Miley Cyrus’ much discussed VMA performance will soon be remembered as an event on par with other infamous pop music moments. It was rude, crude and not exactly deep. But one thing is for sure — it has cemented an iconic image of Cyrus in our minds, for better or for worse.

The previously generic long brown hair and forgettable outfits of last year’s Cyrus have been replaced by the gyrating, latex bikini-clad platinum blonde pixie cut in platform sneakers. This signature outfit will be mocked for years, worn as a Halloween costume and inexorably linked with Cyrus — and that’s exactly how Cyrus has cracked the code of the pop music game.

Although some would mourn the current state of the music business, it is an inarguable fact that in the pop genre today, selling music equates to selling shock value. It doesn’t matter that Cyrus was off-key and danced poorly. What matters is that Cyrus generated a conversation that lasted weeks. Now, Cyrus has a “look” that can only be imitated, never shared. Any teenage girl can have long brown hair, but now only Miley Cyrus walks on stage with a perpetually stuck-out tongue and a teddy-printed one-piece.

Since the rise of the music video, mainstream music has become as much about what the audience sees as what the audience hears. Madonna was the first chameleon-like performer to master the visual shock-value strategy that has kept her relevant despite her albums’ few hits.

Rihanna has imitated this strategy — first separating herself from her R&B peers with a sleek bob haircut in the “Umbrella” era, and continually changing her hair and look in the years since.

This pop diva caricature is not as simple as a string of evolving haircuts, however — Lady Gaga’s name conjures up images of surreal meat outfits and performance art ensembles. Katy Perry brings to mind candy-colored cupcake bikinis. Ke$ha is perpetually clad in torn-apart shorts and golden glitter.

These artists each have their own devoted fan bases and carefully cultivated unique images to go along with them. In a pop music era in which the visual matters as much as the songs do, Cyrus is well on her way to carving out her own image for her loyal “Smilers” fan base, whether the rest of the music world likes it or not.

A version of this article appeared in the Thursday, Dec. 5 print edition. Charlotte Graham is a staff writer. Email her at [email protected].