Watch the video for ‘Wrecking Ball’ by Miley Cyrus

She wasn’t kidding when she said she can’t stop.

Just weeks after touching off an international brouhaha with her performance on MTV’s Video Music Awards, Miley Cyrus on Monday released the racy new video for “Wrecking Ball,� the second single from her upcoming “Bangerz� album.

Directed by provocative fashion photographer Terry Richardson, the clip finds Cyrus swinging on a wrecking ball while wearing a series of outfits not often seen at your typical construction site. And it has the former “Hannah Montana� star licking a sledgehammer and rolling around in a pile of rubble.

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Yet with its stark close-up shots of Cyrus weepily delivering lyrics about love’s destructive properties, “Wrecking Ball� seems also to be the singer’s attempt to prove she’s not just a controversy magnet.

“I never meant to start a war,� she sings at one point, but let’s hope that’s not true: With Katy Perry at No. 1 with the feel-good “Roar� and Lady Gaga going relatively cuddly on “Good Morning America,� we need troublemakers like Cyrus now more than ever.

Watch the video below.

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Twitter: @mikaelwood