In the viral 2013 music video, Wrecking Ball, we see Miley Cyrus staring into the camera with a single tear falling down her cheek as she starts singing the emotional song. The video continues to show Cyrus with a sledge hammer at a concrete wall until a wrecking ball crashes into it. (See figure 3) It quickly progresses from something innocent as it transitions into her swinging on the wrecking ball in a suggestive manner, becoming unclothed and bare skinned as the video continues seeking to imitate erotic dancing. It flashes from her on the wrecking ball, to her licking a sledgehammer, to a close up of her singing. This approach turned an emotional song into a video full of sexual innuendos.

One strongly encouraged topic throughout this video was the sexualization of construction objects. In many scenes she is shown licking and intimately kissing a sledgehammer, sometimes running it up her body in a sexual way (see figure 2). "One of the major ways [the media] accomplishes [getting viewers] is by linking sex and products, sexualizing objects. We’re encouraged to feel passion for our products, not partners.” (Killing Us Softly 4) This form of sexualization was unnecessary for the song but placed so that a viewer was unable to turn away these images and potentially so the viewer could place themselves in place of the objects. The main clips however of her swinging on a wrecking ball completely nude while staring into the camera sexually hints at forms of exotic dancing.

While it might be relevant to sexualize herself and objects, it is completely unnecessary in this context. In music videos it is very common to contain explicit content but sometimes it is unmerited in relation to the actual lyrics. Cyrus falls into this category with her Wrecking Ball video. The lyrics themselves talk about how she blindly fell in love with someone who left her emotionally wrecked. You clearly see this in the chorus where she shows her emotional damage by saying “I came in like a wrecking ball, I never hit so hard in love, All I wanted was to break your walls, All you ever did was wreck me.” (Wrecking Ball) This lyrically doesn’t have any sexual connotations, however looking at the music video Cyrus swings nude from the wrecking ball as well as intimately kissing both a sledgehammer and a chain whilst singing these lyrics. (See figure 4) While being bare skinned without clothing could represent vulnerability, the sexualization of the construction tools and imitations of exotic dancing were not needed to showcase the meaning of the song. It is general knowledge that explicit content traffics more recognition and I think the controversy surrounding the Wrecking Ball video showed to be quite profitable for Cyrus. The song probably would’ve warranted some attention from her fans without the explicit scenes but a four minute video full of sexual innuendos and a nude star seductively swinging from a wrecking ball clearly attracted a whole lot more viewers.