In August 2013, Miley Cyrus famously took the VMA stage with Robin Thicke for a truly unforgettable performance. Then a few months later, she "murdered" her Hannah Montana character while hosting Saturday Night Live. But in her new single "Younger Now," your girl is finally embracing her past, wrecking balls and all.

"Now I can be proud of all the Mileys that I've ever been instead of trying to run away from the 11-year-old one or feel like I'm not Hannah Montana. I am stoked that that was a part of my life," Cyrus told MTV News correspondent Gaby Wilson last week, ahead of her "Younger Now" performance Sunday (August 27) at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards. Several of her fabulous backup dancers were in their nineties, proving that age ain't nothin' but a number.

"I'm not afraid of who I used to be. No one stays the same," she added, quoting a particularly powerful "Younger Now" lyric.

When the "Younger Now" music video came out earlier this month, fans speculated about its references. The choreography looks awfully similar to Hannah Montana's "Hoedown Throwdown" and, as Miley says in the clip above, the opening scene has been compared to her 2007 hit "Start All Over."

These throwbacks weren't intentional, but to Miley, they reinforce what "Younger Now" means to her. "Even though I wasn't intentionally trying to reenact something I had already done, it just naturally happened," she explained, "because that's a part of me too."

The 2017 VMAs touched down at the Forum in Inglewood, California on Sunday, August 27. See the full list of winners and keep up with all of the night's biggest VMA moments!