Miley Cyrus Defends Using Ice Cream Cart Pole for 'Stability' in Controversial 2009 TCAs Performance

It's may have been a "Party in the U.S.A." for Miley Cyrus in 2009, but not everyone was celebrating at the time.

In a new TikTok, the 30-year-old pop star opened up about her once-controversial Teen Choice Awards performance in 2009 at 17 years old, when she danced on top of an ice cream cart to her then-new patriotic hit song while holding onto a pole.

As she explains now, it was all for "stability" purposes.

"I had cut 'Party in the U.S.A.' and I was doing my first performance for the Teen Choice Awards. My mom was like, 'I think it'd be really cool if she was in the trailer park, that's where we really do come from,'" Cyrus reflected in the clip, released on the social media platform for her “Used to Be Young” video series.

"So, apparently me dancing on an ice cream cart with a stripper pole, but it wasn't a stripper pole, it was actually just for stability. I had a heel on! Like what did you want from me?" Cyrus asked. "Was I really gonna do my performance without dancing on top of an ice cream cart?"

After the performance, the Hannah Montana star received backlash for her set piece, including a magazine article she cited in the TikTok clip. "Is Miley turning into the next Britney [Spears]" Miley asked, reading the story's headline. "Hopefully! If God is good. Which we know she is."

Despite facing criticism for appearing too sexy for her age at the time, Cyrus reflected fondly on her first performance of "Party in the U.S.A." The song itself eventually peaked at No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. According to the RIAA, it was certified 12-times platinum back in March.

"That performance was amazing," Cyrus said. "My pitch was honestly a little off, and the hat needed to go — but besides that."

Cyrus opened up about another controversy during her new TikTok series, as she touched on her 2008 Vanity Fair photoshoot, where she posed topless as a teen.

Cyrus shared in the 40-second video that while most know of the photoshoot, they "don’t really know the behind-the-scenes, which is always much more meaningful."

As she added, her sister Noah was "sitting on Annie [Leibovitz]'s lap and actually pushing the button of the camera, taking the pictures."

“This image of me is a complete opposite of the bubblegum pop star that I had been known for being and that’s what was so upsetting," Cyrus said.

“But — really brilliant choices, looking back now, from those people,” she said of the team behind the photoshoot.

Earlier this week, Cyrus shared with fans that her new video series will see her “looking back" on her life and "sharing untold stories" from her past. The videos, inspired by her single "Used to Be Young," “start at the beginning” of her story and touch on the next 30 years of her life and career.

“Sometimes it feels like my life started when Hannah Montana was born,” she wrote in an Instagram caption. “But before Hannah there was Miley. My fantasy was to light up the world with laughter, music & iconic moments that last beyond my lifetime. Decades later I continue to fulfill my purpose because of the love provided by my fans."