As People notes, while performing "Wrecking Ball," Cyrus got visibly emotional. She teared up and struggled to get through the powerful chorus, in particular. Breaking down in the middle of it, Cyrus admitted, "It never gets easier." The pop star opened up, once she was eventually done, noting, "Singing that song, 'Wrecking Ball' about feeling completely broken and shattered ...everyone suffering is different, even everyone's threshold of pain." Cyrus revealed, "I wear a lot of glitter and I wear a lot of armor and I also wear my heart on my sleeve, and it gets broken a lot." 

During a December 2020 appearance on Howard Stern's SiriusXM radio show, the "Midnight Sky" hit-maker admitted, of her ex-husband Liam Hemsworth, "I really do and did love him very, very, very much and still do, always will," (via Sky News). "Wrecking Ball" is widely believed to be about the Aussie actor, something Cyrus seemingly confirmed in 2014 in an emotional rant at one of her shows, as E! News reported at the time. Regardless of how much time passes, it seems Cyrus still feels the wounds from that relationship very deeply whenever she performs this particular song.