When Miley Cyrus released her much buzzed about "Wrecking Ball" video, which features the former "Hannah Montana" star stripped bare and cozied up to a sledgehammer, she compared it to another memorable clip.
"(It's) like Sinead O'Connor's video but, like, the most modern version," she told Rolling Stone magazine.
The video she was referencing was O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2 U." And as it turns out, it's a comparison the singer didn't appreciate. In fact, she was so alarmed by what she saw in Cyrus' video, she decided to respond via an open letter on her blog.
"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. "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."
O'Connor went on to warn Cyrus, "The music business doesn't give a (expletive) about you, or any of us. They will prostitute you for all you are worth, and cleverly make you think it's what YOU wanted ... and when you end up in rehab as a result of being prostituted, 'they' will be sunning themselves on their yachts in Antigua, which they bought by selling your body and you will find yourself very alone."
As for Cryus' recent claim that her evolution of style and more overt sexual image is a result of growing up and growing away from her old "Hannah Montana" days, O'Connor explained that she doesn't need to go to such extremes, that she's already left all that behind.
"Not because you got naked but because you make great records," she wrote, ending the letter on a complimentary note.
Cyrus has been clear about the fact that she has no regrets about her recent behavior, both in her video and on stage during her controversial MTV Video Music Awards performance. She welcomes support and backlash.
"You’re always gonna make people talk," she said in her MTV documentary, "Miley: The Movement," which aired Wednesday night. "You might as well make them talk for like two weeks rather than two seconds."
After she learned of O'Connor's letter, Cyrus took to Twitter with a response of her own. First she posted a screen shot of past tweets from O'Connor wherein the Irish singer spoke out about psychiatric help and a need for medication. Then Cyrus, who's set to host "Saturday Night Live" this week, referenced an old controversy by posting a photo from a 1992 episode of the show featuring O'Connor ripping a photo of Pope John Paul II.