Kids Don't Wanna Dance
Miley's New Album Proves That Reinvention Is Her Specialty
Why do fans want artists to find their “sound” when talents like Miley can do it all?
To say that Miley has gone through phases would be an understatement. Fans have watched the singer grow up in real time, from Disney Channel sensation Hannah Montana to teen pop star Miley Cyrus. Later, as an adult, she became a hedonistic party girl, psychedelic stoner, country crooner, and punk rocker, unapologetically embracing new sides of herself with each new music era.
Now, she’s just Miley, releasing her 10th studio album Bass Persuades — and first under a mononym — on Sept. 18. Yes, it’s a reinvention of sorts given the name change, but some have used this era as a criticism of her artistry, questioning why she seems to constantly be searching for an identity and bemoaning that she hasn’t yet found “her sound.”
However, why would listeners ever want a proven versatile talent like Miley to stick to one sound? And if you do for some reason, then, well, she’s already found it.
On Bass Persuades, Miley orbits (literally, there’s a song called “Orbit”) between glamorous dance-pop, progressive indie-rock, and sweeping ’70s rock ballads. And that’s just the first three tracks. Yes, she may play with different genres, but this is the music she’s loved since childhood, and it all fits easily into the sonic world she’s inhabited for a while now.
Whoever dismisses Bass Persuades as Miley’s latest attempt to find her “sound” clearly hasn’t been listening for the past few years. She’s been building toward this soundscape since 2023’s Endless Summer Vacation, where she turned her love of ’70s soft rock and 2010s electro-pop into an easy-listening beach playlist. 2025’s Something Beautiful stretches these genres to their limits with six-minute bangers and towering ballads, creating her most ambitious and expansive album yet.
If anything, Bass Persuades is a more refined take on the last two albums that doesn’t sacrifice her off-kilter tendencies. Her voice and songwriting are the grounding forces, unafraid to wear her heart on her sleeve and belt it out (especially after her engagement to Maxx Morando). She’s been a superstar since childhood, but now, she radiates old-school big-voiced diva energy, fulfilling the potential of the pre-teen with big dreams on Hannah Montana.
In recent years, Miley has described herself as a “mosaic” of her past selves, emphasizing that her eras have always been authentic to her and can come together to form her truest self. Her “sound” is that mosaic. The throbbing dance-pop of “Bass Persuades” can be traced back to the teen rebellion of Can’t Be Tamed, while “Different Religion” harkens to the prog-rock of Miley Cyrus and her Dead Petz, but more elevated. And of course, through every era, she’s always been a pro at those big ol’ show-stopping ballads, this time with “Orbit” and “Let’s Get Married.”
Arguably, Miley is this generation’s pop star who has the most in common with the Queen of Pop herself, Madonna. The world may not be ready for that conversation quite yet, but like Madge, Miley has proven that reinvention is an innate skill, not a quest for success. She’s just being Miley, and if she can do it all, why shouldn’t she?
