The Bass Persuaded Me
Miley’s Hollywood Bowl Shows Prove She’s A True Rock Star
She has the voice of a generation, and she uses it on her own terms.
At just 33, Miley is undoubtedly a generational artist. The singer has captured the zeitgeist across three decades: as a teenager with Hannah Montana, as a rebellious 20-something with Bangerz, and as a self-assured 30-year-old with “Flowers,” which she released without performing it live. It still won the pop star her first Grammy.
Almost four years later, Miley finally returned to the stage for two special headline shows at Los Angeles’ historic Hollywood Bowl. And while she may be performing to celebrate her new album Bass Persuades, she’s now doing the pop-star thing on her own terms.
As soon as Miley opened the show with a touching poem invoking memories of Britney Spears and seeing Air at the Bowl, it was clear she wasn’t putting on a typical pop spectacle. Backed by her band — including her fiancé Maxx Morando, the night’s drummer — and a choir, she went into her galactic ballad “Orbit,” pushing her voice, warm and raspy in the right ways, to center stage.
Much like Bass Persuades itself, Miley refused to commit to a singular mood, bouncing seamlessly between said ballad, progressive rock tracks like “Different Religion,” and anthemic disco stompers like “Walk Of Fame.” When she needed to rap on the funky title track, she ad-libbed some zingers. When the song called for extensive vocal runs, like “Something Beautiful,” she left it all on the table, lying on the floor in both relief and triumph.
Performances like that made complaints that Miley didn’t sing every lyric live or seem invested in the show seem utterly absurd, a criticism she addressed directly at her second show. “I’ve never heard that I don’t put my heart into something,” she said. “I can take a lot, but one thing I will not stand is any question about where my heart is when I’m on the stage.”
When she dove into her biggest hits, the criticism became even more confusing. Miley refreshed hits like “Wrecking Ball” and “The Climb” with new arrangements that heightened their emotional impact, and her voice, colored by years of experience, added even more depth. God forbid she asks the audience to sing the final chorus back to her — a trick as old as time.
If anything, Miley experimenting with her hits (like incorporating another poem into her 2023 song “Used To Be Young”) shows she’s only interested in being a rock star on her own terms. By performing onstage, she gives her heart to fans, but every choice she makes is to serve herself first and foremost. And that’s how all artists should design their shows.
Did fans ask for Wayne Coyne to perform the Flaming Lips’ hit “Do You Realize??” with Miley? Not necessarily, but his presence clearly meant a lot to her, especially when they duetted on her 2015 deep cut “Karen Don’t Be Sad,” turning the torch ballad into a moment of hope. In fact, it was those mentor figures who got her through the show, as seen by her touching tribute to Dolly Parton before singing “Jolene,” the 1974 hit that Miley has basically adopted as her own. (She also clutched her portrait during “Wrecking Ball,” which brought the tears.)
Those moments prove that by following her instincts rather than listening to fans’ requests, she put on the best show for both herself and her audience. As we all know, Miley doesn’t need us to give her flowers — she’ll buy her own. By the encore, all she wanted was to sing with her fiancé and vamp to “Flowers,” and that she did.
On her way out, she strutted her stuff (bangerz) to an old rock song instead of the traditional goodbye, leaving the crowd wanting more. If that’s not the mark of a rock star, I don’t know what is.
