Miley Cyrus' latest music video for "Wrecking Ball" -- in which she rides a wrecking ball naked, licks a sledgehammer and rolls around in her underwear -- is unsurprisingly causing controversy, but according to her famous father Billy Ray Cyrus, her clothing -- or lack thereof -- is beside the point.
Pics: Miley teams up with Terry Richardson
"I'm a song man. A musician singer songwriter who loves all styles of music. But again ... 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," he told ET.
And whether you agree with Miley's latest antics or not, the video is clearly a hit -- it broke the record for the most-viewed VEVO video within 24 hours, currently garnering over 14 million views.
According to Miley herself, making the Terry Richardson-directed video was about much more than just getting naked.
Related: Billy Ray on Miley -- 'She's Still My Little Girl'
"I think the video is much more, if people get past the point that I'm naked and you actually look at me, you can tell that I actually look more broken than even the song sounds," Cyrus said via MTV, calling in to New York's Z100 radio station Wednesday morning. "The song is a pop ballad. It's one of these songs that everyone is going to relate to -- everyone has felt that feeling at one point ... it was a lot harder to do the video than it was to record the song. It was much more of an emotional experience."
Trending
Who's making headlines in television, music, movies and more from Hollywood to the Heartland.