There's a method to Miley Cyrus' madness.
The revelations from her Rolling Stone interview outtakes keep on coming, with the conversation-starting pop star also telling the magazine that she had it all figured out before her now-iconic performance at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards.
"I know what I'm doing. I know I'm shocking you," she said frankly. "When I'm dressed in that teddy bear thing, I think that's funny. I was saying yesterday, I had this obsession about this character that's like an adult baby. Like if you see a baby do something like that, it's so warped and weird, but there's something creepily hot about it.
"So when I'm in that teddy bear suit, I'm like a creepy, sexy baby. But I forget that it's, like, people in Kansas watching the show. That people sit their kid in front of the TV and are like, 'Oh, an awards show! Let's watch.'"
The 150 complaints uselessly filed with the FCC (it doesn't police cable networks) would suggest that Miley is right on the money there.
For her famously naked "Wrecking Ball" video, however, she didn't want anyone mistaking her for a baby, crazy, sexy or otherwise.
"It's the opposite of the VMAs," Miley told RS, apparently before the video debuted. "It's like the Sinéad O'Connor video [for 'Nothing Compares 2 U'], but, like, the most modern version. I wanted it to be tough but really pretty—that's what Sinéad did with her hair and everything. The trick is getting the camera up above you, so it almost looks like you're looking up at someone and crying.
"I think people are going to hate it, they're going to see my ass and be like, 'Oh my God, I can't believe she did that—and then when we get to the bridge, they're gonna have a little tear and be like, "F--k you!' I think it will be one of those iconic videos, too. I think it's something that people are not gonna forget. Hopefully an artist 30 years from now will be like, 'Yo, you remember that Miley Cyrus video? We gotta do something like that.'"
We doubt it'll take that long for the imitators to pop up. But either way, Miley wants to be worth imitating.
"There are albums that people still are listening to, like Michael Jackson's Bad, because it's so f--king dope," she said. "I want people to listen to my album like that...I'm going to be that artist [one worth listening to for years] to so many people, so I want to make sure my record is the best it can be. I'm trying to set a new standard for pop music. So it has to live up."
She has no interest in being an enigma like Jackson, however.
"I want to be the cool chick that everyone wants to be friends with," Miley admitted. "I want the people who watch my shows or watch my videos to be like, 'She looks like the most fun person to hang out with ever. I want to be that girl's best friend. I want to party with her.' It's like, if you're hanging out with Beyoncé, it's almost like you're hanging out with a goddess. She's like a real queen. It's a different realm. Where my thing is kind of the opposite. My shtick is I'm the homey."
Miley also talked relationships, particularly what she has learned from parents Tish and Billy Ray Cyrus, ahead of confirming that she and Liam Hemsworth had ended their engagement.
"It's all a back-and-forth," she mused. "Like, when my parents are good, they're good, and when they're not, they're not, but they always get themselves back on track." (Tish and Billy Ray have started divorce proceedings at least twice since marrying in 1993 but reconciled both times.)
"They never put pressure on themselves," Miley added. "And I think that's a better way to be. That's how they've gotten themselves through everything they've been through. The best thing my parents ever taught me is that you don't have to be attached at the f--king hip. You don't have to be holding hands all the f--king time. Like my dad can go chill in Nashville for a while, and my mom can stay in L.A., but they're still walking side by side.
"And as long as you're on the same path, one can go a little ahead, and one can be a little behind."