Miley Cyrus's new music video for her latest single, "Wrecking Ball," has been met with mixed reviews and plenty of criticism for its suggestive, sexual content. In the wake of the public's reaction, supportive dad Billy Ray Cyrus has jumped to his daughter's defense, calling Miley's talent "God given," the Hollywood Gossip reports.
The 20-year old swings naked on a wrecking ball in her latest video, directed by shock photographer Terry Richardson, and suggestively licks a phallic sledgehammer while crying into the camera lens in perhaps her most adult video yet. She could have released rather neutral footage to accompany her devastating break-up song, but it seems that Miley knows exactly how to get and hold everyone's attention. The ex-Disney princess broke VEVO's record for most viewed video, "Wrecking Bell" having received more than 19 million views in just 24 hours.
But as for the actual filming process, that hard part for Miley wasn't exposing her skin, but her raw emotionality.
"If you look at my eyes, I look more sad than actually my voice sounds on the record," Miley said during of her video during an interview on the Elvis Duran show. "It was a lot harder to actually do the video than it was to even record the song. It was much more of an emotional experience."
In a recent interview with Entertainment Today, country singer Billy Ray was asked to give his opinion on his daughter's latest music video, but being the supportive father he is, he had nothing negative to say on her behalf.
"I'm a song man," he said. "I come from the old school where it starts with an artist and a song...colliding if you will...in a moment where the song, the singer, the producer, the band and the listener become one. It wouldn't have mattered if Miley would have worn jeans and a flannel shirt... a Tux...or a nun's habit. The song's a smash...and her performance vocally on the tune reflects her roots and sheer God given talent."
And indeed, in her latest radio interview, Miley focused more on the what the video represented rather than how people might initially perceive it.
"If people can take their minds off the obvious and go deeper into their imagination and see what the video really means, it is so vulnerable," she said. "It was much more of an emotional experience."
Despite its count so far of over 60 million views, "Wrecking Ball" currently has more dislikes on Youtube than likes. One thing is for sure: Miley sure knows how to push people's buttons.
