When music fans think of Miley Cyrus they think of the 15 year old who played a teenage girl, Hannah Montana. That show premiered on March 26, 2006 to the largest audience Disney Channel has ever had. The show was ranked among the highest-ranked series on basic cable. Because of the shows phenomenal success, Cyrus’s wealth and fame escalated . Cyrus did not have the chance to grow up as a normal teenager.Cyrus is a role model to many, and of course because of her status in the industry, she is in the public eye and her every move is being watched by critics and fans. She has been watched from the time she was 12 when the show premiered, to this very day at 20. Cyrus is growing up and is trying to change her image from the teenage pop star on Disney Channel, to a more mature version of herself. Like almost every teenager, Cyrus is just trying to find herself and this is hurting her image.

Last summer, Cyrus went for a new look and decided to chop off her curly brown hair. Following Cyrus’s haircut, the artist released a new single in June called “We Can’t Stop.” Shortly after the hit single was released, the music video was released on YouTube which became a video with one of the fastest views of 100 million. There were mixed opinions about the video. Critics say it increased her image as highly provocative and crazy, while others say that she is only trying to prove that she is no longer that teenage girl from Disney Channel.

“I have the freedom to do whatever I want because I’m starting as a new artist right now,” says the former “Hannah Montana” star. This year the Video Music Awards took place at the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn, New York. Cyrus got on stage to perform “We Can’t Stop” and shocked viewers all around the world. Some parents wouldn’t let their kids watch the performance. The only thing that was on every social network was Cyrus’s highly provocative and slutty performance. “She’s gone nuts,” says W.H.S. junior Alex Parlato. The media tore Cyrus apart the next day about her performance with Robin Thicke. “You’re always going to make people talk, so you might as well make them talk for like two weeks rather than two seconds,” Cyrus says of her performance with Robin Thicke. Well she was right, and people have not stopped ripping her apart for this performance.

Just when we thought it couldn’t get any worse, on September 9, the music video to the song “Wrecking Ball” which will appear on Miley’s upcoming album on October 4 was released on Vevo. The video begins with Cyrus standing in front of a white backdrop and crying while singing the song. The video also shows Cyrus sitting naked on top of a wrecking ball and licking a sledgehammer. Within its first 24 hours of availability it was viewed 19.3 million times. Of course after hearing about the video many fans ask, “why is she doing this, what happened to her?” Cyrus’s response was, “For me, anything I do become becomes such a big deal. I’m just having fun. Whatever people label it as it doesn’t really matter. … I don’t ever want to be too much like anyone else.”

Is the pop star trying to prove a point, or is she simply just evolving into a new unique artist in whom she feels comfortable in her own skin? Cyrus is starting from scratch and recreating herself.