In early September of this year, Miley Cyrus dropped her last name in her logo and branding, making her stage name just “Miley.” This rebrand got the attention of many fans and hinted at a potential new era arising. A few days later, she announced the release of her new album “Bass Persuades” on September 18th. The titular lead single from the album was also released on September 3rd.
Upon the release of the lead single, many applauded its experimental and dance-pop driven nature. I personally enjoyed its stylistic difference in comparison to the singles from her previous 2025 record, “Something Beautiful.” However, the release of “Bass Persuades” a few weeks later was a bit less impressive. While “Different Religion” was an interesting continuation of the genre explored in the lead single, the rest of the tracks were a bit repetitive and dreary. The second single, “Lets Get Married”, had a romantic and lovely sentiment but wasn’t super memorable or as creatively interesting.
The album was very successful in its first week and debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart, marking Miley’s 7th chart topping record. Following the release of her album, Miley appeared on Zane Lowe’s podcast to discuss her music and upcoming tour.Â
Due to clips from the podcast, controversy arose surrounding Miley’s remarks about touring and the demand it has for artists. To paraphrase what she said, she prefers to tour in Los Angeles for the time being, as that’s most comfortable for her and it’s where she lives. While many Miley fans outside the LA area felt upset about her statement, Miley made a very fair point. While it’s very disappointing for an artist you love to be touring but not come to a city near you, it’s not necessarily a right to see your favorite artist live. These artists are still human and, at the end of the day, touring is extremely demanding. I can see why at this point in her career, with so many tours under her belt already, Miley would prefer to just perform in one city. In addition to the live performance conversation surrounding Miley, she is one of the many performers in talks to headline the 2027 Super Bowl Halftime Show.
The interview backlash wasn’t too severe and didn’t seem to have too much of a negative impact on Miley’s record release process. Still, “Bass Persuades” was definitely not as much of a roaring success as previous albums for her, such as “Endless Summer Vacation”. The creative risks taken on this album are admirable, as well as how different it was from her previous records. Something we can always count on from Miley’s artistic evolution from album to album, and I look forward to seeing that with her next one.