Miley Cyrus released the music video for “Wrecking Ball” in 2013. Despite it being a fan favorite now, it sparked controversy upon its release due to comparisons to Sinéad O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” video.
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In the recently released ABC Special Endless Summer Vacation: Continued (Backyard Sessions), Cyrus opened up about her and O’Connor’s tiff saying (per Rolling Stone), “I had no idea about the fragile mental state that she was in.
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“I was also only 20 years old,” she continued. “So I could really only wrap my head around mental illness so much, and all that I saw was that another woman had told me that this idea was not my idea.”
The visual for “Wrecking Ball” features up-close shots of Cyrus crying, much like O’Connor’s visual for her 1990 hit. Cyrus even cited O’Connor as an inspiration for the video, leaning into the comparisons.
Nevertheless, O’Connor used Cyrus’ video, as well as her often controversial attitude during that era of her career, as an opportunity to make comments about exploitation that she believed went on in the music industry.
“I am extremely concerned for you that those around you have led you to believe, or encouraged you in your own belief, that it is in any way ‘cool’ to be naked and licking sledgehammers in your videos,” O’Connor wrote in her letter. “It is in fact the case that you will obscure your talent by allowing yourself to be pimped, whether it’s the music business or yourself doing the pimping.”
“I had been judged for so long for my own choices that I was just exhausted, and I was in this place where I finally was making my own choices and my own decisions, and to have that taken away from me deeply upset me,” Cyrus continued in the ABC Special. “God bless Sinéad O’Connor for real, in all seriousness.”
O’Connor passed away in July 2023 at 56 years old.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sinéad,” her family’s statement read. “Her family and friends are devastated and have requested privacy at this very difficult time.”
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