Performer Miley Cyrus went topless on the cover of the new Rolling Stone issue, as the star continues to shed her Disney child star image, cursing throughout the magazine interview and posing provocatively.
Cyrus' efforts to distance herself from her "Hannah Montana" persona continued with
the cover showing her in a pool topless with her tongue out. The cover story is titled "Good Golly, Miss Miley."
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"In this era of deep national polarization, there's one thing on which we can pretty much all agree: It's an interesting time to be Miley Cyrus," Josh Eells wrote in the story, posted online Tuesday. "She's been dealing with fame in varying degrees for her entire life, first as the daughter of country star Billy Ray Cyrus, whose 'Achy Breaky Heart' was to 1992 what 'Blurred Lines' is to 2013 . . . But all that was just a prelude to Miley 3.0, a tongue-wagging, hard-twerking, all-grown-up pop star, like it or not."
Cyrus, 20, complained about the double standard in regards to reactions to her
MTV Video Music Awards performance. All the focus has been on Cyrus, when singer Robin Thicke was a willing participant.
"No one is talking about the man behind the ass," Cyrus said in the Rolling Stone story. "It was a lot of 'Miley twerks on Robin Thicke,' but never, 'Robin Thicke grinds up on Miley.' They're only talking about the one that bent over. So obviously there's a double standard."
Cyrus told Rolling Stone she was nervous before the awards show that has made her the butt of many jokes, but it was rapper Kanye West, who saw her rehearsals with Thicke, that gave her a final boost of confidence.
"He came in and goes, 'There are not a lot of artists I believe in more than you right now,'" Cyrus said West told her. "The whole room went quiet. I was like, 'Yo – can you say that again?!' I just kept repeating that over and over in my mind, and it made me not nervous."
Billboard magazine reported earlier this month that Cyrus's song "We Can't Stop" got a 16 percent point gain on its Top 100 chart, landing at No. 2 for three straight weeks following her VMA awards appearance.
The new video for her song "Wrecking Ball" in which the star is swinging naked on a wrecking ball has garnered substantial attention as well.
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