Miley Cyrus’ antics have been discussed ad nauseam, making it easy to forget she’s actually a pretty talented singer as you can see in this fun rendition of “We Can’t Stop” from the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Show.

Few celebrities have garnered more attention, of both the negative and positive variety, than Miley Cyrus over the past few months. Miley has become a lightning rod lately, attracting accusations of drug abuse, hypersexuality and erratic behavior.

Guilty of the aforementioned crimes or not, I think Miley Cyrus is a genius marketer.

Think about it. Everybody is talking about Miley these days as she constantly ups the ante on her increasingly outrageous stunts. It started with her cutting her hair short; escalated with her propensity for twerking in all manner of public places; began to crescendo with the “We Can’t Stop” video; peaked with her much-talked-about performance at the MTV Video Music Awards; and reached a fever pitch with her swinging around naked in the “Wrecking Ball” music video.

So we’ve already established the fact that we can’t stop (See what I did there?) talking about Miley. However, there’s more to her marketing genius than that.

This brash, new persona arose out of necessity more than anything. Sure, Miley is a 20-year-old former child star who might be going through a phase not uncommon to 20-year-olds, let alone those plugged into the LA celebrity and party scene. But we also need to consider her career in this equation as well.

Miley’s fame grew to enormous heights thanks to her stint as a Disney Channel star. She likely made beaucoup bucks from the show and its progeny of movies and Hannah Montana albums. The problem is that people who make lollipop Disney songs tend to have careers similar in length to NFL running backs and porn stars (read: short). In order to secure a long-term future in show business she had to adapt, and that meant shedding the wholesome, teeny-bopper, Hannah Montana image. Was the change delicate or subtle? No, but it needed to happen for Miley to enjoy a post-Disney career.

For that reason, I think Miley has been a genius at shedding her Hannah Montana image in favor of a more-adult persona, and I will (and do) defend her career choices on that front.

The tongue thing, though? Now that is indefensible.