Of course, Miley Cyrus' new video, watched by 57m people and counting, is a publicity stunt. But the lyrics imply that 'instead of using force' when she 'came in like a wrecking ball' to 'break your walls' she should have taken a more considered approach to the demolition by carefully deconstructing his ardour.
 
It ends:
I came in like a wrecking ball
I never hit so hard in love
All I wanted was to break your walls
All you ever did was break me
I came in like a wrecking ball
Yeah, I just closed my eyes and swung
Left me crashing in a blazing fall
All you ever did was break me
Yeah you, you wreck me
Yeah you, you wreck me
 
The wrecking ball was a common method of demolition in the first half of the 20th century, although it is still, according to Wikipedia, the most efficient way to demolish a concrete frame structure. An early documented use of a wrecking ball was in the breaking up of the SS Great Eastern in 1888-1889, by Henry Bath and Co, at Rock Ferry on the river Mersey.
 
Wikipedia:
 
Modern wrecking balls have had a slight re-shaping, with the metal sphere changed into a pear shape with a portion of the top cut off. This shape allows the ball to be more easily pulled back through a roof or concrete slab after it has broken through.
 
Wrecking balls range from about 1,000 lb to around 12,000 lb (450 kg to 5400 kg). The ball is made from forged steel, which means the steel is not cast into a mold in a molten state. It is formed under very high pressure while the steel is red hot (soft but not molten) to compress and to strengthen it.
 
Two wrecking balls are used in the music video. The first, a smaller one, is used to knock down a barely-mortared hollow concrete block wall, rendered to look like mass reinforced concrete. The second, presumably not a real wrecking ball judging by the ease with which she moves it, is the one in which a barely-clothed or naked Miley cavorts.
 
The video, by controversial fashion photographer Terry Richardson, also contains sledgehammer action by Ms Cyrus, which includes suggestive tonguing.
 
Online comment has ranged from outrage to lewd, with many simply amused or entertained.
 
The Guardian's Michael Hann is both amused and outraged: 'Yes, you can watch - of all the sights in the world - Miley Cyrus simulating fellatio on something you'd find in a garden shed. What next? Selena Gomez giving a handjob to a strimmer?'
 
@SouthernProblem tweeted: 'I love how when Miley Cyrus is naked & licks a hammer it's "art" and "music" … But when I do it, I'm "wasted" and "have to leave Home Depot".'