Before he signed on to direct Paul Bozymowski was like most people: He thought he knew everything there was to know about Miley Cyrus. Turns out, he was wrong.

"As I delved into her history, I realized there was something really interesting going on here, she's going through a change and great things can happen in the midst of change: public acceptance, private exploration," he told MTV News. "I knew [the documentary] wasn't going to be a behind-the-scenes thing; it was going to tell the story of what she's going through at this particular moment in her life."

And for nearly three months — beginning just before the release of and continuing through her much-discussed VMA performance — the cameras captured every moment of that moment. Bozymowski and team set out to make the definitive document of her defining era, following Cyrus into the recording studio, the rehearsal space, backstage and everywhere in-between... and out of all that, he came to understand just what was at stake for the young star at this pivotal point in her career.

Simply put, Bangerz is more than a mere album; it represents Cyrus' attempt at a total reinvention, her bid at true artistic freedom. And she was determined to do it all on her terms.

"She's driving the ship; no one's going to watch this documentary and say 'Somebody's telling Miley what to do,' " he laughed. "She's the creative force behind everything, and she has this incredibly meticulous attention to detail; when she goes into something she goes in 100-percent, ...

After a five-month trial, a jury has decided on Wednesday (October 2) that concert promoting company A.E.G. Live is not responsible for Michael Jackson's death in 2009, as the pop star's mother, Katherine, claimed.

Jackson's mother had argued Dr. Conrad Murray, the doctor who gave her son the lethal dose of anesthetic propofol, was unfit for his work and that A.E.G. Live hired him, downplaying his health concerns and pushing him to work harder. The New York Times reported that Mrs. Jackson was seeking $1.5 billion in damages, but since the jury did not agree that Murray was unfit, the company, the second-largest in its industry, is not liable. The doctor is currently serving time in jail after he was convicted of involuntary manslaughter two years ago.

Mrs. Jackson, 83, had argued that A.E.G. worked him down to his death, all in an effort to make money through his series of "This is It" comeback shows in the O2 Arena in London.

Evidence from the 80 days of testimony included naked photos of Jackson's corpse on the autopsy table, showing him as frail and weak, and emails from A.E.G. depicting him as a "freak." Choreographer Alif Sankey testified that she begged the show director to intervene in his last days.

"I kept saying that 'Michael is dying, he's dying, he's leaving us, he needs to be put in a hospital,' " Sankey said. " 'Please do something. Please, please.' "

The company had a different story, claiming Jackson would take any drug to help him sleep and they didn't know what Murray was administering ...

Miley Cyrus can't be stopped.

Say what you will about her — and, undoubtedly, you will — but you cannot deny the fact that, in just three short months, Miley has turned 2013 into her own personal playground, dominating the pop-culture landscape (and the Billboard charts) and displaying a defiant streak that makes her contemporaries look positively demure. She's pushed the envelope and declared her independence, rankled critics and thrilled fans, and, in the process, redefined herself as an artist. It's been a rather remarkable run, and it doesn't appear to be ending any time soon. If anything, Miley's just getting started.

On Wednesday night at 10 p.m. ET/PT, MTV will premiere a documentary that follows Cyrus from the moment she started her journey. Filming began just as she released to radio, and, if anything, the title of that song proved to be oddly prophetic: it rocketed to the top of the charts, spawned an eye-popping music video, and inspired the most-discussed VMA performance in years. And more importantly, it helped usher in the new era of Miley.

Since "We Can't Stop" premiered in June, Cyrus has been nearly omnipresent, and I'm not just talking about the constant coverage (and cramp-inducing hand-wringing ) her rise has warranted. She also proved that the success of her first single was no fluke, releasing the somber "Wrecking Ball" in August, then watched as it shot to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 within a month. The accompanying music video — directed by Terry Richardson — certainly pushed buttons, ...

Britney Spears enlisted lots of sexy dancers and turned the fierce dial all the way up for her , which she released on Tuesday night. The clip follows Spears as she dances around glamorous locales, whipping her followers into shape.

The video is full of unique moments that may take a few watches to really appreciate. MTV News rounds up some of those key scenes — We won't even make you work to find out what they are!

Hit Rewind!
The video is chock full of weird moments. Who could forget her standing on a pyramid with dancers on leashes?

Director Ben Mor told MTV News that Spears would be in a way" with this video, And, in a lot of ways, that's true.

For instance, she's also blowing up some mannequins, which just might represent her blowing up her competition. She's also not afraid of all the sharks circling her, trying to take her down. All these years later, everyone still wants a piece of Spears, and she still isn't scared to give it to them.

Lamborghini Mercy
Everywhere Spears goes, that sleek, white Lamborghini follows her. Whether she's singing to it in front of a white wall or dancing in the desert while it does donuts around her, that sports car is almost everywhere Spears is. They must have taken a BFF pact on set.

The Femme Fatale
Mor had said this video would feature a more . Adult may be code for dominatrix.

She whips her dancers into submission in various locations, including a room fit ...

There's twerking... and then there's the twerking Rihanna and her crew of female dancers pull off in her , which premiered on Wednesday (October 2) after several days of eye-catching teasers.

Rihanna serves as a stripping ringleader in the dreamy and dark visual which takes place in a surreal strip club, where the ladies twerk and pole dance over a pool of water. Rihanna not only takes to the pole herself — sporting a long, curly wig and white fringed one-piece — but also oversees her underworld, makes it rain and twerks from an ornate throne.

And if you needed one more buzzworthy moment, she gives it to you. The video closes out with a close-up on the singer twerking in water while smoking a cigarette.

Of course, before the video even premiered, Rihanna was boasting all about the video's eyebrow-raising chorography that pays homage to strip clubs. "I bet you never seen bitches twerk on water. My bitches twerk on water," she said in a behind-the-scenes featurette for the video, which Rihanna directed. The video also features appearances from dancers Nicole "The Pole" Williams, Candace Cane and Secret Moneii. As for the video's treatment, Rih added that it's a "No-basic zone. No basics."

Shortly after Rihanna debuted the clip, her Navy quickly offered up their reviews of it on Twitter. Their takeaway? It's "perfect" and Rihanna is "everything."

Of course, Rihanna was thankful for all the love for the video, her latest clip off her 2012 album release, Unapologetic.

With ratings still hovering in the modest zone, the U.S. version of Simon Cowell's 
 had to come up with a way to goose the audience. And, short of firing flaming arrows at rejected contestants, Cowell is pretty confident he's come up with a death match twist that's equally "Hunger Games"-esque.

"The premise [is] instead of doing a boot camp or Hollywood week, which we've seen before, we actually narrowed the contestants down from 200 down to 40," Cowell told MTV News of the so-called "four-chair challenge" round that will make it's American debut on Wednesday night (October 2). "I suppose it's a mixture of 'The Hunger Games'-meets-musical-chairs-meets-I've never seen anything like it before. Very controversial."

Instead of taking hundreds of contestants to Las Vegas as in season's past, the new challenge round whittles them down to 10 in each category and then has them go against each other to earn a spot in the judge's house round. However, and here's where the "Hunger Games" aspect comes in: even if you are put through to the next round, the judges reserve the right to dump you in favor of another contestant.

In other words, singers who think they're safe with a spot in one of the four chairs, could be booted just moments later if someone better comes along, until all the performances are over and all the chairs filled. In the end, only four of the 10 team members (Simon is mentoring the groups, Demi Lovato the girls, Kelly Rowland the over 25s and Paulina Rubio the boys), will make it ...