MILEY’S BASS PERSUADES IS HERE: ALBUM REVIEW
words by TIANA DE HASETH
Formerly known as Miley Cyrus and now going by Miley, released her tenth studio album today, and there is something undeniably liberating about these 10 tracks. Bass Persuades feels like a call to surrender, fall in love, lose yourself on the dance floor, and find the courage to become whoever you want to be.
From her early Disney era pop to pop-punk, country, psych-rock and the unapologetic rebellion of her Bangerz era, she has never been afraid to explore genres and reinvent herself. She even experimented with hip-hop, proving no genres are truly off-limit to her. It’s needless to say that Miley has never been an artist who stays in one place for too long. If anything, reinvention has become one of the defining threads of her career and ‘Bass Persuades” feels like that new era of reinvention.
Across the ten tracks, Bass Persuades moves through several genres such as pop, electro-pop, dance and darker electronic sounds, which makes the songs feel both nostalgic and completely new, or perhaps a combination of two.
Miley’s familiar elements from her previous albums together with the newfound essence of her maturity is what makes the album feel so enjoyable and freeing. From the opening track, Bass Persuades, where she sings about how “the kids don’t wanna dance no more,” to the second track, Different Religion, with its provocative declaration, “we don’t need forgiveness, I want to be saved by a different religion,” Miley immediately establishes the album’s sense of freedom, self-discovery and rebellion — something Miley has never been afraid to express.
As the album proceeds, it moves through several different sounds, like indie rock in Let’s Get Married then into Aftermath, REDLIGHTS and that have a softer tone. Innocent Ways gives that nostalgic Meet Miley Cyrus album feeling, and throughout the album, you just want to dance. Through her expression of grief, rebellion, desire and love, Miley creates something that feels personal and freeing.
The album ultimately ends with an electronic remix of Bass Persuades making it the perfect final moment to dance before the album ends. It brings the song back to where it started, but with a different energy, almost as if Miley is giving us one final chance to let go and simply enjoy the music.
