Miley – ‘Bass Persuades’ review: the chameleonic star is no longer explaining herself
After Miley Cyrus plunged into the experimental and psychedelic with last year’s ‘Something Beautiful’, her 10th album ‘Bass Persuades’ is more plain-spoken in sound and ambition. Containing just nine songs and a remix, all kept under 40 minutes, it’s leaner, more direct and more obviously built for the dancefloor, but keeps the eccentric streak that made its predecessor so compelling.
It arrives at a moment of reinvention for Cyrus: it’s her first album under new label Atlantic and first project billed simply as Miley. A slight tweak but a decisive statement from an artist who’s been a country-pop star, ‘Bangerz’-era provocateur, hip-hop dabbler and rocker – but now no longer seems interested in explaining herself. It’s the sound of a star well on her way to true diva status, in the lineage of Debbie Harry, Madonna and Cyrus’ beloved late godmother Dolly Parton.
There’s an ease to this record, a breeziness to its energy and Cyrus’ delivery. ‘Bass Persuades’ doesn’t insist on anything: it just lets Cyrus be herself, her signature gravelly voice soaring over big choruses with matter-of-fact confidence. The album has a commendable range, from the sun-baked, ABBA-style ‘Redlights’ to the grubby, industrial throb of ‘Different Religion’ and sleaze of ‘Neon Signs’ (with Miike Snow’s Andrew Wyatt), whose backing vocals slip into a hushed, near-explicit back and forth.
The title track falls a little flat. A stomping, synth number that wants you to put down your phone and dance, but it’s neither sharp commentary in the ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’ mould nor the unifying dancefloor call of a Gloria Estefan or Paula Abdul hit. ‘Let’s Get Married’, a dreamy tribute to Cyrus’ fiancé and album collaborator Maxx Morando, is safe and dream-pop adjacent fare that TikTok will hoover up, as it did The Marías’ ‘No One Noticed’.
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The more interesting moments lie in the album’s deeper cuts. ‘Innocent Ways’ is a thumping, buzzing standout and one of Cyrus’ most personal songs: a portrait of her younger sister and a meditation on fame and a fractured family (“Eight nights in a row she’s been in a crisis / She looks just like me when she cries”), along with a line about claiming her mother’s maiden name that’s too specific to ignore (“Fall out from the fame / Claim my mother’s maiden name”). ‘Aftermath’ also smuggles intimate sentiments inside a hyperactive electronic beat, recollecting a failed relationship (“I miss the future like a face I forgot… I’m sick of poets and being profound”).
Not every track persuades, but nearly two decades into her recording career, Cyrus has nothing to prove and knows it. ‘Bass Persuades’ comes off confident and self-assured, reflective of an ever-evolving artist making music purely on her own terms.
Details
- Record label: Atlantic Records
- Release date: September 19, 2026
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