Miley Cyrus: I Am Not 'This Ratchet White Girl,' Singer Says

Miley Cyrus may take pictures with strippers and twerk in her latest music videos, but she says that doesn't make her a wild child. The 20-year-old singer says that people have misconstrued her image.

“People have this misconception of me that I'm just one of these kids on TV and that now I go off and party and I'm just this ratchet white girl, and I'm not. I work really, really hard; I'm just in a different environment. I'm young and living in L.A., which is everyone's dream, you know,” she tells Notion magazine. 'Ratchet' is a term which became popular in 2012, primarily in the hip-hop community. The word has been used to refer to situations that are not socially acceptable, or seen as being "ghetto."

Cyrus, who has certainly grown up from her tween days on Disney show “Hannah Montana,” recently caused controversy with her hit song “We Can’t Stop.”

Highlights in the song's music video include the young blonde grabbing women’s butts and chests, gyrating on a bed and jumping around in a barely-there swimsuit, while referencing the drug molly, which is a powder or crystal form of MDMA.

Meanwhile, though she is being criticized for her seemingly raunchy antics, Cyrus recently had advice for fellow performer Justin Bieber, 19, with whom she is close. “I told Justin to take a bit of time out and people aren’t so obsessed with you and nitpick,” she told British tabloid The Sun earlier this month.

Cyrus further explained why Bieber should take time away from the limelight: “When you’re not around, all they want is your music. They want to see what the next thing is. But when your music is out they just want to talk s--t about you.”