Miley Cyrus Swings Naked From a Wrecking Ball in New Video

By Laura Ferreiro

Miley Cyrus's new video for "Wrecking Ball" – the second single from her upcoming Bangerz album – starts off demurely with a close-up shot of Miley's face with tears running down her cheek, reminiscent of Sinead O'Connor's inconic "Nothing Compares 2 U" video. Wearing modest makeup and a serious, somber expression, Miley initially gives the impression that she's taking a more subtle, grown-up approach to the follow-up to her record-breaking, twerk-tastic "We Can't Stop" video. But it doesn't last long.

A few seconds later, we see her seductively licking a sledgehammer. Wearing a revealing white tank top and bikini bottoms, Miley makes love to the camera while swinging from a wrecking ball. The casual viewer might be fooled into thinking that's as far as she'll go, but if we learned anything from her controversial VMAs performance last month, it's that she can't stop there.

Give it a minute – or a minute and 15 seconds, to be precise – and suddenly Miley's completely naked except for her red combat boots, acrylic nails, and gold earrings, swinging on the wrecking ball in her birthday suit, writhing around and licking the chain like it's a lollipop. Meanwhile, concrete walls crumble down around her as she swings like she's competing for a spot in the sex Olympics.

What's meant to be provocative comes off as a desperate attempt to gain attention. In fact, on Monday morning, Miley tweeted a link to the video with the hashtag #WreckTheRecord #wreckingballonvevonow, a reference to the record she set with her "We Can't Stop" video by garnering the most VEVO views in a 24-hour-period (10.7 million, which was subsequently beaten by One Direction, who hit 10.9 million views with "Best Song Ever").

Miley is obviously gunning to smash that record, and has no qualms about doing anything necessary to get what she wants. But, as Miley herself would tell you, apparently she's just being Miley.