Has dancing become an act of rebellion? It might sound dramatic, but Miley Cyrus has looked around, seen a generation glued to its phone and decided that what we need is less scrolling and more surrender. Bass Persuades, the first single from her newly announced tenth studio album of the same name, doesn’t politely ask us onto the dance floor. It lets the low frequencies do the convincing.
Built around a muscular bassline, restless synths and a chorus designed to lodge itself in your head, the track finds Miley in commanding form. Her unmistakable rasp cuts through the polished production with just enough grit, turning “The kids don’t wanna dance” from a complaint into a dare. The lyrics move between poisoned modern life, vanished horses and eyes fixed on telephone screens, but the answer is refreshingly analogue: look outside, feel something, put your body next to somebody else’s.
Mert Alas, a close collaborator of the singer, directs the accompanying video like a nocturnal fever dream. Miley walks alone through wet, blue-lit streets before entering a shadowy space where restraint gradually gives way to movement. Leather, smoke, bodies and flashes of warmer colour take over; by the final stretch, what began in isolation has become a crowded, sweaty release. The choreography is less about immaculate formations than contagion. One person moves, then everybody does.
The single opens a notably quick new chapter. Bass Persuades arrives on 18 September via Atlantic Records, little more than a year after Something Beautiful, and will be Miley’s first album for the label. Its ten-song tracklist includes collaborations with Model/Actriz and Andrew Wyatt, while the title track brings together producers Maxx Morando, Michael Pollack, Kid Harpoon and Miley herself.
There is a live coda, too. Miley will return to the stage for two nights at Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl on 16 and 18 October. If this first glimpse tells us anything, standing still may not be an option.