Billy Ray Cyrus reacted to Miley's new and awfully naked music video for "Wrecking Ball" in an interview with Entertainment Tonight, brushing aside the controversial nudity and sledgehammer-licking in the Terry Richardson-directed clip by saying that "the song's a smash."
The country legend also claimed "it wouldn't have mattered if Miley would have worn jeans and a flannel shirt, a tux or a nun's habit," and that "her performance vocally on the tune reflects her root and sheer God-given talent.
Miley herself responded to the controversy she created by saying that there's more to the nudity-inflected visuals than meet the eye:
"I think the video is much more, if people get past the point that I'm naked and you actually look at me," Cyrus said in an interview with New York's z100. "You can tell that I actually look more broken than even the song sounds. The song is a pop ballad. It's one of these songs that everyone is gonna to relate to, everyone's felt that feeling at some point. If people can take their minds off the obvious and go into their imagination a little bit and see kind of what the video really means and the way that it is so vulnerable."
"If you look in my eyes I look more sad than actually my voice sounds on the record," she said. "It was a lot harder to do the video than it was to even record the song. It was much more of an emotional experience."
After Miley raunched up MTV's Video Music Awards, Billy Ray offered similar support: "She's still my little girl and I'm still her dad regardless how this circus we call show business plays out. I love her unconditionally and that will never change."
Here's Billy Ray's full comment, which will air during Entertainment Tonight's Wednesday show:
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.
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