Review Summary: The kids have reasons to not want to dance
For an artist like Miley Cyrus, the worst thing you can elicit with your music is indifference. Just think about her career: an amalgamation of artistically creative high points, some bafflingly poor offerings and everything in-between; all her work has been received with every possible feeling on the spectrum of enjoyment. Shock, confusion, annoyance, surprise—you name it, it’s probably been your reaction to any of her albums. But none have been cause for apathy, because Miley always sells her volte-face into whatever genre through sheer excitement for experimentation. She can churn out forgettable and outright bad albums but her core angle as a chameleon is still intact and she always manages to put together projects that feel like distinct worlds; whether or not you want to inhabit them is up to you, but there’s no denying that she will evoke
something out of you.
Which is strange, because
Bass Persuades elicits very little: this is the most indifferent I’ve been towards her music. And for an artist whose M.O. is provoking something out of the listener, that’s a bad thing. Sure, for other artists, releasing a record as head-scratching as
Miley Cyrus and Her Dead Petz, as abysmal as
Younger Now or as beige as
Endless Summer Vacation would be a career-ender—for Miley, all these co-exist in her catalogue. And all the better for it; they reinforce her knack for committing to the bit she’s choosing that specific year and that’s why any of her albums is bound to be someone’s favorite, no matter its quality. But I don’t see many, if anyone, singling out
Bass Persuades as a good album, let alone their most-liked one.
The signs were there with the lead single: an electropop cut that wonders why the dance floor is empty while urging you to surrender to the music (haven’t heard
that one before!). But the production and vocal stylings here are so listless, not to mention heavily Gaga-coded, that they are unsatisfying. This feels like pop choose-your-own-adventure: a track that could have been given to anyone without changing its impact. Its placement as an opener finds the album putting the wrong foot forward and the following ‘Different Religion’ doesn’t fare much better. Its sweet chorus is admittedly memorable, but Miley’s performance isn’t convincing me of this song’s sexier atmosphere, especially when set against its mechanical production and growling synths, vacant lyrics ("I've got my own god / He drives a fast car / My god's a hot boy") and Cole Haden’s easily swappable vocal contributions.
If those two tracks aren’t making you groove, don’t worry: the plane crashes with no survivors into ballad territory right after. Both ‘Let’s Get Married’’s dream-pop ambience and ‘Orbit’’s straightforward balladry are pretty and favor Cyrus’ lovesick vocals, but they make you ask: what’s the connective tissue with the previous tracks? If you’re looking for answers, the rest of the songs certainly won’t provide them:
Bass Persuades is so scattershot, alternating between slow-disco grooves (‘REDLIGHTS’), electroclash (‘Innocent Ways’) and new wave-inspired synth-pop (‘Neon Signs’) in the blink of an eye, that it never puts down an overall distinct identity. At nearly 38 minutes and ten tracks (one of which is an unnecessary remix of the title-track), the unfocused nature of the album prevents Miley from putting together a convincing world for us to inhabit. If only she favored a specific soundscape or genre.
Don’t get me wrong: scattershot records are not uncommon and when done effectively or in favor of a concept, the abrupt genre-shifts work—look at 2020’s
SAWAYAMA or even Cyrus’ own opus
Something Beautiful from last year;
that one was an album that knew how to translate its sonically disjointed nature into an ambitious and cohesive artistic statement through sheer pep and conviction. In comparison,
Bass Persuades feels perfunctory; an album with little to draw out of its audience because there's little meat on its bones. Even when some of its compositions are enjoyable, as on the aforementioned reverie of ‘Let’s Get Married’, the fact that the album quickly abandons one sound in favor of another suggests that Miley doesn’t have enough faith in a definitive vision. Her vocal performances are often passive and her melodies largely forgettable, which is a huge misstep for a singer with such a uniquely gravelly alto, who sings in previous records with much more gusto and range than she does here. Her storytelling is simplistic, but not of the emotionally compelling kind: there’s no vivid imagery found in lines on the level of “When you look at me, it's primal / When you wave to me, it's tidal” and “Together, we both fall like snow”. Despite an intriguing meditation on fame and sisterly solace in 'Innocent Ways', lyrics like the aforementioned ones hold the majority vote.
Put this album into perspective for a bit: within a versatile trajectory that has been, above all, provocative, after an entrancing affair last May that has been praised and heralded as her masterpiece, after dropping her last name from the moniker and signaling some sort of artistic rebirth, how does
Bass Persuades fit into the frame? Urging the kids to dance as a thesis statement and then proclaiming love and domestic bliss throughout the rest of the tracklist isn't a persuasive argument—and due to a general indecisiveness and lack of energy with the musical aspects, the bass didn't persuade either.
