Does Miley Cyrus want to be a sex symbol? If the video for her new single, "Can't Be Tamed," is the litmus test by which to judge, then, well... yes. Problem? She's 17. The video, and initial web reaction, inside.

Cyrus' video—which premiered tonight on E!—begins at some sort of freakshow-esque museum, wherein "the rarest creature on Earth, Avis Cyrus" is revealed to an audience. And that's where it all begins! Suddenly, Cyrus (Miley, not "Avis") is seen inside a bird's nest—angry, made up and sporting giant wings attached to a skimpy leather outfit—before breaking into song and writhing around with a host of dancers. Cyrus eventually breaks free from the cage—remember, she "can't be tamed," after all—and essentially grinds up against various extras/lays on the floor in a revealing corset and touches herself for the rest of the video. Oh! Speaking of the video—and before we get to the initial reaction to it—here it is:

If one wants to gauge initial reaction to anything pop culture-related, and specifically music video-related, it's not necessary to go any further than to Oh No They Didn't (ONTD), the LiveJournal-based celebrity gossip community. ONTD's discussion post for the video's premiere, which went up about 7:00 PM ET, currently has nearly 2,000 comments about the video, ranging from adoration to disgust to things like, "Well, it was good, but it was way too sexual for a 17-year-old." Here's a small sampling:

Dredging through all of the comments is no small task, but they can basically be boiled down to the following general conclusions:

  • The video was great, showed a new side of Miley, and I like it
  • The video was horrible and embarrassing, I'm shaking my head, etc.
  • The video was good, but seemed out of place for Miley; she's too young to be that sexual
  • No matter what I think about the video, one thing is true: it's a hell of a lot better than Christina Aguilera's new one for "Not Myself Tonight."

So, what does this all mean? If I had to take a wild guess, it'd be that fans of Cyrus will call it The Video of Our Generation (as some did in the ONTD post); critics will decry it as an embarrassing, try-hard attempt at a new identity/relevance; and everyone else will scratch their heads for a minute before moving on to the next thing and/or wonder why a 17-year-old would make something so sexy (and be so obvious about it).

Then again, she's just being Miley.

[E!]