Miley Cyrus Says "Wrecking Ball" Video Is About "Much More" Than Her Naked Body

Singer talks about provocative second single and looking "broken" on camera

By Zach Johnson Sep 11, 2013 5:57 PMTags
Miley Cyrus, Wrecking Ball RCA Records

Miley Cyrus' bares her soul—and her body—in her just-released "Wrecking Ball" music video. Though it's already broken the VEVO record for most views in 24 hours, the Terry Richardson-directed clip has also caused plenty of controversy. During a Sept. 11 Elvis Duran and the Morning Show radio interview, however, Cyrus downplayed the video's in-your-face nudity.

"I think the video is much more [than that]. If people get past the point I make, and you actually look at me, you can tell I look more broken than even the song sounds," she explained of the haunting track, produced by Dr. Luke and Cirkut.

The 20-year-old pop star continued, "The song is a pop ballad that everyone can relate to; everyone has felt that feeling at some point. If people can take their minds off the obvious and go into their imagination and see what the video really means, it is so vulnerable."

Cyrus, as more than 19 million viewers know, spends much of the video in tears. "If you look at my eyes, I look more sad than actually my voice sounds on the record," she pointed out. "It was a lot harder to do the video than it was to record the song. It was much more of an emotional experience."

The former Disney Channel star also revealed that she was nervous about releasing "Wrecking Ball" as the second single off her forthcoming album, Bangerz. "I was actually panicking last night because I felt like for me, with ‘We Can't Stop," there was all this anticipation and all this time to build up this one single. I have been so busy right now with ‘We Can't Stop' still doing what it's doing...so I feel like I have so much going on."

RCA Records

As far as her image goes, Cyrus laughed when she was named the unofficial queen of twerking: "For me, anything I do becomes it becomes such a big deal. I'm just having fun. Whatever people label it as it doesn't really matter. I always want to switch it up."