Billy Ray Cyrus Supportive After VMAs, Naked Video: ‘That’s Still My Miley’ [Video]

Miley Cyrus set pop culture’s axis on its head after her twerk-pas-de-deux with Robin Thicke at the MTV Video Music Awards. Encoring that event with a naked-fest in the video for her latest single Wrecking Ball video and featuring in topless photos for her forthcoming Bangerz album — clearly the 20-year-old is on a roll.

But, while Miley may be down one fiance and out of Anna Wintour’s icy graces, she’ll always have her daddy.

Guesting on Piers Morgan Tonight Thursday, Country music star Billy Ray Cyrus shared his take on his daughter’s new public role as Queen of Twerk, the VMAs, and the brouhaha since.

Morgan introducing the topic and said that as a father he wouldn’t be too pleased if his daughter “turned to twerking.” However, Billy disagreed and said Miley’s wildness was about her artistry.

He added: ”Miley’s smart enough to know that to come out of the shadows of ‘Hannah Montana,’ it really takes something extremely drastic, which when you go to that level, it creates passion, and passion is either love or hate. But there’s no middle of the road for passion.”

Praising his girl, the 52-year-old went on:

”She has risen to a whole new level [of fame]. I thought I had seen it all – until these last couple of weeks.”

Of the now infamous video for Wrecking Ball in which Miley swings around naked, her father said:

“I’m her daddy. I come for that school of as a singer-songwriter, as a musician, that it starts with a song.” He continued:”And it’s that magic moment when a song finds the right artist, the right singer and it becomes a synchronicity of that moment in time.”

Explaining what he believes is the motivation behind his daughter’s behavior, Billy elaborated:

“Miley harnessed into something very special. She’s just Miley. She’s an artist, she’s real. I think that’s what’s happened over the years, Miley has been reinventing her sound. She’s evolving as an artist herself. I think that it’s all of what everyone is calling controversy now. That’s still my Miley.”

Specifically referring to the VMA’s performance, Billy concluded in the interview:

“I think she could’ve went out and sang the song in a flannel shirt and a pair of jeans, and it would have still been just as strong. Would we have been here talking about it? No way.”

Do you think Billy Ray Cyrus is right, or do you think he should be reining Miley in?

[Image via New York Daily News]