In addition to licking just about everything
 in sight, Miley Cyrus is sure to have tongues wagging before she takes the stage tonight at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards.

Just hours after finally revealing the full neon-splashed cover
 of her upcoming Bangerz
 album, Cyrus dropped the new song "Wrecking Ball," an intense ballad whose lyrics will definitely raise eyebrows.

Unlike the Mike Will Made It beat-driven "We Can't Stop," the new song is a majestic, slow-burn ballad about a true love blown to bits by its own intensity. "I came in like a wrecking ball/I never hit so hard in love/All I wanted was to break your wall," Cyrus sings in an urgent voice on the tune, whose production credits were unknown at press time. "All you ever did was break me/Yeah, you wreck me."

And while the lyrics are about fighting as hard as possible to keep that love alive, things clearly don't work out. Miley's voice is sing-songy and vulnerable in the verses, which are backed by spare keyboards, exploding into her power range in the choruses, which are accompanied by thundering drums and more ominous piano figures.

"I never meant to start a war/I just wanted you to let me in," sings a vulnerable-sounding Cyrus. "And instead of using force/I guess I should have let you in ... Don't you ever say I just walked away/ I will always want you."

Along with "We Can't Stop," the iTunes store is now also offering "Ball" for sale, though the titles of the other 14 tracks ...

BROOKLYN, New York — So how much is a KAWS Moonman worth? We here at MTV happen to think a Video Music Award is priceless, but if Drake was serious about buying one of the special edition statues off of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, he's going to have to fork over some serious cake.

Now, of course there's a chance that Drizzy will walk away with an award of his own at the 2013 VMAs — after all October's Very Own walked away with the award for Best Hip-Hop Video last year. But just in case he loses the prize to Macklemore, Drake is formulating a contingency plan.

"I need the trophy for my house, period — even if somebody else gets one I might buy it off them," Drake told us on Friday of the KAWS design. "I might have to tell Macklemore like, 'Yo, I'll buy that trophy off of you,' if he beats me."

Unfortunately for Drake, Macklemore knows his worth. "$200 million dollars, $200 million Canadian dollars," the "Thrift Shop" rapper said, throwing out his price point with a hint of Dr. Evil in his voice.

Ryan drove an even harder bargain, saying he would want the loot in gold-colored Canadian coins. "200 million loonies," the producer chimed in.

On Sunday night (August 25), Macklemore & Ryan Lewis as well as Drake will take the stage to perform live from Brooklyn's Barclay's Center. Both acts could possibly walk away with some hardware, as Mack and Ryan are nominated in six categories while Drizzy's "Started From the ...

It's the kind of dilemma most artists would kill to have.

Actually, it's one that no other artist has ever had before: what song to play when you're performing on your third MTV awards show of the year.

After rocking the MTV Movie Awards and mtvU Woodie Awards, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis had to come up with a new song to play for Sunday night's 2013 MTV Video Music Awards at Brooklyn's Barclays Center.

So, they picked their marriage equality anthem ? because they didn't want to repeat themselves, but more importantly because they think it's a song that's perfect for these times.

"'Same Love' has turned into a song that has been embraced by the mainstream and that was played by the radio," Macklemore told MTV News on Saturday (August 24) after the duo's rehearsal for the big show. "There is a lot more people that are familiar with it now than six months ago and the timing is perfect. It's a powerful record and it needs to be heard in America right now. And equality is at the forefront of what's going on in politics right now."

That strong message will beam out on a night when Mack & Lewis are up for six awards, the highest total of the night, tying them with another of the evening's performers, Justin Timberlake. On the night they make their VMA debut, they'll join a superstar roster that also includes Lady Gaga, Kanye West, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, Drake, Robin Thicke and Bruno Mars.

The emotional "Same Love" video, which is up for

The rehearsals for Sunday night's 2013 MTV Video Music Awards at Brooklyn's Barclays Center are on totallock down. (Hell, we work here and we can't even get into them!)

While we count down the hours until Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Justin Timberlake, Kanye West, Robin Thicke, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Miley Cyrus, Drake and Bruno Mars take the stage, we've been scouring their social media feeds and stalking them outside of rehearsals to get a glimpse of what they may have in-store for us come Sunday night.

Lady Gaga

We know three things for sure about Lady Gaga's performance:

1. She's performing first. 2. She'll be doing "Applause." 3. It will be her first performance in a really, really long time.

Other than that, we don't know much. But Mother Monster finally gave us a glimpse with a couple of pictures from rehearsals.

Miley Cyrus

One of the most active VMA updaters is Miley Cyrus. The twerk-crazy singer just can't stop giving her fans glimpses at her performance prep. She's spent her time in New York wisely, revealing bits of her Bangerz album cover , then, finally, the whole thing.

She also lobbied hard for the Best Song of the Summer VMA and licked just about everything in reach ... including one of our MTV News reporters.

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

On Saturday (August 24) Macklemore snuck out a picture from backstage of Lady Gaga and Kanye's West's wireless packs, which is about as much as anyone outside the Barclays Center has seen of them ...

For all of the "Vampire Academy" fans who have watched and rewatched the trailer for the YA adaptation, you know there's lots of fighting, lots of partying and a sultry bit of sex. With all the lust and the charm going on in our first glimpse of the movie, MTV News thought we'd ask star Zoey Deutch herself about what it was like to film the sexy scenes.

"Mom, they're making me feel weird," Deutch, who plays dhampir Rose Hathaway, cried out during our VMA All Access live stream. We had to ask, given that she and Danila Kozlovsky pulled in the most questions online.

Why are "Academy" fans so amped up about the scene? Zooey has an idea.

"That's because he's so hot and steamy," she said. "What do I say? I'm naked!"

Deutch said the romance aspect is "vital" to the film, and despite her onscreen vulnerability, the scene wasn't that awkward.

"No, not at all because I can't express to you — Danila, who plays Demetri, the naked one there on his back, everyone should be like him. He is one of the greatest people I've ever met, so he has worked on a lot of films where he's had to do much more, um, intimate things than that. And he's very giving — that sounds wrong &#8212, he was very respectful of me in the process, and it's fine 'cause we're such close friends."

The pair became close over the course of the shoot, but interestingly enough they never screen-tested together during the film's casting. Zooey just supposes ...

"

Like any young-adult adaptation, it's the kiss between the heroine and her love interest — in this case, Shailene Woodley as Tris, and Theo James as the mighty Four.

Long before Morgan Spurlock got behind the lens to direct two other pop stars reached out to the "Super Size Me" director to put his expert spin on their lives.

When Spurlock sat down on the VMA All Access Live Stream, he explained the journey it took to get to work with One Direction, who are slated to appear at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday.

While he said he's "always" wanted to direct a film about a musical artist — he listed the Rolling Stones' "Let' Spend the Night Together" and Pink Floyd's "The Wall" as inspirations — it took a while to find the perfect opportunity.

Will One Direction's Girlfriends Be In 'This Is Us'?

And it took a while for it to all work out. Three years ago, Spurlock told us, Paramount called him about possibly directing Justin Bieber's "Never Say Never." Unfortunately, there was "no way" he could do it, since he was busy working on "The Greatest Movie Ever Sold."

"Then last January I got called again. They said, 'Hey would you want to come meet with the studio about the Katy Perry film [2012's 'Part of Me'].' And at that point I was finishing two movies, both 'Mansome' and 'Comic-Con: Episode IV,' so there was no way I can add a third," he said. "So then comes June last year. I had finished both movies. I had nothing. Sony called and said 'Hey, ever hear of One Direction?' [I said,] 'Yes, I have and I'm there. Yes! I am not letting ...