kentucky. The Stewarts, being Southerners, came from the fictional town of Crowley Corners, in the same state, as The Movie makes quite clear. The show never lets you forget the Stewarts' Southern roots for too long, the strong accents Billy Ray and Miley have for starters. The episodes featuring Mammaw, Uncle Earl and/or and Aunt Dolly only reinforce the issue.
    • The episode featuring "evil cousin" Luann takes it up to eleven, particularly as Miley Cyrus is playing her using an exaggerated Southern drawl. They talk about things like eating road-kill, and Luann dresses like a cowgirl until the end.
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: Joanie in later episodes becomes friends with Lilly and Miley after the former starts dating Oliver.
  • Derailing Love Interests: "The End of the Jake as We Know It". Some might be inclined to think that the title was taken too literally, with Jake's cheating coming out of left field given his prior development. It's egregious when the episode right after reintroduces the other love interest Miley rejected for Jake.
  • Didn't Think This Through: After failing her driver exam as herself, Miley goes in as Hannah and passes, the test-taker giving her a break on mistakes due to her stardom. Miley is happy to be able to drive...until she's pulled over for speeding and realizes too late that showing Hannah's license isn't going to help her.
  • Disney Owns This Trope: Rico owns his evil laugh. And the North American rights to the "Hey-yo!" Furthermore, his company is called "Muah-hah-hah Industries".
  • Disorganized Outline Speech: Lilly lists reasons not to be friends in "When You Wish You Were the Star".
  • "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: The second instance of this in the DCLAU, with Miley Cyrus performing "Best of Both Worlds".
  • Don't Explain the Joke: Oliver explains how Miley 'left her head at practice' in "Mascot Love".
  • Doomed Autographed Item: In one episode, Miley purposefully shred's Jackson's prized autograph baseball as revenge for him accidentally destroying her favorite stuffed animal. When he fixes it for her, she feels so guilty that she goes out of her way to get a new baseball signed by the player, who now runs a pizza restaurant, and forces her to perform as Hannah to get the signature. When Jackson finds out all the trouble she went through, he forgives her despite not having the autograph.
  • Dope Slap: Poor Oliver is frequently on the receiving end of this. "What I Don't Like About You" even has a montage of flashbacks of him being hit by Miley, Lily or both for saying or doing something that annoys them.
  • Dreadful Musician: "Song Sung Bad" shows just how terrible a singer Lilly is.
  • Dumb Blonde: Lilly, especially in Season 1.
  • Easy Amnesia: Given to Jackson by a bump on the head from a fight with Miley. Subverted when said amnesia turns out to be fake, a joke played on Miley by Jackson and Robbie Ray to teach her a lesson about fighting with her brother; Jackson is promised a car for playing along.
    Jackson: Amnesia? What do you think this is, an episode of Gilligan's Island?
  • Easily Forgiven:
    • Lampshaded in "De-Do-Do-Do, De-Don't-Don't-Don't-Don't Tell My Secret":
      Hannah: ...but then I learn a valuable lesson and everything's okay!
    • In "Been There All Along", Jackson actually has to explain this to Miley to stop her from trying another Zany Scheme.
      Jackson: Face it, you don't have my talent for anything but the truth. Every time you try, you wind up getting caught, sitting on a bench, or the couch, or the porch where Dad says, "Bud, if you'd just woulda told the truth in the beginning yadda yadda yadda I love you."... "I love you too."... you ride Blue Jeans, he writes a song, The End.
  • Egg Sitting: Oliver and Sarah do this in "My Boyfriend's Jackson and There's Gonna be Trouble".
  • '80s Hair: Robbie Ray wants his mullet back!
  • Embarrassing Ad Gig: Jackson and Oliver are overjoyed at the idea of being the feature models for a new dating service. It isn't until after the ad comes out they discover they modelled to be the examples of inferior choices people would receive if they didn't sign up for the service and thus become laughing stocks in the community. The episode ends with the same agent offering them another gig for advertising new night classes, specifically as the example of idiots from the before the class. The two start giving an impassionate speech about they represent real people as opposed to the unrealistic promises the advertising offers and how it should be more true to life, only to give up and just go with it when they find out how much the gigs paying.
    • Miley getting Jackson a new signed baseball involved her as Hannah (who usually has sold out concerts in amazing venues) singing at an ordinary restaurant for an annoying owner. Which included having to a sing a song off key on purpose that owner could perform with her and during the performance does an unrehearsed stunt with Hannah that almost injured Miley.
  • Embarrassing Ringtone: "The Test of My Love", when Miley is on a date with a rich boy and she meets his parents, they mock her southern origins. When Miley tries to prove she's sophisticated, her ringtone goes off playing country music which she set to because she felt homesick.
  • Empathic Environment: When Miley loses an anklet her mother gave her, the weather in Hawaii promptly turned sour. When Robbie Ray gives a speech telling her how her mother is always with her, anklet or no, the weather promptly turns gorgeous again.
  • Embarrassing Relative Teacher: When their "Mamaw" becomes the school's new lunch-lady, Miley and Jackson find her to be a very humiliating presence; not only does she make it abundantly clear that they're her grandchildren, she also puts them into embarrassing situations, such as by giving them childish, musical backpacks. Miley and Jackson resort to getting her fired to stop the bullying they receive.
  • Escapist Character: Hannah. Invoked in some of her songs, such as "Just Like You", which lets the audience identify with her more readily.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: In one episode, Rico tricks Jackson and Oliver into not showering for a week, promising free hot dogs for a month, and it's all so he can have the visiting swimsuit models for himself — but they still get the hot dogs.
  • Everybody Hates Mathematics: Lilly was desperate enough at one point to pretend to be Rico's girlfriend in order to get tutoring.
  • Everything's Sparkly with Jewelry: Many of Hannah's outfits from the earlier seasons were created by sticking thousands of rhinestones on perfectly ordinary clothes. Once the show's popularity took off, so did the budget, so her later costumes are mostly hand-made and fall into full Pimped-Out Dress territory—but still play this trope straight.
  • Exploding Closet: When Robbie opens Jackson's closet door in "The Test of My Love" he gets buried by a mountain of his wardrobe.
  • Expository Theme Tune: The opening theme song "Best of Both Worlds" sums up Miley's double life completely.
    "Who would have thought that a girl like me—would double as a superstar?"
  • Faked Food Contaminant: In "You Give Lunch A Bad Name", Mamaw becomes the new school lunch lady and humiliates Miley and Jackson. In an effort to get her to leave, they disguise Jackson as a health inspector and plant hair into her food to make it look like she's contaminated it. However, his disguise falls off, and Mamaw is hurt to learn her grandkids did that to her.
  • Fake Guest Star: Tammin Sursok appears in most episodes in Season 4 as Siena but is not part of the main cast.
  • Fake Identity Baggage: The b-plot of "Lilly's Mom Has Got It Goin' On" has Jackson and Rico swap roles for a day to live in each other's shoes. Jackson is more than happy to put Rico through the indignities the latter forces on him everyday as his boss until he learns that Rico has been picking on a kid with a unibrow and said kid's big brother wants to make Rico pay for that.
  • Feud Episode: Lilly and Miley get into a fight in "Cuffs Will Keep Us Together" prompting Oliver to lock them up with handcuffs so they will stop feuding. But by the end of episode Miley and Lilly make up so that they are friends again. While still handcuffed.
  • Fictional Counterpart:
    • Miley once mentions her dad likes to go to Boscoe's House of Chicken and Pies.
    • A segment of one episode takes place inside a Make-A-Moose.
    • Hannah uses her oPhone to post messages on Flitter. "Don't Stop Till You Get the Phone" has her wanting to upgrade it into the new zPhone.
    • Oliver performs and Hannah is a guest judge on America's Top Talent.note 
    • Lilly and Miley send in their college applications to Standford University.
  • Flushing Toilet, Screaming Shower: The opening to "You Gotta Not Fight For Your Right to Party" has Miley flush the toilet on Jackson while he's in the shower; his showering made Miley have to wait to brush her teeth.
  • Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Played with, with Miley and Jackson. Miley comes off as the more responsible of the two due to acting more mature and getting better grades than her brother, and Jackson being somewhat of a slacker who cant keep his room clean, but Miley is the more likely of the two to be involved in poorly thought out Zany Scheme. Not that Jackson doesn't get involved in them, but its usually due him being roped in to them by Miley.
  • Freudian Excuse: As a kid, Amber was teased because she was a nerd. This prompted her to become one of the mean girls herself once she moved on to middle school.
  • Fun with Alphabet Soup: In the episode "You Didn't Say it Was Your Birthday", a guy interested in buying Darth-Vader look-alike chip mentions that he found it interesting when his alphabet soup spelled 'ytzik-gurpledinc'.
  • Gaslighting: Jackson pulls this on Rico in the ending of "Achy Jakey Heart, Part 2". In part 1, Jackson and Oliver open a food stand selling a combination of Oliver's mother's jerky and Robbie's homemade cheese. The snack proves to be a hit and even outsells Rico's food stand. Unfortunately, Jackson and Oliver have to close down the stand when they are forced to pay back Oliver's mother for supplies using most of the money they made. When Rico sees Jackson back at his old job the next day as if nothing happened, Jackson pretends he never quit and opened his own food stand and makes Rico think he has lost his mind.
  • The Ghost: Uncle Earl and Aunt Pearl until Season 2, when Uncle Earl was finally portrayed in all his larger-than-life glory by David Koechner. Aunt Pearl remained The Ghost.
  • Good Feels Good: Sarah seems to really enjoy her goodie-two-shoes ways.
  • Gosh Dang It to Heck!:
    • "Sweet Nibblets!"
    • "Dang Flabbit!"
  • Granola Girl: Sarah, who works for many charitable causes.
  • G-Rated Drug:
    Jackson: Okay, big deal, so I had a few...dozen pieces of candy. I can stop anytime I want!
  • Greek Chorus:
    • Early on in Season 4, Rico had a gospel choir following him around and singing about his actions.
    • In the Season 3 special hour-long episode "He Could Be the One", Jackson and Rico performed various skits providing narration between scenes. They do it again in the Season 4 special episode "I'll Always Remember You", this time with Siena joining in.
  • Gretzky Has the Ball: When Lilly finally bonds with Joannie over a hockey game on TV in "Joannie B. Goode", Miley follows up with their shared comment over Mario Lechambeaux by saying "Yeah. I bet he's so old, he, like, can't even shoot a touchdown."
  • Groupie Brigade: Exaggerated in the first season, where just saying the name Hannah Montana too loudly can trigger a stampede of rabid fans trying to find her. Still played straight throughout the rest of the series, and is the justification behind Miley going to all the trouble of keeping a secret identity.
  • Growling Gut: In one episode, Miley skips breakfast, causing her stomach to rumble a few times during class.
  • Hair-Raising Hare: When Jackson eats too much chocolate, he has nightmares about a Godzilla chocolate bunny.
  • Halloween Episode: "Torn Between Two Hannahs" takes place on Halloween.
  • Hammerspace Hair: Aunt Dolly always keeps her cell phone in her Improbable Hairstyle, because her pants are too tight.
  • Haplessly Hiding: In "Good Golly, Miss Dolly", Hannah confesses her love for Jake Ryan on a tape that Oliver then accidentally gives to Jake himself. As part of their plan to get the tape back before he sees it, Aunt Dolly disguises herself as a school janitor and Miley hides in the garbage can. Not only does Aunt Dolly have to convince Jake that Miley is a loud, undead, dissected frog after she makes noise, but she also gets Jake's smoothie dumped right on her head.
  • Happier Home Movie: In "I Am Hannah, Hear Me Croak", Miley watches a family Christmas from when her mom was still alive.
  • Has Two Thumbs and...: A Catchphrase of Jackson's.
  • Hates My Secret Identity: Amber and Ashley, who bully Miley but idolize Hannah.
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: Miley and Lilly., who have been best friends since fifth grade.
  • Hidden Depths: Jackson will loudly proclaim at every opportunity how disappointed he is that Robbie Ray had a second child, or how much he resents Hannah Montana taking precedence over any of his own plans — especially because Miley never lets him forget it. However, when push comes to shove and Miley really needs his support, Jackson will sacrifice anything — even his own happiness — to protect his sister's hopes and dreams.
  • Homage: A rather disturbing one for a Disney Channel show, in which Jackson's ventriloquist dummy Franklin, having apparently survived going through a wood chipper and taken on a life of his own, takes his revenge on Rico. Not to be intimidated, Rico delivers the following Lampshade Hanging before fighting back:
    Rico: You're going down, Chucky!
  • Home Schooled Kids: In the Alternate Timeline where Miley is Hannah all the time, she was one because she's too popular to go to public school. Mr. Corelli was in charge of teaching her but didn't mind if she didn't do homework.
  • Honest John's Dealership: Rico charges exorbitant prices for mediocre food at his surf shop, has some questionably-legal business practices (e.g. charging for restrooms, in the home state of the Congresswoman who had that practice abolished, no less), and has had more than one run-in with the Health Department.
  • Hormone-Addled Teenager: Most, if not all, of them. Considering the hectic double life Miley has, the show spends a disproportionate amount of time on hers and the others' various crushes.
  • Hypocritical Humor:
    Jake Ryan: Oh, and Natalie Portman, Britney Spears, and Jake Gyllenhaal? Name droppers!
  • "I Am" Song:
    • The series loves this trope, as several songs qualify. It begins with "Just Like You" and "The Other Side Of Me" in Season 1, progresses to Season 3's "Supergirl" and "Just A Girl", then finishes with "Ordinary Girl" in the final season.
    • The amazing amount of these songs is lampshaded by Miley during an episode where Miley obsesses over a new song that her dad wrote for her birthday.
      Miley: Please don't let it be yet another song about my double life or you might as well just stamp 'I'm Hannah Montana' on my forehead."
  • "I Am Becoming" Song:
    • "The Climb" from Hannah Montana: The Movie, which neatly encapsulates Miley's emotions, the lessons she's learned in the movie, and the general message of the film.
    • Season 4 gives us "Wherever I Go", which Miley sings to say goodbye to Hannah, as she discards the secret identity and moves forward to face the world as her real self.
    • Another version of "Wherever I Go" was released, in which Miley and Lilly are saying goodbye to each other, giving a nod to the series finale when Lilly goes off to college but Miley doesn't, which proves ineffective as Miley ends up joining Lilly at college anyway.
  • I'm a Man; I Can't Help It: Gender inverted with Miley in "Take This Job and Love It", where Miley gives this as the reason she didn't want to take Roxy, her overprotective bodyguard with her on a date.
    Miley: I'm a girl. I have needs.
    Robbie: Please tell me you just said you're a girl who has knees.
  • Immediate Self-Contradiction: After Jackson and Grandma Stewart win the Westside Volleyball finals:
    Mamaw: No, it is not! This is all about you, sweetie. You won, and nobody can take that away from you. Now, give me me trophy.
    • Then subverted when she says "I'm just kidding you!" and gives it back.
  • Improvised Lockpick: In "Good Golly, Miss Dolly" when Miley, Lily, and Aunt Dolly need to get inside the school to recover a tape of Miley accidentally professing her love for Jake, Aunty uses her long fingernail to unlock the doors.
    Aunt Dolly: I haven't carried a house key in years.
  • Insufferable Genius: Rico; he flaunts his intelligence on many occasions.
  • Insult to Rocks: In "The Test of My Love", the Stewarts' cleaning lady quits after seeing just how dirty Jackson's room is. She says it would be an insult to pigs to call him one.
  • Interclass Friendship: Lilly and Oliver; both come from middle-class backgrounds and are best friends with rich, insanely successful pop star Miley Stewart/Hannah Montana. Miley has helped Lilly financially several times, such as paying for their school field trip to DC and hiring her as Miley's housekeeper.
  • I Should Write a Book About This: Subverted in one episode:
    Miley: You know, Lilly, you should really write a book.
    Lilly: About what?
    Miley: I don't care, as long as you stop talking.
  • It's All About Me: Inverted in the episode where Miley meets the Queen of England, with Jackson expressing the complaint that everything was always about Hannah Montana.
  • It's a Wonderful Plot: In "When You Wish You Were the Star", Miley uses her star wish to be all Hannah all the time. In this Alternate Timeline, Jackson is a hermit, Robbie Ray is married to a Gold Digger, Lilly is the Alpha Bitch (with Ashley and Amber as her Girl Posse), and Rico and Oliver have gone into business together as sleazy paparazzi-wannabes.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Jackson is often antagonistic towards Miley, but cares for her deep down.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Rico has been known to do right by people, but usually only when it serves his own interests.
  • "Just Joking" Justification: Issued, then immediately revoked, by the Simon Cowell parody in "Judge Me Tender", after saying both Hannah and the judge for whom she filled in were boring.
  • Keeping Secrets Sucks: Oh, does it ever. To maintain her secret identity, Miley has to lie to her friends, endure bullying at school, and suffer through constant discrimination or embarrassment... all the time knowing she could make all of it go away so easily. It's no picnic for Miley's family and friends either. Robbie Ray and Jackson both give up their own happiness to protect her, torching their respective relationships with Lorelai and Siena (albeit temporarily, as Miley eventually shares the secret with both). The realization that the secret demands too much sacrifice from her loved ones is what finally pushes Miley into going on national TV and revealing that she's Hannah Montana.
  • Kid Com
  • Kids Play Match Breaker: In the episode "She's a Super Sneak", Miley and Jackson sneak out to a movie, only to see Robby Ray on a date with a new woman, a real estate agent. Miley is opposed to the idea of her father “replacing” her deceased mom, so she convinces Jackson to go to her office in disguises to try and dig up some dirt on the new woman.
  • Large Ham: Miley, Lilly, Jackson, Rico, and to a lesser extent Oliver.
  • Lampshade Hanging: In the episode where they go to Washington, Miley asks Lilly if they can't resolve their fight, at which point 'the audience in her head will go aww', when they do make up, the audience, both in show and on the track says 'aww'.
  • Lazily Gender-Flipped Name: In one episode, the school bully wins a contest to sing with the titular character on TV but Miley and Lily overhear her singing off-key in the girls' bathroom. Miley says that it sounds like her pet pig Lou-Anne and we get this exchange:
    Lily: I can't believe it!
    Miley: I know, Amber sounds horrible!
    Lily: No, I can't believe you had a pet pig named Lou-Anne.
    Miley: We thought he was a Lou until the piglets came.
  • Line-of-Sight Alias:
    • Miley is doing a radio interview from her kitchen while eating spaghetti and claims to be speaking from a cafĂ© in Italy. When she is asked where she is, her father passes her the pasta box. She reads the first words she sees and claims to be in the small village of "Sodium Free". She immediately amends this to "Sodiama Freme" (said in an Italian accent).
    • Oliver lies to a girl he is not interested in by saying that he's on a tour with a band called "Restroom This Way". The name comes from the restroom direction sign near him.
    • Oliver does it again when he gets a new identity like Lilly's as a rapper, and sees a microphone stand and calls himself "Mike Stand", and then amends it to "Mike Standley...the third."
  • Long Last Look: At the end of part 2 of "Miley Says Goodbye?", Miley takes one last look at her empty beach home before she leaves for her new ranch home in Season 4.
  • Love Triangle: Season 3 introduces Jesse, one of Hannah's band members, as a rival to Jake Ryan for her affections. An unusual situation when you realize that as far as the world knows, Jake is actually dating Hannah's alter-ego Miley Stewart, whom Jesse doesn't even know exists. The episode handles this by separating scenes between Miley/Jake and Hannah/Jesse — meaning Jesse is only aware that Hannah is dating somebody — but eventually the two guys end up confronting each other in front of Hannah. It is possible that Jesse just didn't know who Jake's girlfriend was supposed to be.
  • Loves Me Not: In the episode "Good Golly, Miss Dolly":
    Miley Stewart: He loves me. He loves me not, and now I need more petals!
  • Loves My Alter Ego: Initially Miley's friend Oliver was obsessively in love with Hannah Montana, but once she told him the truth, Oliver was swiftly over his crush as he genuinely didn't see Miley that way.
    • For the most part, Miley can avoid this issue as Hannah and Miley don't run in the same social circles, but at least once she dated a boy who explicitly didn't like Hannah Montana's music. However, she was able to use this to her advantage in "My Best Friend's Boyfriend" after she learns that Lilly's boyfriend Lucas is cheating on her; she and Oliver set up a scenario where Lucas will be out for dinner at the same restaurant as Hannah and Lola, allowing Miley to flirt with Lucas as Hannah (since he obviously wouldn't do anything with Lilly's best friend) so that he will admit his cheating in front of 'Lola'.
  • Mail-Order Novelty: In the episode "Super(stitious) Girl," Jackson, Oliver, and Rico debate whether to open a mail-order package Robby Ray ordered from Hummacher-Schlummacher that had arrived while he was away. When they do, it's revealed to be a deceptively small package for a bounce house, which immediately inflates and fills up the entire living room.
  • Master of Delusion: In "Get Down, Study-udy-udy", where for her biology test, Miley uses dance moves from Hannah's stage performance of "Nobody's Perfect" to memorize the names of the bones in the human body. Rico recognizes the moves and is reminded of Hannah Montana, but then dismisses the idea, saying that Miley isn't smart enough to pull a trick like that off.
  • The Masquerade Will Kill Your Dating Life: A recurring trope throughout the series, with increasing significance each time. Early on, it's played for laughs, with Miley going on a date... to a Hannah Montana concert. Later on, she lets Jake in on her secret when the guilt of continually lying to him becomes too much to bear. In the movie, everything comes tumbling down when Miley tries to have a romantic dinner with Travis while simultaneously attending the mayor's banquet as Hannah. Finally, in Season 4, it's not even enough for Jesse to know that Miley is Hannah — the burden of dealing with her dual identities puts a severe strain on their relationship.
  • Medium Awareness:
    • At the start of Season 3, Lilly not only predicts a daydream, but also points out to Miley where on screen it will be appearing.
    • In the Season 4 episode "California Screamin'", Miley returns the favor by showing Lilly a flashback.
    Miley: Two years ago, Fourth of July, remember? (stares up into the sky)
    Lilly: (looks around, confused) ...I don't see it, where...?
    Miley: Here. (holds Lilly's chin and turns her head to the correct angle)
    Lilly: Oh.
    • Further lampshaded by Miley in "Been Here All Along", when she tells Lilly to "Hold on, I'm in a flashback moment." — right before said flashback takes over the screen.
  • Meet Cute: In "The Way We Almost Weren't", Miley and Jackson time-travel back to the diner where Robbie met their mother for the first time. When they accidentally interfere with the initial encounter, Jackson starts fading out of existence. They spend the rest of the episode trying to invoke this trope for their parents, to ensure that they are actually born.
  • Mirror Monologue: In "I'll Always Remember You", a famished and exhausted Miley hallucinates a reflection of herself as Hannah in the mirror. It turns out that Mirror!Hannah is Miley's own guilty conscience, who proceeds to berate her for letting Jesse and Lilly make huge personal sacrifices to protect her secret. After years of Miley being obnoxious to other people, it's incredibly amusing to watch her try to out-sass herself.
  • Missing Mom: Miley and Jackson's mother died some time prior to the pilot. She appears in a few episodes (played by Brooke Shields), in dream sequences or old videos.
  • Mistaken for an Imposter: At a Halloween party, Miley's evil identical cousin Luann is impersonating Hannah. Miley — as Hannah — arrives late to the party only to find herself immediately accosted by Lilly, who is trying to catch Luann.
    Lilly: Ha! I've got you! I'm not gonna let you ruin my best friend's life!
    Miley: But I am your best friend!
    Lilly: You can't fool me with that fake Miley accent!
  • Morality Chain: Often, Lilly is the only thing keeping a leash on Miley's diva-ness.
  • Motor Mouth: Miley can spit out some fast lines, most notably in the finale.
  • The Movie: Technically, two movies — the first was a Concert Film, while the second was based on and part of the show.
  • Moving-Away Ending: The third season finale ended with Miley leaving her beloved Malibu beach home for the new ranch house Robbie bought so she would feel like she was in her birth home in Tennessee more.
  • Musical Theme Naming: Many of the episodes are named after songs with slightly altered titles.
  • My Hair Came Out Green: Miley tries to dye her hair blonde and it ends up green in "Super(stitious) Girl".
  • My Sister Is Off-Limits: In I Can't Make You Love Hannah If You Don't Jackson meets and hits it off with a hot girl named Olivia...only to find out that she's Cooper's sister immediately afterwards. This doesn't stop her from being interested, though.
  • Mythology Gag:
    • Mamaw constantly haranguing Robby Ray about his weight and overeating, which leads to a visiting Barack Obama Expy in Season 4 also taking potshots.
    • When Miley and Lilly are in gym class in Season 4, Lilly easily aces the rope climb, while Miley has a hard time. Lilly taunts Miley by saying, "Yeah, she can sing "The Climb", but she can't do it!", alluding to Miley Cyrus' hit Award-Bait Song to ''Hannah Montana: The Movie" the year before.
  • Near-Death Clairvoyance: When Miley was unconscious in the hospital, she leaves her body and observes what's happeneing around her.
  • Never Trust a Trailer: Perhaps the greatest fake-out in the history of television occurred when the promos for "Miley Says Goodbye, Part 2" edited footage from the episode to give the impression that Miley intended to follow through in her desire to return to Tennessee, when in fact the Stewarts were just getting a new pad.
  • New Season, New Name: The fourth and final season is re-branded Hannah Montana Forever.
  • Nobody Here but Us Statues: In "It's a Mannequin's World", Miley changes clothes and switching places with a Hannah Montanna mannequin to avoid be being seen by the store clerk, hiding in plain sight. Though she does get a kick ou of scaring some shoppers.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed:
    • Hannah and her friends sometimes end up on morning talk shows. Early in the series, the show would be Wake Up, It's Wendy! hosted by an Oprah parody. Later on, Hannah appears several times on Mack and Mickey in the Morning, which closely mimics FOX's The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet.
    • The host on Singing with the Stars was a parody of Simon Cowell.
    • "Byron", another Simon Cowell parody, shows up in "Judge Me Tender", now teamed up with his American Idol co-judges Randy Jackson (well, a parody named "Andy") and Kara DioGuardi (the real deal).
  • No Indoor Voice: Most of the characters can be pretty shouty at times, especially Lilly. This gets spoofed, with Miley Cyrus herself in an SNL skit for a Disney Channel Acting School, where one of the "lessons" is for every character onstage to be the loudest in the room, which means being louder than the last person who spoke.
  • No Matter How Much I Beg: Miley gives Lilly her checkbook so she doesn't spend, and Lilly being true to the request refuses to give it back, even when Miley has a 'Miley doesn't live here anymore' moment.
  • Not in Front of the Parrot!: Jackson once dated a girl named Becky but it ended when his best friend asked him to watch over a parrot. Said parrot repeated unkind things said about another Becky.
  • No, You Hang Up First: "My Best Friend's Boyfriend" has Lilly and her new titular boyfriend end up invoking this.
  • The Obi-Wannabe: In one episode, Hannah has found that kids will emulate just about everything she does, and is afraid to ever express her opinions or preferences on television. As such, Robbie Ray enlists Jackson to school her in the fine art of obfuscation. Miley learns the technique, only to find out later that it doesn't work on children, so Hannah ends up delivering the episode's Aesop about being yourself instead.
  • Oblivious Guilt Slinging: In "Wherever I Go", Miley seriously considers accepting a movie role, which would require her to go back on her promise to go to college with Lilly. When she tries to talk to Lilly about it, Lilly starts gushing about how happy she is that Miley is going to college with her instead of going on a world tour or accepting some movie offer.
  • Officially Shortened Title: Inverted for the Japanese adaptation, which is marketed as Secret Idol Hannah Montana.
  • Oh, My Gods!: Robbie Ray uses "Lord" in a theological context.
  • Older Than They Look: Jason Earles was in his 30s when he started playing Jackson, but looked more convincing as a character in his mid-to-late teens than some actors ten years younger than him. It's especially noticeable in scenes where he's with Oliver as he's almost 15 years older than Mitchel Musso yet looks more or less the same age as him.
  • Open the Door and See All the People: In "It's a Mannequin's World" Miley is wearing a pink cat sweater that Robbie Ray got her for her birthday (that she didn't want) and hopes that no one besides him and Lilly will get to see it. Cue her opening the back porch door and seeing all the invitees shouting "Surprise!".
  • Operation: Jealousy: In "People Who Use People", Miley attempts this on Jake to try and get him to break up with his girlfriend. She fails spectacularly... but then it turns out that Jake wasn't really in a relationship - it was just him successfully using Operation Jealousy on Miley.
  • Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Siena is played by Australian actress Tammin Sursok, whose accent lapses occasionally. In particular, she seems to struggle with saying "Hannah Montana". Fridge Logic kicks in when one realizes that Siena's nationality was never stated, and thus she has no need to affect an American accent.
  • Our Presidents Are Different:
    • Played straight in Season 1 with Richard Martinez, the President from fellow Disney Kid Com Cory in the House.
    • Subverted in Season 4. In "Hannah Montana to the Principal's Office", Barack Obama impressionist Reggie Brown makes an appearance. Miley Stewart mentions in one scene that Hannah Montana once sang for the President's kids. In real life, Miley Cyrus performed (though not as Hannah) at the Kid's Inaugural: We Are The Future concert where First Daughters Malia and Sasha Obama sat in the front row.
  • Overly Long Name:
    • A TV reporter in Season 1 named Bree Yang Shixian Takahashi Samuels.
    • Rico's Australian-Mexican cousin's name is Alejandro NĂșñez Gonzales Umberto Sifuentes. They call him Angus for short.
  • Ow, My Body Part!: In the episode "It's a Mannequin's World", at Miley's birthday part Robbie Ray begins to limbo under the stick until:
    "Ow, my achy-breaky back!"
  • Paparazzi: Including a recurring one that once followed Miley (as Hannah) home in order to find out where she lived. This set up the plot for "My Boyfriend's Jackson and There's Gonna Be Trouble".
  • Paper-Thin Disguise:
    • How the cast's Secret Identities are kept secret. Lampshaded when Jackson points out the obviousness of Superman's Paper-Thin Disguise, and Miley agrees with him as she and Robbie Ray don theirs, which consist primarily of a wig and new clothes.
    • Robbie's Mustache is made even thinner as anyone could easily put 2 and 2 together that Robbie Ray and Robbie Ray Stewart are the same person, especially when one considers that he never hides the fact that he is Robbie Ray even without the mustache. It very possible this is an attempt to Lampshade this trope as Robbie seems to be the same person with or without the mustache.
  • Perfume Commercial: Hannah does one of these in the episode "Smells Like Teen Sellout", telling viewers that the fragrance "completes the circle", and it involves her standing in front of a picture frame with a pair of gymnasts rolling behind her.
    Lilly: Who are those two?
    Miley: I think they're the circle.
  • Pest Episode: In one episode, Robbie Ray and Jackson try to catch a mouse, but then Robbie discovers that it can play one of his songs on the piano.
  • Picked Last: Happens to Miley whenever gym class involves teams, and is the setup for the episode "Cuffs Will Keep Us Together". As Hannah Montana, she has the coordination to dance onstage - sometimes in high heels and while also singing, no less - but when it comes to sports, she's unable to do things like catch a ball without using her face.
  • Plane Awful Flight: Jackson deals with one in "I Want You to Want Me...to Go to Florida", with a mean buff dad's son banging on Jackson's seat and the fat guy next to him dozing off on his shoulder.
  • Platonic Life-Partners: Miley and Oliver and Lilly and Oliver before their Relationship Upgrade in Season 3.
  • Playing Cyrano: When Lilly and Oliver's relationship is on the rocks, Rico finds that Oliver's moping is bad for business. In order to shut him up and bring the customers back, Rico helps mend their relationship by sending Lilly a love letter in Oliver's name.
  • Playing Sick: In "Ooo, Ooo, Itchy Woman", Miley tries to do this so she doesn't have to go on the camping trip with Amber and Ashley. It doesn't work.
  • Plot-Inciting Infidelity: In "My Best Friend's Boyfriend", after Miley spends the first half of the episode trying to tolerate Lilly's sickeningly sweet new relationship with her boyfriend Lucas, she catches Lucas cheating on Lilly and has to find a way to expose his deception to Lilly.
  • Popular Is Evil: Amber and Ashley think they're better than everyone else. They even set up a system to declare Miley and Lilly the least cool people in school, sinking them to the bottom of the Popularity Food Chain.
    • Not only that, in the alternate reality of "When You Wish You Were The Star" in which Miley was born Hannah and never met her friends, Lilly formed a three-Girl Posse with Amber and Ashley, and was just as stuck-up and nasty as them.
  • Porn Stache: Most of Robbie Ray's Paper-Thin Disguise consists of this. Lampshaded by Robbie repeatedly.
  • Promotion to Opening Titles: Moises Arias, as of Season 2.
  • Publicity Stunt Relationship: In "Cheat It", Hannah dates fellow popular singer Austin Rain chiefly to promote a collaboration song. The two actually despise each other, but pretend to be lovey-dovey in public (until Miley decides to reveal the truth on a talk show).
  • Pull the Plug on the Title: The opening starts with the show's logo turned glowing sign, multiple LED bulbs and all. It's mounted on a scenario in which the eponymous protagonist appears.
  • Pun-Based Title: Most of the episode titles are wordplay on the titles of popular songs.
  • Pungeon Master: Robbie Ray constantly makes puns.
  • Raiders of the Lost Parody: Several episodes briefly feature Miley Stewart acting in an action movie series as the lead character, "Indiana Joanie".
  • Rapid-Fire "Yes!": In one episode, Miley, Lilly and Oliver were waiting for their calls after taking an audition. When the three answered the calls, Miley and Lilly jumped and yayed in excitement, except for Oliver, who didn't make it.
    Miley: Why aren't you jumping?
    Lilly: Why aren't you yay-ing?
    Miley: Why aren't you jumping and yay-ing?
  • Reading the Stage Directions Out Loud: Hannah does this twice, while reading off a teleprompter in "People Who Use People".
    Hannah: Oh Jake, I bet you say that to all your co-stars! Push Jake.
  • Relationship Upgrade: Lilly and Oliver, who were friends since kindergarten, become an Official Couple in Season 3.
  • Retroactive Wish: Robbie Ray Stewart once prayed for God that the dog next door would stop barking. As the dog stopped, Robbie Ray thanked God for that and then apologized for something he said while driving.
  • Revised Ending: The original ending was an All Just a Dream scenario. The show was revealed to be the dream of a young Miley Cyrus. Thanks to Executive Meddling, it was thought to be too confusing for children and the ending was changed to Miley giving up the movie in Paris to attend college with Lilly.
  • Rich Bitch: Traci Van Horn, who has the unmitigated gall to tell Lola, to her face, how uncool she thinks she is, despite being friends with Hannah, who publicly humiliates herself just as often.
  • Riches to Rags: Miley in the final season after revealing her secret to the world.
  • Running Gag: Several.
    • Robbie Ray's obsession with his hair to the point where his kids' very first go-to move when bad news comes their way is to compliment his hair.
    • The fact that Robbie Ray is always making awful puns and Miley reminding him that 'you ain't funny'. In fact, you could say this is one of Robbie Ray's main schticks in the series.
    • In Season 4, Lilly gets a new job running the ticket exchange booth at the amusement park. One of the top prizes is a big stuffed toy tiger that costs 50,000 tickets - a ludicrous amount that would fill a large container. Guess what every kid tries to exchange their measly handful of tickets for. Lilly easily handles the initial incident in the first episode, cheerily explaining the three cheapest prizes that all those tickets are good for. Fast-forward several episodes and many more kids later, and she's just about ready to crack.
      Lilly: (close to tears) Look, you don't have enough for the big tiger, okay? It's the dragon stickers, the erasers, or the ice cube with the fly in it!
  • The Scrooge: Despite being filthy-stinkin'-rich from both his own and his daughter's record sales, Robbie Ray is notoriously, if a bit selectively, tight with a penny.
  • Scout-Out: The Sunshine Girls, who originally appeared on That's So Raven.
  • Secret Identity: Many episodes of the show revolve around Miley trying to keep people from learning she is Hannah Montana. Once, Miley tried to get money for a new phone by taking a bad picture of her as Hannah and selling it to the press. However, she later learned she was wearing a necklace labeled "Miley" and sought to retrieve the picture. Lilly and Oliver adopted their own secret identities as well (Lola Luftnagle and Mike Standley III, respectively).
  • Secret-Keeper:
    • Lilly was the first to learn Miley is Hannah in the first episode, while Oliver becomes this in the second.
    • Rico as of "Me and Rico Down by the Schoolyard".
    • Jake as of "Achy Jakey Heart".
    • Siena and Jessie in the final season.
    • All of Crowley Corners in the movie.
  • Secret Relationship:
    • In a nod to Star Wars, when Jake and Miley are secretly dating they use the codenames 'Anakin' and 'Queen Amidala'.
    • Subverted in the case of Lilly and Oliver. They decide to ease Miley into it, and manage to keep it from her for all of about five minutes.
    • Also subverted when the school nurse has a conversation with Lilly and Miley that makes it sound like she's having an affair with Oliver, though it turns out she's actually talking about him having diabetes. The girls are appropriately horrified, though they'd have a harder time getting away with this joke had the genders been reversed.
  • Senior Year Struggles: The final season took place during Miley and Lily's senior year. Miley started off her senior year struggling to even graduate as she almost didn't get registered in time, which would've forced her to miss an entire year of school while her friends experienced all the senior year things she wanted to do. After she finally reveals the Hannah secret halfway through the season, more issues arise. For example, her grandma doesn't get to take a graduation picture with her, and she has to choose between filming a movie in Paris or going to college with Lily.
  • Series Continuity Error: Oh so, so many! A few examples:
    • There are a number of instances where it seems the episode order (as aired on TV) had been changed from the intended order as they were written. Like when Miley mentions she will "be driving soon", in the episode after the one where she is driving by herself already. Or when Lilly says Hannah just starred in a movie, but the episode where she auditions for that movie hasn't happened yet.
    • At several points in the first season, Miley insinuates she moved from Nashville. In The Movie, and from that point onward, her hometown is Crowley Corners.
    • In the episode "Miley Get Your Gum", Lilly has a dog named Thor. After this episode, no mention of this dog is ever made again.
    • Lilly's birthday, which was implied in The Movie to be in the summer, but came around again just seven months later in "Can't Get Home to You Girl". This could be related to the episode shuffling noted above.
    • In one episode, Lilly spectacularly butchers the pronunciation of "empanada" (so as to rhyme with "Canada") but in another episode, is taking AP Spanish, and able to tutor another girl in exchange for her math tutoring services.
    • Lilly mentions a brother once, in Season 1 — then never again. In Season 3, she says sometimes she wishes she had a brother.
  • She Cleans Up Nicely: Both played straight and subverted in the episode, "You Are So Sue-able To Me". When Lilly's crush Matt asks her to the school dance, Miley convinces Lilly to get a Girliness Upgrade to impress him. When Lilly later shows up at school with her new look, she has quite a few guys drooling over her, but then she gets stood up by Matt. It turns out he preferred her tomboy look.
  • She Is All Grown Up: Lilly. In the Tomboy and Girly Girl pairing of her and Miley, she started out as the former, with actress Emily Osment drawing unflattering comments about being her brother Haley Joel Osment with a wig. Jump to Season 4—Lilly dresses straight from the Hannah Closet and Oliver is just smitten.
  • Shouldn't We Be in School Right Now?:
    • Hannah has been known to be on tour for weeks at a time, and engages in activities and publicity stunts during school hours, such as reading to a group of preschoolers. Yet, as regular old Miley Stewart, she attends a public school, and her absences are never referenced, nor do they arouse the suspicion of anyone at school.
  • Shout-Out: Many. Notably, the episodes are named after songs. See here.
  • Sickeningly Sweethearts: Lilly and her boyfriend in "My Best Friend's Boyfriend", then her and Oliver, after being friends since kindergarten, suddenly turn into this, even calling each other "Lillypop" and "Olipop".
  • Sidekick: At one point Lilly refers to herself as such saying that she's just a sidekick who needs to learn to say no. She almost never does.
  • Sliding Scale of Continuity: Level 2 (Status Quo Is God).
  • Soapbox Sadie: The aforementioned "Saint" Sarah, crusading for such worthy causes as the California Low Flow Toilet Initiative.
  • Special Guest: Quite a few.
  • Spiritual Successor: To Lizzie McGuire, particularly The Movie where Lizzie becomes a pop star and has a brunette double.
    • Also to Phil of the Future, in the sense that it's been said that the money Disney gained from the success of Phil was used to create Hannah.
  • Spot the Impostor: When Miley's cousin Luann tries to pose as her and expose her secret, Lilly and Oliver confirm which Miley is real by suggesting Oliver kiss them both; Luann likes the idea, Miley doesn't.
  • Stalker with a Crush: Oliver was one to Hannah until he found out who she really was. Lilly (in her Lola persona) was one to Orlando Bloom until she started dating Oliver.
  • Standardized Sitcom Housing: Almost to the point of an inversion of "Friends" Rent Control, considering it's supposed to be a Malibu beachfront house that two rock stars live in. Justified when you realize that it helps Miley pretend to be a normal girl.
  • Starstruck Speechless: In the pilot, Lilly breaks into Hannah's dressing room in order to look around and swipe something. When Hannah shows up, all Lilly can do is freak out about meeting her idol and chases her around the room, rambling on an on. Lily then ends up finding out Hannah is really her best friend, Miley, and her tone immediately changes.
  • Stepford Smiler:
    Robbie Ray: Excuse me, we'd like to get off.
    Flight Attendant: And I'd like to have a job where I don't have to smile all the time no matter how annoyed I am.
  • Stupid Sexy Flanders:
    Miley: (looking at a tabloid pic of Hannah) I look good in a moustache. Oh yeah. I'd definitely date me.
    Lilly: ...me too.
    (Beat)
    Miley and Lilly: (in unison) Awkward!
  • Stylistic Suck: Sometimes, Hannah Montana gets an acting job. The character cannot act.
  • Sure, Let's Go with That: In "Me and Rico Down by the Schoolyard", Rico blackmails Miley for most of the episode, claiming to know her secret. Thinking he knows about her double life as Hannah, she agrees to pretend to be his girlfriend. When it turns out the actual secret that Rico knows is that she carries a teddy bear around with her, Miley just runs with it.
  • Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: A number of them that pop up throughout the series:
    • Rico is a vicious, manipulative, conniving little punk that thinks that everyone is his to manipulate. As a consequence of this, he has no friends, is being sued by multiple people including his brother, and no one likes him.
    • Miley is so busy doing Hannah Montana-related things that she misses out on a huge part of her "civilian" life. This eventually impacts her ability to get into college when she's not accepted due to only ever having been able to write an admissions essay about climbing a rope in high school gym class. This eventually results in her revealing her identity and retiring from being Hannah Montana so that she can finally have a normal life.
  • Suspiciously Specific Denial:
    • Hannah doth protest too much about not knowing Oliver in "Judge Me Tender".
    • From "California Screamin'":
      Lilly: Oh hey, I thought you'd be uh, spying on your dad and his date.
      Miley: ...It's not like I'm twelve anymore, not like I'm gonna follow them into some restaurant and hide behind a potted plant and then get underneath the dessert cart when I can't hear them anymore. Pfft! Please!
    • They also tend to do this when they try to explain/excuse something. One episode had Miley curse Taylor Swift and her bonus track, followed by Lilly saying "She just hates bonus tracks. It's not like she's a popstar or anything!".
  • Sweet and Sour Grapes: Zigzagged in "Bye Bye Ball". Miley wanted little else than to get back at Jackson for accidentally destroying her teddy bear by destroying his prized baseball signed by his hero. But when she attempts to "accidentally" destroy it like she intended, she finds she doesn't have it in her heart to retaliate him like this and forgoes her revenge. Unfortunately, her revenge just so happens to fall in her lap anyway when she accidentally throws the ball into the food processor. At first, she doesn't take it well until she realizes she has exactly what she wanted: to get back at Jackson, and the alibi that it was "just an accident". ...But then it's deconstructed when it turns out Jackson fixed Miley's bear, so he may be off the hook, but Miley is now on the hook.
  • Sweet Polly Oliver: Miley and Lilly pose as the rock duo Milo & Otis to try and drive a wedge between The Jonas Brothers and Robbie Ray. Overacting ensues.
  • Tall Poppy Syndrome: Miley's evil twin (somehow) cousin Luanne thinks this of her, and at one point attempts to reveal Miley's secret at a big celebrity party because she's apparently jealous that Miley's famous and can sing well.
  • Tempting Fate: Numerous times.
  • Third-Act Misunderstanding: In The Movie, Travis breaks up with Miley presumably because of her shallow celebrity ways, even though she had learned to get back to her Tennessee roots by that time. Predictably enough, she gets him back by giving a big speech.
  • This Is the Part Where...: The lyrics of the song "If We Were a Movie"—meant to be sung by a girl to a boy who doesn't realize her feelings—practically consists of Trope names strung together. Miley sings the chorus when she's sitting by herself on the balcony and pining for Jake:
    If we were a movie, you'd be the right guy
    And I'd be the best friend that you fall in love with
    In the end we'd be laughing, Watching the Sunset
    Fade to Black, show the names, play the happy song
  • Those Two Girls: Amber and Ashley.
  • Time Skip: A really weird meta example for season 3. Miley, Lilly, and Oliver's sophomore and junior year are squeezed into this season. Possibly justified as Season 3 took 18 months to air sometimes with new episodes only airing once a month.
  • Token Minority: Subverted with Rico. He may be the only Latino in an otherwise monochrome cast, but he subverts the TV stereotype of Latinos by being intelligent, wealthy, and motivated.
  • Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Played straight in "Killing Me Softly With His Height", where Miley goes on a date with the much-shorter Connor.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: Played straight in the first two seasons with Lilly and Miley, respectively. Lilly eventually becomes more of a girly girl herself, though she remains much more athletic than Miley, who is terrible at sports.
  • Toilet Humor: From the episode "Judge Me Tender":
    Lilly: I brought a little BM for my BFF.
  • Toilet Paper Prank: In the Halloween episode, Miley's father mentions that the house is going to be papered because all the candy was eaten and he has no "treats" to stop the "tricks."
  • Toilet Paper Trail: In one episode, after Miley's false assumptions cause Jackson to lose his girlfriend, Miley tries to humiliate herself via this method in hope that she and Jackson will be "even".
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: By Season 4, Lilly has turned into an opportunistic snob who spends most of her screen time whining and complaining.
  • Too Much Information: From the episode "I Honestly Love You (No, Not You)":
    Lilly: Miley, I know how he feels. I can tell by the way he looks at me! Even when I have a pimple. I never told you this, but...that's why he calls me "Lillypop".
    Miley: I could've gone my whole life not knowing that.
  • Totally Radical: In-universe example, lampshaded by Miley:
    Miley: It's "fo' shizzle"...fo' years ago.
  • Trade Snark: Jackson and Oliver ended their (in)famous cheese jerky rap with "Sizzlin' Stewart & Smokin' Oken Enterprises. Patent pending." Also, Rico owns the North American rights to his catch phrases "Hey-O!" and "Muahahahaha!"
  • Trailers Always Spoil: The official promo for "I'll Always Remember You" showed very few clips from the first half of the episode, and almost entirely put emphasis on Hannah taking off her blonde wig and exposing her identity as Miley Stewart to the world.
  • Tsundere: Miley towards Jake Ryan. When they first meet, she treats him with disdain, calling his antics "disgusting" and turning him down three times when he asks her to a dance. It isn't until Hannah guest stars on Jake's TV show and they almost kiss during a scene that she realizes - or admits to herself - that she actually likes him.note  Lilly, with her usual savvy, is actually aware of Miley's true feelings from the start:
    Lilly: Oh, come on! You so like Jake!
    Miley: No, I don't! How can you say that?
    Lilly: Because, every time his name comes up, you act like you can't stand him.
  • Twist Ending: In the finale, when Miley and Lilly are about to leave for Paris, Lilly doesn't want to go, and tells Miley that her own dream has always been college, no matter what Miley's is. So she stays at Standford while Miley takes off on her flight to Paris. But then, Miley comes back to Standford, admitting that she has to take the one chance to go to college with her BFF, as opposed to many chances for big movies and the like.
  • Two Girls and a Guy: Miley, Lilly, and Oliver.
  • Uncanny Family Resemblance:
    • Rico and his rival Australian cousin, Angus.
    • Miley's identical cousin, Luann.
    • Robbie Ray's brother and Luann's dad, Bobby Ray Stewart.
  • The Un-Favourite: Miley hates how her grandmother treats Jackson like her favourite grandchild and puts him wants as a priority over hers. However when Miley points this out to her, her grandmother reveals that she only does so is because Miley gets so much attention from everyone else that someone has to keep Jackson from feeling like the unfavourite himself.
  • Unlimited Wardrobe: Miley calls it the Hannah Closet, but it's effectively a fashion boutique (that only stocks brightly-colored sparkly items for teenage girls) in her bedroom. Automated revolving carousels and remote-controlled sliding shelves filled with more clothes and accessories than the show has episodes ensure that Hannah never needs to wear the same thing twice. note 
  • The Unmasking:
    • Miley did this to Lilly in the first episode after the latter realizes Hannah was wearing the bracelet she gave Miley, then she does it to Oliver in the second when trying to resort his obsession to gum-chewing, complete with him fainting in shock.
    • At the end of Part 1 of "Achy Jakey Heart", Miley revealed to Jake she was Hannah Montana.
    • In the climax of the movie, Miley took off her wig at the Crowley Meadows benefit concert, revealing her secret to her entire hometown. Fortunately, the townsfolk promise to keep her secret, resulting in a brief 10-Minute Retirement.
    • This was Miley's ultimate decision in the climax of "I'll Always Remember You", when she chooses to take off the wig and reveal her secret to the world.
  • Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Miley ventures into this territory at times.
  • Upper-Class Twit: Traci Van Horn, who spends nearly all of her screentime bemoaning Hannah’s friend Lola.
  • Very Special Episode: "Been Here All Along", in Season 4, honors military families with a touching episode that includes cameo appearances by real families of the U.S. Armed Forces.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: Jackson and Rico. It takes them until the series finale to admit it.
  • Viva Las Vegas!: Season 3 episode "Jake...Another Little Piece of My Heart" shows the main characters at a hotel in Las Vegas.
  • Volleying Insults: From "That's What Friends Are For?"
    Mikayla: Has been!
    Hannah: Never was!
    Mikayla: Bottle blonde!
    Hannah: Lip syncher!
    Mikayla: Bra stuffer!
    (Hannah gasps, both slam their phones down)
    Hannah: I hate you.
    Mikayla: Like I care.
  • Wakeup Makeup: Miley and Lilly always seem to get out of bed with eye makeup, mascara, foundation and lip gloss perfectly in place. They also wear jewelry while sleeping. Averted with Robbie — although never shown, he has a strict routine of grooming to always keep his hair looking nice.
  • Well-Intentioned Replacement: In "Bye Bye Ball", Jackson accidentally dismembers Miley's childhood teddy bear. She retaliates by destroying his prized possession, a baseball signed by a retired and embittered player. When Jackson gives Miley back a repaired bear, she goes to insane lengths to replace his ball before he finds out that it's missing. She's eventually successful in obtaining a signed ball, but it turns out the original one was actually a forgery.
  • We Named the Monkey "Jack": One episode revealed that Miley once had a pig named Luann. The later episode, "Torn Between Two Hannahs" features her obnoxious cousin, Luann, whom she had named it after.
  • Wham Episode:
    • In the Season 3 finale, the Stewarts leave their beach house for a bigger mansion on a nearby ranch so Miley, missing her horse and her old place in Tennessee, can feel more at home.
    • In "I'll Always Remember You", Miley reveals her secret to the world and gives up her pop star life for good.
  • Wham Line: An In-Universe example from "I'll Always Remember You" "Her name was Miley Stewart" (removes wig)
  • What Happened to the Mouse?:
    • Jackson's country friend Thor disappears by the end of the season.
    • Miley/Hannah's bodyguard Roxy no longer guards her after the first 2 seasons.
    • Hannah's socialite friend Traci eventually no longer appeared at the public events Hannah did.
  • What You Are in the Dark: "Don't Stop Til You Get The Phone": after Miley realizes she gave the tabloid publisher a photo that could reveal her identity, he agrees to give to her if she can get him an even more embarrassing photo of the Rock. While she does get it, she ultimately can't get through with the trade, having realized she stooped to the level of slimy paparazzis.
  • Wimp Fight: When Miley and Jackson were fighting over whether or not they were going to tell Siena the "Hannah" secret, it escalated to physical violence. And by physical violence, I mean the both of them slapping each others hands.
    Jackson: You fight like a girl!
    Miley: I am a girl, what's your excuse?
  • Wrestler of Beasts:
    • "When You Wish You Were The Star": It's mentioned that in her new life, Hannah once appeared on a show where she fought a tiger.
    • "Knock Knock Knockin' on Jackson's Head": Rico mentions that one of the ways his Australian cousin Angus one-ups him is by wrestling alligators.
  • Young Entrepreneur: Rico's dad gave him the business, but Rico knows how to keep it profitable.
  • Zany Scheme:
    • A typical episode starts off with Miley doing something selfish or irresponsible, then instead of taking accountability for her actions, she comes up with some dubious, convoluted plan to cover her tracks. Said plan will often involve the use of a ridiculous animal costume.
    • Miley/Hannah herself lampshades this in "He Could Be the One":
      Jesse: You are way too smart to come up with something this stupid.
      Hannah: HEY! For your information, you are looking at a girl stupid enough to dress up as a chicken, a duck, a swan...
      Lola: A pirate, a carrot...

 
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Be yourself.....or not.

As Todd in the Shadows points out in his review of Hannah Montana: The Movie, the ending contradicts the "be yourself" Aesop by having Miley reveal her true identity to the people of Crowley Corners, and even sings a heartfelt song about having learned said Aesop, only to have the people of Crowley Corners all agree to keep her identity a secret and let Miley continue her dual life, thus hitting the reset button on the series. So much for "be yourself".

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