Why Miley Cyrus Will Never Live Down Her Wrecking Ball Video

Miley Cyrus in the Wrecking Ball music video

They say hindsight is 20/20. Now it seems Miley Cyrus understands that statement more than ever. The 24-year-old singer is moving forward in her career with a sunny single, "Malibu." However, the reforming wild child recently reflected on the highs and lows of her career. In fact, she indicated she would like to take a sledgehammer to her 2013 Billboard #1 hit song "Wrecking Ball." From the sounds of it, Cyrus feels some shame because of the track's risqué music video. She said:

That's something you can't take away. Swinging around naked on a wrecking ball lives forever. Once you do that in the mass that I did, it's forever. I'm never living that down. I will always be the naked girl on a wrecking ball. No matter how much I just frolic with [my dog] Emu, I'm always the naked girl on the wrecking ball. I just licked the sledgehammer. I should have thought how long that was going to have to follow me around.

Miley Cyrus revealed her new attitude toward "Wrecking Ball" during a game of "Marry, Eff, Kill," a segment of an interview with Zach Sang. The radio show host asked Cyrus to organize three of her songs---"Seven Things," "The Climb," and "Wrecking Ball"---based on her preferences. Cyrus said she would marry "The Climb," eff "Seven Things," and kill "Wrecking Ball." From the sounds of it, Cyrus is no longer keen on the last of those tracks because of the optical associations to the song's controversial Sinead O'Rebellion music video, which Terry Richardson directed.

The sometimes-coach of The Voice halfheartedly joked the music video for "Wrecking Ball" is something that keeps her up at night. Apparently, the former Hannah Montana star worries the song will be her defining moment and haunt her for the rest of her life--and perhaps beyond the grave. The Malibu-based singer went on to say,

That's my worst nightmare, ["Wrecking Ball"] being played at my funeral.

These days, Miley Cyrus appears to be in a happy, healthy frame of mind that no longer involves many of the gauche ploys for attention that overshadowed her work in previous years. For example, the longtime advocate for marijuana talked about not smoking weed to focus on work. She said the reason for sticking out her tongue on the red carpet was rebellion, something she seems ready to leave in the past. Overall, it sounds like Cyrus is doing some soul searching as she moves forward in her career, which signals positive growth.

Despite Miley's preferences, I think "Wrecking Ball" remains a good song. Plus, the video has amassed nearly 900,000,000 views on YouTube, so Miley Cyrus certainly succeeded in driving clicks to her channel. Still, if you subtract the shock value, some people might say the music video's artistic quality becomes questionable. So, it's easy to see how "Wrecking Ball" might make Cyrus wince now that she is a few years older.