Miley Cyrus releases today her new album, ‘Bass Persuades’, announced by surprise two weeks ago. It wasn’t such a big surprise, since her interview with Wondaland and subsequently her signing with Atlantic pointed toward the announcement of a new project. Interestingly, the label switch doesn’t translate into a radical shift in sound: ‘Bass Persuades’ is closer to ‘Plastic Hearts’, although it also carries echoes of ‘Something Beautiful’, which didn’t thrill on JNSP but did appeal to the site’s readers, who voted it among the best albums of the year.
Will ‘Bass Persuades’ manage to do the same? For now, its lead single is already number 1 on the Top 40 of JENESAISPOP, although the matter is different in the official charts. The track, with echoes of Lady Gaga’s ‘The Fame Monster’, is a stylish electropop exercise that tackles issues such as the sedentary nature of online life or fentanyl addiction. That “kids don’t wanna dance”, ironically, persuades you to dance.
However, the album isn’t as social or political as ‘Bass Persuades’ might suggest. It’s more centered on Miley’s life as a couple, which she dedicates to her future husband, Maxx Morando, with the upbeat new wave of ‘Let’s Get Married’. The liveliest moments are scarce: standout tracks include ‘Innocent Ways’, harsher and darker, and ‘Aftermath’, with a house-influenced and almost trance-like sound.
The rest moves through calmer and more experimental terrains, with ‘Different Religion’ as one of the more industrial cuts and ‘REDLIGHTS’ as a hybrid of pop, electronic, Arabic strings and country. ‘Orbit’, the piano ballad, perhaps arrives a bit too soon. Where are the ambitions to sustain the energy of past pop albums?
In the forums, reactions to ‘Bass Persuades’ are uneven, though caution generally prevails. Manitas says he needs to listen to it more thoroughly, but although he was particularly surprised by the “happycore vibe of ‘Aftermath’” and the Panda Bear-like sound of ‘REDLIGHTS’, the user mainly highlights the lyrics. For her part, Me_Adri also points out ‘Redlights’ as notable, but notes that the album “for now doesn’t blow my mind.”
More bluntly negative is ALEXontheROOF: “I didn’t love it, sorry. Of her last four albums this is the worst for me.” Jota97 needs to listen to it in full but, so far, he has only heard slow songs and found it “a bore.” Perhaps those of you who comment on the site have a different opinion, or even radically opposing. Tell us what you thought of ‘Bass Persuades’ and vote in the poll!
