The Miley Show was smart publicity

US - Miley Cyrus has gone officially from Disney star to white-trash princess.

The former Hannah Montana star proved this at Sunday's MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs), where she lewdly gyrated and gesticulated onstage in a flesh-coloured PVC outfit - parting with the wholesomeness she was once associated with.

That shocking, sexually charged performance spurred a massive wave of over 300,000 tweets per minute at one point on Sunday.

Even yesterday, the Internet was ablaze with chatter about Cyrus' "twerking", referring to a provocative dance in the 1990s.

That dance typically involved a woman "presenting" her bum to her male dance partner, which Cyrus did - again and again - to fellow performer Robin Thicke.

By now, some have billed Cyrus, 20, as offensive. Others say her frenetic performance was "awesome".

The Guardian's Maurice Mcleod noted that Cyrus was borrowing from black culture - "twerking" is closely associated with hip-hop. But he wrote that what he had a problem with was "the cartoon version of black culture that Cyrus seems to be adopting lacks depth and context".

In response to the show, the Parent Television Council sent out a press release with its director of public policy, Mr Dan Isett, saying that "the Miley Cyrus/Robin Thicke performance simply substituted talent with sex".

Online, Thicke, one of the year's biggest stars thanks to his hit, Blurred Lines, has been called a victim in the whole sorry affair. The 36-year-old's mother, Ms Gloria Loring, told Life & Style Magazine: "(The performance) was so over the top as to almost be a parody of itself."

But perhaps Cyrus is savvy.

Mr Isett had asked: "How is this image of former child star Miley Cyrus appropriate for 14-year-olds?"

This seems to be precisely what Cyrus was addressing.

Cyrus - a girl who must've learnt about how the public-relations machine works in her Disney days - could have been using the VMAs to make a statement.

The racy, demented Miley Cyrus, the one who includes street slang in her lyrics increasingly, is who she wants to present to the world.

"I am no longer appropriate for under-18s," she seemed to be screaming, as she effectively turned the VMAs into The Miley Show.

If that was her message, then it was heard.

She even got people talking.

And look - we're still talking.

jilla@sph.com.sg

Get My Paper for more stories.