What Does Miley's NSFW Horse Pic Mean?!

Back in February, Miley Cyrus tweeted the cover art for the remix of “Adore You." The cover is a SFW pic of a topless be-wig'd Cyrus. But Monday, things changed. SFW turned into NSFW. Why? The entire photo was leaked (or was it “leaked”???). In the full photo, Avril Lavigne's "enemy" (Happy April Fools' Day!) is sporting a white thong and a black wig. She’s straddling a white horse statue. She’s holding a blunt. And her right boobie is out for the world to see. She's just bein' Miley, and I love her for it.

But what does this single art mean?!?!?! It doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the lyrics of “Adore You.” And believe you me, I’ve combed through the lyrics several times and pored over the photo for an unknown number of minutes. I’ve yet to find any correlation between the two. So I ask again: WHAT DOES THIS SINGLE ART MEAN?!?!?!?! Let’s address each element of the photo:

THE BLACK WIG: Cyrus became a household name thanks to the TV show Hannah Montana. Hannah Montana, the protagonist's pop star alter ego, wore a long blonde wig. But this wig is not blonde. It is black. The color black can represent evil, sexuality, power, death, and mystery. Could this be an evil Hannah Montana?!?!

THE BLUNT: Why include a fatty in this pic? The answer could be as simple as “Miley digs weed,” but maybe there’s more to it than that.

Well, the blunt appears to be snuffed out. What does a snuffed out blunt represent? According to dreammoods.com, a dream about an unlit candle can mean rejection or disappointment. (I know this single cover isn’t a dream, and I know a blunt is not a candle, but this dreammoods.com interpretation will have to do.) Could this blunt represent rejection or disappointment? While it is a love song, she does sing “When you say you love me/Know I love you more/When you say you need me/Know I need you more.” Could there be a subconscious fear of rejection due to unevenness in a relationship? Or am I reaching?!?!

THE NEAR-NUDITY: Vulnerability, innocence, sensuality, et cetera. Or maybe it's laundry day?

THE WHITE HORSE: Ah, the trope of a white horse. When I see a white horse, the words "hero" and "Pegasus" come to mind. So, Hercules. And yes, I am humming "Zero To Hero" right now. Thanks for asking!

First, I checked out Wiki Answers. "I can't be the first person to wonder what a white horse symbolizes," I mumbled as I typed into the search bar. "There must be a Wiki Answer." And there is:

"White means peace and birth so therefore white horses should mean the birth of peace."

Birth of peace! As nice as that answer is, I knew I couldn't stop there. I kept looking.

Next, I zoomed on over to spiritanimal.info. According to the “Horse Spirit Animal” page, a horse represents:

• A driving force, what you thrive for or carries you in life.• A secondary meaning for the horse spirit animal is the balance between instinctive and tamed part of your personality.• Sexual energy, especially – but not limited to – masculine energy.• Strong emotions, passionate desires.

And what does a white horse totem represent? Don't worry, spiritanimal.info has our backs: "White is associated with elevating your mood or spiritual aspirations; the white horse is a symbol for developing awareness of your instincts and intuition."

White horses are a recurring theme in Henrik Ibsen’s play Rosmersholm. But in this play, they don’t represent sexual energy or peace. As Backstage’s David A. Rosenberg writes in a 2010 review of a production of the play, “a white horse figures prominently as a precursor of doom.” SPOOKY!

What about slang? First, I peeped the Urban Dictionary definition for "white horse":

"Heroin. As contrasted with white pony, slang for cocaine, in the 1983 pop hit "White Horse" by music group 'Laid Back.'"

And according to Online Slang Dictionary, riding the white horse means "to frequently use an illegal white powder stimulant (e.g. cocaine, crystal methamphetamines, crank, etc.)."

Okay. So according to all of my e-research, this pic might represent: evil Hannah Montana, a love of weed, fear of rejection, laundry day, birth of peace, a driving force, natural instincts vs. "tamed" behavior, sensuality, awareness of intuition, a harbinger of doom, heroin, or cocaine. Woof. All over the place.

I'm back to square one. And square one is just me rhyming "adohre-ohre youuuu" with "a horrrse-orse-shooooe." So no, I have no idea what this pic means. Your guess is as good as mine.

Here's the NSFW cover art. Analyze away!

Image: @mileycyrus/Twitter