Everyone at CHS is talking about Miley.  Students are blowing up their social media sites about her new suggestive look, risqué “Wrecking Ball” music video, raunchy VMA performance and magazine cover, claiming Miley has fallen apart.  But at least people are talking, and Miley has recently received more attention and media than any other current celebrity.

CHS, it’s time to stop criticizing Miley.  She has been trying to alter her persona for years now, so it is time to accept her as a new woman.  Her transformation began when she performed her hit single “Party in the USA” while dancing on a stripper pole at the Teen Choice Awards in 2009.  It continued when she was caught smoking a bong filled with the psychedelic drug salvia in 2010 on her 18th birthday.  She then chopped off her beautiful brown locks for a platinum pixie cut in 2012, and ever since has been unrecognizable.

Fans, including CHS students, should not expect Miley to be the same girl she was seven years ago.  She has matured since her days of playing Hannah Montana on the Disney Channel, which she began at age 13.  Like any other adult star, Miley should not be tied down to the person she was as a child. Students need to recognize all that she has accomplished since Hannah Montana and should not dwell on the past.

Miley’s performance of “Blurred Lines” with singer Robin Thicke at the 2013 VMAs sparked excessive criticism from students, focusing on her scandalous outfit, obscene gestures with a foam finger and twerking.  While it may have been inappropriate for younger children, the performance was a smart move for Miley’s career, producing 306,000 tweets per minute. Can anyone really criticize Miley for a performance that created more tweets than the Superbowl blackout of 2013?  As they say, any publicity is good publicity.

Miley, a 20-year-old woman, is also taking advantage of her awesome body and expressing her sexuality.  Other stars like Jennifer Lopez and Lady Gaga have also performed while scantily clad and did not receive anywhere near the amount of criticism Miley has.  In fact, that same night, Gaga performed her new single “Applause” wearing a barely-there white bikini and received little attention.

Miley has also received negative attention for her “Wrecking Ball” music video, which has received nearly 200 million views on YouTube.  The video features Miley swinging on a large pendulum completely naked except for a pair of Doc Martens.  People are too busy criticizing the inappropriate video, however, to appreciate the meaning behind Miley’s lyrics.  Listeners can hear the pain and sadness in her voice and sympathize with the feeling of losing a love, if they would just give it a chance and not simply dismiss the song because of its sexual imagery.

Although critics may claim that it is Miley’s fault for distracting viewers with her nudity and preventing them from hearing the deep lyrics, she is just exposing her vulnerability and being open with both her feelings and her body.

Miley has also recently been criticized by students for her appearance.  However, with her signature photo-op face and scandalous outfits, she is clearly trying to portray a new, carefree look.

According to her interview with Rolling Stone, Miley sticks out her tongue in photographs because smiling is too cheesy and she feels empowered when she does not follow the crowd by smiling in pictures.  Like any other celebrity, Miley is trying to create her signature style.

The singer, who considers herself a “semi-nudist,” has also been getting negative feedback from her Rolling Stone cover, on which she is completely nude and sports only gold jewelry and heavy eye makeup.  Miley is simply exposing her new look and attitude to the world.   Making the cover of Rolling Stone is a big accomplishment, and people should give her a break.

Miley Cyrus is a smart businesswoman and she is clearly acting in this new way to get attention from the media.  She is no longer the blonde sweetheart she played on the Disney Channel seven years ago.  Everyone needs to accept that Miley is a new-and-improved woman. She can’t stop and she won’t stop.