Miley Cyrus has discussed working with pop icon Britney Spears, labelling her "a living legend" and insisting she doesn't realise how "dope" she is.

The 20-year-old star recently teamed up with Britney on their new track SMS (Bangerz), which leaked ahead of its official release last week.

Cyrus told Hunger TV of working with Spears: "She’s like an icon in that way and so I wanted to bring her back to that, I just kept telling her, 'Britney you don’t really realise actually how dope [you are]. People tell me I represent their childhood, for me you represent my entire childhood, like you were the soundtrack to my life.'"

Image:MTV

The Wrecking Ball singer continued: "I want her to realise how really dope she is and how she’s a living legend. You know when you’re 30 you don’t realise what you are, I want her to take herself out of it and realise 'I’m Britney Spears.'"

She added: "So I wanted to celebrate that in the song, I wanted it to be like this is Britney, it’s not even about her singing as much as it is her voice. She’s got one of those speaking voices that as soon as she opens her mouth you know it’s Britney Spears and I wanted it to be about that."

31-year-old Spears recently appeared in the MTV documentary special Miley: The Movement where the pair chatted about Miley's upcoming MTV VMA performance.

Britney has just [uuid=fa1d68ff-41fd-4348-b996-534dca08bd7e]released her latest single Work B****[/uuid] and revealed plans for a two-year performance residency at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas.

Read Miley Cyrus' interview with Hunger TV in full here.

[uuid=bebb131b-f616-4ed5-aa67-50bf7906db29]SEE 101 OF MILEY’S HOTTEST LOOKS HERE![/uuid]

[uuid=f0c0346d-839c-45b0-91cb-ccd34763f82b]CHECK OUT MTV'S MILEY CYRUS - CAN'T BE TAMED GALLERY HERE[/uuid]