When Miley Cyrus released the music video “Wrecking Ball”, a lot of controversy sparked. The former “Hannah Montana” star is shown naked while swinging on a wrecking ball for three minutes and forty two seconds. Many people were taken back by her actions during this music video, but there is a deeper meaning to it than the graphic imagery. She wrote this song to show metaphorically how her previous relationship with Liam Hemsworth was destroyed. 

During the music video there are parts where Miley is shown licking a sledge hammer numerous times. This is a metaphor of her love for the things that destroy her. Her actions display her emotions and help the viewers understand what she is going through, and how she felt when the relationship ended. When the audience watches the music video, this scene makes the audience uncomfortable. This is because she is licking a sledge hammer, an object that does not belong near a person’s mouth. The alternative message she is trying to get across is to show how she felt about the ending of her relationship.

The choice of clothing in “Wrecking Ball” is also a visual motif. During a huge portion of the music video she is shown swinging naked on this wrecking ball. Her nakedness shows her vulnerability in her relationship, and how she is even vulnerable after the relationship was destroyed. The ultimate way to be vulnerable is to be naked in front of millions of people. Her nakedness also represents the embarrassment she felt when her relationship ended. Being naked in front of a billion people can be embarrassing, but also the way her relationship was thrown across magazines was too. The only time she is clothed is when she is dressed like a construction worker. Usually construction workers are the ones who damage a construction site like how she is damaging the walls in the music video. She is conveying the message that she was a construction worker and her relationship are the walls that she is destroying. She also is communicating that not only was she destroyed by her relationship, but that she helped destroy it too.

Throughout the video there is an absence of color, but there is one color that is noticed, red. Miley is shown wearing Red lipstick throughout the whole music video. The color red is also another visual motif shown throughout her music video. The color red represents love and passion, but it can also represent anger. We see a lot of love and anger throughout this music video. The anger that is shown is when Miley is smashing walls and throwing temper tantrums, but the love is shown when the camera gets close to her face, and she is singing while tears are rolling down her face. The color red represents how Miley Cyrus feels angry that her love did not work out. 

The song is called “Wrecking Ball”, so obviously the wrecking ball shown throughout the music video has a deeper meaning too. The wrecking ball has a lot of complex meaning, so it represents more than just one thing. The wrecking ball is shown flying around the music video in an out of control fashion. The underlying meaning of how the ball is flying around is to show how her love was crazy and out of control towards the end of the relationship. In another scene it is shown destroying cement walls. The walls represent the love and stability Miley and Liam had during their relationship. When the wrecking ball collides into the walls it represents how the relationship ended up going out of control and ended by destruction. Miley Cyrus is also shown swinging on the wrecking ball. This signifies that she also had a hand in the destruction of her relationship with Liam Hemsworth. 

There is also another interpretation of the scene when Miley is swinging on the wrecking ball. She is shown flying through the air out of control. In this scene the wrecking ball is supposed to represent the relationship, and Miley riding on it shows how she tried to get her relationship under control. She is shown swinging on this wrecking ball for a big portion of the music video. The time she is spent swinging on the wrecking ball shows how her relationship and been spiraling out of control for a long time, but she could never get it under control.

In another scene of the “Wrecking Ball” music video, Miley Cyrus is shown singing her heart out in front of a half smashed wall. The wall appears to have been smashed by the wrecking ball, but it is still standing. This is a representation of how Miley Cyrus feels after her relationship ended. The wrecking ball indent represents how her relationship crushed her, but just like the wall, Miley is still standing. She was crushed on the inside by her relationship, but it appears that she is hanging in there. She is also shown pounding on this wall repeatedly. This represents how when Miley was beaten down after her relationship, and outside people were saying mean things and beating her down even more. This wall portrays Miley as a result of her ending relationship.

The “Wrecking Ball” music video sparked a lot of controversy. Many people were in shock that Miley Cyrus the pop star, that many young girls looked up to, was prancing around naked and licking sledge hammers. Miley Cyrus did an amazing job using these visual motifs to show how her relationship affected her. Even though many people cannot look past the scandalous imagery, she portrays her emotions very well throughout the “Wrecking Ball” music video.
