Miley’s Bass Persuades Doesn’t Persuade the Discerning Listener That It Tops Something Beautiful

In the late spring of 2025, Miley Cyrus released what was among her best, most cohesive records, Something Beautiful. Alas, for whatever reason, it seemed that “the mainstream” didn’t find the album to be “something beautiful” at all, largely ignoring it and the singles that it yielded, “End of the World,” “Easy Lover” and “Secrets” (from Something Beautiful Deluxe, which still failed to reinvigorate interest in the album with its two additional songs). When she also announced an accompanying visual album, directed by Cyrus, Jacob Bixenman and Brendan Walter, that would be released in theaters (albeit for “one night only”), that, too, failed to attract the kind of attention she had hoped for. Especially considering all the effort and money put into it. Not to mention needing to be taken to the ICU for a knee infection after rolling around on a dirty-ass Hollywood Walk of Fame in the middle of the night for “Walk of Fame” featuring Brittany Howard (a song that would get its due in 2026 by being featured during the first scene when Miranda Priestly [Meryl Streep] makes her grand entrance in The Devil Wears Prada 2).

This seemed to be just one of the many examples of all the love and care Cyrus put into making Something Beautiful, which can, surprisingly, often be the kind of work that “the public” least responds to. Particularly these days, when everyone is so much more accustomed to what amounts to “manufactured” slop. As a matter of fact, Cyrus called out how much she doesn’t identify with the “manufacturedness” of most pop now (yes, that might surprise some people coming from “Hannah Montana”) during her Something Beautiful interview with Zane Lowe. It was within the same conversation that she brought up how she no longer even really knows what a “hit” is (which would feel like a prophetic remark after the “failure” of her record), but that such a revelation isn’t necessarily a bad thing. As she told Lowe, “I don’t even know what hits mean anymore because, you know, I…I don’t really… I think we’re redefining what a hit means. And there’s a part of me that really appreciates kind of like social media and TikTok and all these forums…”

At the same time, with regard to Something Beautiful, Cyrus noted, “I want them to feel the devotion, the dedication and the hands-on, and how every single sound, every sequin, every strand of hair, it was love, it was built, it was love. It wasn’t manufactured, it wasn’t overprocessed. It was, like, truly love. And so, I wanted to connect correctly and as soon as I opened the app[s] I felt my entire soul shut down and everything inside me told me, ‘I don’t belong here.’” Yet, obviously, some part of Cyrus is trying to belong “here” with her tenth album, Bass Persuades, which she had already arranged a tracklist for at the time of doing her Something Beautiful interview with Lowe. However, also at the time, she couldn’t have known just how much Something Beautiful would “miss the mark” on the sales and chart position front, remaining in the top ten on the Billboard 200 for one week before dropping all the way to the one hundred and second position by the third week. This is part of what sparked rumors that she left Columbia Records on terms that were not entirely her own. But Cyrus herself would insist that it’s all part of a rebrand (along with dropping the Cyrus in favor of just “Miley”) to sign with Atlantic and gather a new team of people to support her creative vision.

One that now includes one of her most “all over the map” albums. And one that may have misled some listeners that 1) there would actually be a lot of bass on it and 2) that the lead single, “Bass Persuades” (heavily inspired by the sound of Britney Spears’ “Gimme More”), would be what a lot of the rest of the record sounded like. Granted, when one says “the rest,” that only includes eight other songs (because no, “Bass Persuades Remixx” doesn’t really count [on a side note: the double “x” is a definite nod to Maxx Morando). Which is perhaps why a general “lack” in the album becomes so much more palpable: there are only so many songs to choose from in terms of trying to find something the “resonates,” in general and on a “hit” scale.

Which harkens back to a now viral clip from Cyrus’ 2025 Lowe interview, when she mentions that the first time she played “Something Beautiful” for Dolly Parton, the latter politely asked, “All right. I see what you’re doin’. You got any hits?” Cyrus then added, “She didn’t love my [Endless Summer] Vacation era either. She’s like, ‘Everyone’s askin’ me where you are and I’m wonderin’ the same thing.’ She’s like, ‘Every day it’s just a new picture of you in a bikini but what are you gonna do?’” In a certain sense, that “issue” Parton pointed out for what she deemed to be Endless Summer Vacation’s “lack of theme” or “overarching concept” is also what afflicts Bass Persuades. Because, apart from some hooey initial theme of “red” (which, of course, is the cheesy cliché color meant to represent love and being in love), the album doesn’t have any sonic, visual or lyrical thread that consistently ties it together.

Though, initially, “Different Religion” featuring Model/Actriz (who will also be opening for Cyrus during her two Hollywood Bowl dates in October) does mesh well with “Bass Persuades,” following it up as the second track. And if her counsel on the production of “Bass Persuades” was, “I just need it to sound like Pink Floyd, but gay,” then perhaps her counsel for “Different Religion was “I just need it to sound like PJ Harvey, but more post-punk.” Which is the sound that Model/Actriz is aligned with. Besides that, lead vocalist Cole Haden already worked with Cyrus on Something Beautiful, co-writing the album’s opener, “Prelude.”  

On the grimy, almost “in heat”-sounding (perhaps she got to pre-listen to Tove Lo’s Estrus) “Different Religion,” visceral guitar notes lead into Cyrus asserting, “I’ve got my own god/He drives a fast car/I’ve got my own god/He makes some loud noise/I’ve got my own god/My god’s a hot boy.” Apart from (once again) echoing the vibe of Lana Del Rey (as Cyrus also noticeably did for the Endless Summer Vacation trailer, not to mention on the Bass Persuades cover itself, which mimics a now iconic fan-made image of LDR that takes a Mariano Vivanco photo and adds a red rose covering her mouth), Cyrus establishes the theme she wants Bass Persuades to embody: an all-consuming love. Specifically, her all-consuming love for Morando. And while some might want to believe that Cyrus’ “different religion” is pop music itself, it’s very clear that she’s on her “My old man is a bad man/But I can’t deny the way he holds my hand” tip.

To be sure, apart from Nessa Barrett’s recent singles, “Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die” and “Bad Girls Never Die,” Cyrus has offered some of the most Del Rey emulative lyrics this year as she continues, “Headlights on, crawl the pavement/Top down, I don’t care if heaven is behind us/In the rearview, every passing exit/My faith is his hard body, cracked leather,” along with, “And he’s giving me Jesus/Such an immaculate figure.” All of this praise upon Morando is probably a lot to live up to for the man six years Cyrus’ junior, but, perhaps, in the end, all she’s really trying to say is that love can be its own religion, because, so often, it feels rapturous and almost cultish (albeit usually a cult for two). And like the only thing that can serve as one’s salvation.

After the upbeat, moody-ish “Different Religion,” the tack quickly changes to “Let’s Get Married” (not to be confused with the Bleachers song of the same name). with its contrast almost giving the listener sonic whiplash. Nonetheless, this is the single, as Cyrus told Lowe, that she most feels could be “everyone’s song.” Or rather, the song they lay claim to when they’re in a certain kind of mood. As was the case with 2013’s “Wrecking Ball” and 2023’s “Flowers.” Alas, Cyrus seems to be under the naïve/rich person’s supposition that the proverbial masses are still even interested in getting married, with the rate of doing so having fallen at least fifty percent since the mid-twentieth century. Regardless, Cyrus is determined to paint a romantic picture of “the act” that has become increasingly antiquated as she sings, “What did I do to deserve you?/Let’s get married tonight/Let’s get married/I’m having visions of white.” In other words, she’s doing her own riff on Billy Idol saying, “It’s a nice day for a white wedding” or Madonna semi-screeching, “Yeah, you made me feel/Shiny and new/Like a virgin/Touched for the very first time.”

In another lyrical instance, Cyrus draws a comparison that would likely make many a longtime married couple laugh: “Let’s turn the rest of our lives into a holiday/Any time, any place, we can run away.” Again, Cyrus is singing these lines under the seeming assumption that every couple has the kind of cash that she and Morando (though more her) do to make marriage into a “holiday.” With “holidaying,” incidentally, not even being something she likes to do (which is also very Madonna-esque). For, when Lowe alluded to the “Snow” lyrics, “Can’t believe that we’re bored/We shouldn’t be in Kyoto,” Cyrus confirmed it was inspired by an actual vacation she and Morando took to Kyoto (where he ended up proposing) and that, “I won’t probably do a ten-day vacation again” because six days is her cap. Thus, it doesn’t sound like the honeymoon will be very long, perhaps both literally and figuratively.

Even so, Cyrus is hopeful about what marriage can be (despite her first one to Liam Hemsworth), telling Lowe, “Maybe generations prior didn’t teach us that marriage doesn’t need to be a prison, it can actually be a playground.” Once more, proving that she has no idea that there’s nothing playground-y about a relationship when money is an object.

“Orbit,” the subsequent track, keeps Cyrus’ romance less legally binding, and perhaps that’s why it comes across as a more genuinely romantic song, awash in piano balladry and dreamy language that includes, “Pull me up onto your shore/Like oceans and the moon lose control to you/When you look at me, it’s primal/When you wave to me, it’s tidal.” Her swooning for Morando escalates as Cyrus builds toward the chorus, “Oh, my feet are off the ground/Whenever you’re around/I wanna orbit you/Orbit you/And we don’t have to touch/‘Cause close is close enough/I wanna orbit you/Yeah, orbit you/Forever/Forever.” And yes, when Cyrus says “I wanna orbit you,” it does somehow sound like a sexual euphemism. Much more than her declaration, “I’m drawn to you/I belong to you” (pre-Paul Varjak Holly Golightly would tend to disagree). In any event, this feels like the perfect song to soundtrack an intergalactic romance.

And frankly, so does “Aftermath,” which commences with a similar slow pace to “Orbit” and manages to also bring a space-y phrase into things via the line, “The comet fired/Does it all come closer or just the sound?” This right around the thirty-eight-second mark, when the beat drops and shifts the song to a far more up-tempo, danceable tone. And it took Cyrus, Morando, Michael Pollack, The Monsters & Strangerz, Kid Harpoon and Griff Clawson to come up with the final, non-cohesive sound. But that non-cohesion undoubtedly stems from the fact that Cyrus originally intended it as a full-tilt slow jam in the style of Thom Yorke. As she stated to Lowe, “…one of the [original] lyrics actually says ‘the Titan sinks,’ so it was actually about a submarine [though could it really be inspired by the OceanGate disaster of ‘23—‘cause that’s a bit weird, innit?], and I wrote it as a very sad ballad.”

However, when she asked Morando to give “brutally honest” feedback about her songs, he called out that one in particular as being “so boring.” Thus, she let him have at it and veer it in this rather non sequitur dance direction. One that would have made more sense, track positioning-wise, following “Different Religion” or placed as the finale, what with a title like that. At times, the lyrics also sound as if they’re being directed at Hemsworth, with Cyrus singing, “You were mine/You were mine/You were mine/You were never mine…/Do you ever think of me now and then/Don’t avoid the question/I miss the future like a face I forgot.” But who knows, maybe she really is singing from the perspective of sinking, imploding millionaires/and a billionaire. Which, frankly, wouldn’t be out of the question considering how out of touch Bass Persuades is with the common man. And this is arguably because, love and romance, for many people at the moment, is not only a luxury, but a lower priority compared to basic survival.

In a way, one supposes, that is what makes Bass Persuades rather defiant (apart from having so few songs—like, who does she think she is, Robyn with Sexistential?). Willfully insisting on that increasingly quaint notion, that “love conquers all” or that it’s “two against the world” (with Del Rey singing that as, “They say that the world was built for two”). It’s that motif that pervades “Redlights” (a song that also gave Miley her already-taken-by-Taylor “red” concept), which Amanda Lear remarked on with unconcealed sarcasm via her Instagram account, “Thank you Miley for copying my song The Sphinx, I am flattered #mileycyrusredlights #ripoff #copycat #redlights.” But, whatever Lear thinks she’s hearing, this mid-tempo track is way too much its own thing to be compared.

Besides that, Cyrus immediately calls out her “animal totem” on the track—horses—with the verse, “Been free like birds and got wild like white horses in the night, my love.” Not only is this the second time on the album that she’s mentioned horses (having also done so on “Bass Persuades” with “Paving over pastures ‘cause horses are gone”), but Cyrus also wielded them as part of her imagery on Something Beautiful‘s “Easy Lover,” assuring her not-so-easy lover, “Tie me to horses and I still wouldn’t leave ya” (this being her ostensible take on The Rolling Stones saying, “Wild horses couldn’t drag me away”).

All this talk about horses in her lyrics is something Cyrus was only too happy to address by informing Lowe, “Horses represent what I was, like, growing up in Nashville, it’s grounded, it’s who I’ve been but it also represents me [now]: power and freedom and a wildness, but they can also be tamed [so much for ‘Can’t Be Tamed’] and they can be molded and they can be trained. And they can also be…they’re equally associated I think with wildness and, you know, winners and sport. They are such an adaptable, incredible animal.”

So obviously, she sees herself in them. Though she never did bother to call any of her songs something like “White Mustang” à la Lana (who also has plenty of songs with horse mentions—namely, “Watercolor Eyes,” “Violets for Roses” and “Bluebird”). And, talking of her again, Cyrus can’t help but once more be possessed by Lana’s lyrical spirit by way of the Nancy Sinatra-esque, “Your lips like berries that carried a medicine/So sweet and strange” (yes, it sounds a lot like Sinatra’s “Summer Wine,” a song that Del Rey covered in 2013). Though perhaps even Del Rey wouldn’t be as “white girl out of touch” as to sing, “Take me to countries where jewelry’s still buried in the sand.” A line that, in truth, somehow comes across as Cyrus fetishizing some irrelevant Aladdin-inspired vision of the Middle East.

In yet another instance of perhaps overly displaying her devotion to Morando, she announces, “Anywhere you go/I will also go.” Though she might not have gotten the memo that the whole “I Will Follow Him” thing is most men’s nightmare. Not to mention that Tove Lo already reworked that lyric recently enough on Sunshine Kitty’s “Anywhere u go,” during which she, too, promises, “I follow you anywhere you go” (and so far, she’s held true to that promise made, one would assume, to her husband, Charlie Twaddle—it remains to be seen if Miley will hold true to hers). Regardless, Cyrus does convey the kind of “dreaminess” in both the music and lyrics (e.g., “I have my something to believe in/And baby, you’re the reason”) that she wants so badly to serve as part of a cohesive sound throughout the record that never quite arrives.

The next track is a prime example of the album’s musical disjointedness. However, that isn’t to say that “Neon Signs” isn’t among the most sonically interesting songs on Bass Persuades (and arguably one that would have fit in on Endless Summer Vacation or Something Beautiful). It’s also extremely reminiscent of Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin’s “Je t’aime… moi non plus” (and, speaking of French people, Cyrus did note to Lowe that a picture of Brigitte Bardot is what inspired her to wear the leather cap in the “Bass Persuades” video, never mind that Bardot’s politics came under fire in the aftermath of her death). Complete with Cyrus enlisting a male voice to accompany her in the form of Andrew Wyatt of Miike Snow while she delivers some breathy sounds and utterances.

At the same time, there’s an aura of Lana Del Rey and Father John Misty’s “Let the Light In” to it. Especially in regard to Cyrus conveying the idea of some kind of illicit nighttime “romance.” Though she kind of makes herself sound more like a sex worker (as Del Rey also would) with the chorus, “I, I may not be your kind/But I could be your late-night company/And you can find me under the neon signs.” As the song comes to a close, and the breathy line delivery ramps up, Cyrus doesn’t keep it quite as sexy as Gainsbourg and Birkin by sanctioning Wyatt’s lyric, “Some people say I’m creepy/But others think I’m just right.” Perhaps the same can be said of this album.

Indeed, the song that comes next, “Innocent Ways,” isn’t likely to be thought of as “just right” by Miley’s sister, Noah, who many have speculated to be the subject of such lines as, “She grabs her shoes from by the door/Make sure they match her skirt, yeah/Won’t dance to Blondie anymore/But she’s got them on her shirt/God knows I liked them first.” Then, of course, there’s the opening line that makes it obvious she’s talking about her sister (and it ain’t Brandi) by commencing with the verse, “I want better for my sister/She calls me only when it’s late night, and she’s high/Her mind is spinning, uh/Eight nights in a row/She’s been in a crisis/She looks just like me, yeah, when she cries.” That last line smacking of a kind of narcissism that perhaps only the sister who got famous first can have (see also: Beyoncé and Solange or Kim Kardashian and any of her sisters—though it doesn’t apply to Britney and Jamie Lynn Spears, with the latter somehow being more self-involved).

In the tradition of “complicated relationship with my sister” songs, “Innocent Ways” follows in the footsteps of Ashlee Simpson’s “Shadow,” Lily Allen’s “Back to the Start” and, more recently, Hilary Duff’s “We Don’t Talk.” And yes, it seems telling that, when interviewing Miley, Lowe didn’t probe much for the song’s inspiration after she said, “I’m so glad my life was given to me ‘cause I can take it. But I wouldn’t want someone else to really sit in the shoes. I’m really, really strong. But somebody else that might be in my skin…it’s not easy.” To which Lowe asked, “Isn’t that kind of what ‘Innocent Ways’ is about a little bit?” Cyrus responded, “Yeah. Yeah.” And then basically leaves it at that. For one to make their own “assumptions” about verses such as, “I tried to save all of her innocent ways/Grace comes with age, but don’t tell her/Fall out from the fame, claim my mother’s maiden name/Lips in crimson shades, how I love her.” But, of course, as many a sister knows, there can be a fine line between love and hate. A sentiment compounded by the frenetic, thumping bassline (finally, a bass that persuades on this album), courtesy of Cyrus, Morando and Kid Harpoon, that takes the listener on as many emotional twists and turns as the words.

Less twisty-turny and more straightforward is the standard edition’s true closer, “Snow” (because “Bass Persuades Remixx” is quite superfluous and so obviously a filler track). Inspired by Cyrus and Morando’s aforementioned vacation in Kyoto. More specifically, Morando’s marriage proposal in Kyoto, as evidenced by Cyrus’ description, “Now your knee’s in the dirt as I hold out my left/You should swallow the nerves ‘cause there’s yes on my breath.” While it might seem romantic in song form, Cyrus made it come across as far less so when she told Lowe that while they were on a walk together, “Because I won’t allow anything to happen organically for this man, I was like, ‘Oh, I’m gonna pat him down, I bet he has an engagement ring, this would be the best time.’” Needless to say, Morando was miffed by her behavior, but had anticipated it and stashed the ring in a knee pocket (thanks to his “utility pants”) that she didn’t think about patting, thus ensuring he still had the element of surprise. In short, he worked around Cyrus’ not-so-romantic gestapo vibes.

Comparing the two of them to flakes of snow that are suspended in slow motion until they give in entirely to the moment of falling together (a poetic analogy for love as it applies to surrender), Cyrus sings during the chorus, “Together, we both fall like snow/Together we both, fall, fall.” And as she repeats, “Together, we both fall, fall” toward the end of the song, she interjects some spoken-word phrases into the mix, one of which notably includes, “It doesn’t get better.” While that might sound ominous to some, Cyrus’ point is that the right here and now with Morando is her peak state of bliss.

And while this would be an ideal emotional state to end with, there’s not only the “Bass Persuades Remixx” that follows, but also, on Bass Persuades (The Miley Edition), a bonus track called “Smile” (not better than Lily Allen’s, but definitely better than Katy Perry’s). Yet another track that adds a sonic disjointedness to the record, even if the theme of “intense love” is still there via the especially repetitive lyrics, “You set my heart on fire when I see you smile/All my thoughts get wilder, I’d kill to keep you mine/You make me wanna live longer, walk a thousand miles/Nothing takes me higher when I see you smile” (“when I see you smile” said in a similar intonation to Bad English’s “When I See You Smile”).

With the album wrapped up in a “not quite settled” form (because the “finale song” isn’t objective, for a start), it speaks to the larger issue with it, which is that Cyrus appears to have rushed a new work to come out after Something Beautiful as a means to ensure she could have another shot at the charts and not be out of the public eye for too long. But, ultimately, reemerging so soon with this particular “product” might not have been in her best interest. It seems as if she should have taken a bit more time with what she wanted to say and the sound she wanted to offer. For though Bass Persuades is “passable,” as they say, and does have some highlights, including the title track, “Different Religion” and “Innocent Ways,” there is something not as beautiful about it compared to the still too underrated Something Beautiful.