Culture 3 min read By Mason Emerson
Miley Cyrus Drops Dance-Pop Single and Video for ‘Bass Persuades’
Miley Cyrus has released “Bass Persuades,” the title track and lead single from her upcoming 10th studio album, along with a Mert Alas-directed video set in a New York poker club.
Miley Cyrus has kicked off a new musical era with the release of “Bass Persuades,” the title track and lead single from her upcoming 10th studio album. The song arrives with a Mert Alas-directed music video that shows the pop star taking over a New York poker club with a slice of full-throttle dance-pop.
The track leans into ’80s synth textures and features a spoken-word opening verse that recalls the deadpan delivery of Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face.” “Let’s go,” Cyrus states at the start of the video before launching into the song’s central question: “If we ain’t moving, baby, baby why are we here?” Over a throbbing synth line, she sings in the chorus, “The kids don’t wanna dance,” adding, “We can’t stay like this forever / Let’s surrender to the night, put our bodies close together.”
The album, also titled “Bass Persuades,” is scheduled for release on September 18 via Atlantic Records. It marks Cyrus’s first full-length project on her new label home and serves as the follow-up to last year’s “Something Beautiful.” In a statement, Cyrus explained the meaning behind the record’s “Music takes hold of us. We feel it, sing it, sometimes dance to it, let it out and carry on. It is powerful, vulnerable, sweet and strong. Heart full, heartache, every part of life in between. That’s what the title means to me.”
Cyrus has also dropped her surname for this new chapter, now releasing music under the mononym Miley. Her father, Billy Ray Cyrus, has publicly shared his thoughts on the name change. The singer received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in May, where she committed to “continuing the cycle full of creation.”
To celebrate the album’s release, Cyrus will perform two shows at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on October 16 and 18, with Model/Actriz joining as support. She described the venue as “my favourite place to experience music and see my favourite artists.” Tickets go on general sale September 10 at 10 a.m. local time, with an American Express pre-sale beginning September 8 and an artist pre-sale following on September 9.
The singer has previously said she has no desire to tour extensively, explaining that long runs of concerts make it difficult to maintain her mental well-being. “I do have the physical ability and I have the opportunities to tour,” she said last year. “I wish I had the desire, but I don’t.”
“Bass Persuades” arrives during an emotional period for Cyrus, who recently paid tribute to her godmother Dolly Parton following the country legend’s death at age 80. Cyrus recalled that one of their final conversations centered on “music and metamorphosis,” writing, “What I KNOW is Dolly would want me to feel it, write a song about it, and then continue on and be strong. I have an angel by my side. I always have.”
