“Wrecking Ball” is the second single off of Miley’s fourth studio album Bangerz. The song is a pop ballad produced by Dr. Luke, who first came to fame in 2004 when he produced Kelly Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone.” Critics have praised the song for its emotional delivery, comparing it to other famous ballads like Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” and Sinead O'Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U.”

The song has been interpreted as a ballad about “love lost and found, but also about—again—the idea of youth burning hard and fast and then fading away.”

The controversial video features a nude Miley swinging on an actual wrecking ball. The singer explains:

The song is a pop ballad that everyone can relate to; everyone has felt that feeling at some point. If people can take their minds off the obvious and go into their imagination and see what the video really means, it is so vulnerable.

The song hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in September 2013, making it Miley’s very first number one single.

It is rumored that the song was initially written for Beyoncé. In December 2012, Sacha Skarbek tweeted, “Beyonce song now becoming a Miley Cyrus song?!! Good/bad? I don’t know??!!!!”