The world thought they’d seen it all during Miley Cyrus’ VMA performance when she notoriously twerked, danced up on Robin Thicke and fondled herself with a foam finger. But with the debut of her music video to her new single “Wrecking Ball,” Miley decided to take it a step further and forever rid herself of her “Hannah Montana” character. The question is: Are we surprised?

With the opening of the video, we might forget her embarrassing VMA performance and actually feel sympathetic towards the girl crying about a lost love. But not long after that, Miley returns to her usual, raunchy self as we see her barely clothed in underwear and a cropped wife beater, swinging on a wrecking ball.  Her usual, tongue-twisting provocative stare comes to show while singing “I can’t live a lie / running for my life / I will always want you.” It’s pretty hard to understand what grinding on a wrecking ball chain has anything to do with her sad, lost love story – or maybe Miley just took the “wrecking ball” metaphor too seriously. It seems as if she wants to be sexy, all the while singing about (presumably) her ex-fiancée Liam Hemsworth. Let’s be honest—Miley couldn't possibly give up her raunchy, sexual reputation for a soppy love song, right?

The song itself is great—it’s heartfelt, relatable and she sounds amazing. But all the tears and cries seem fake and irrelevant as Miley licks a sledgehammer and smacks herself seductively. It’s especially unsympathetic as we see Miley suddenly fully naked, grinding on the wrecking ball and rotating her pelvis in—once again—a sexual manner.  There is no point, no symbolism, nothing—it’s just another way for Miley to show off her toned body and to make sure that the world knows that she is no longer the innocent little daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus that we used to know and love.

It’s truly surprising that her latest music videos and performances haven’t ruined her career—in fact, it seems like she’s becoming more and more famous. Her VMA performance was talked about for weeks after it was aired, and now people have another sexual innuendo-filled Miley escapade to talk about.  While she melts down about her lost relationship, it’s safe to say that she’s also having quite the literal melt-down. Whether she’s trying too hard, or she actually likes her new self, it’s almost positive that this won’t be the last thing we hear or see of Miley Cyrus.

For those of you that haven't seen the video yet, here it is.

Reach Staff Reporter Beatrice Verhoeven here. Follow her on Twitter.