She's faced quite a bit of backlash after her raunchy performance at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday night (August 25), but Miley Cyrus will always be Billy Ray's "little girl."

In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, the "Achy Breaky Heart" singer stood up for his daughter, saying, "Of course I'll always be here for Miley. Can't wait [to] see her when she gets home."

Though she's far from her "Hannah Montana" days, the 52-year-old musician declares, "She's still my little girl and I'm still her dad regardless how this circus we call show business plays out. I love her unconditionally and that will never change."

Meanwhile, the twerking 20-year-old is lapping up the attention, tweeting, "Smilers! My VMA performance had 306.000 tweets per minute. That's more than the blackout or Superbowl! #fact."