Miley Cyrus takes romance somewhere darker and more volatile in the official video for “Different Religion,” her collaboration with New York rock band Model/Actriz. Released Sept. 30, the visual transforms the song’s language of devotion and desire into a dreamlike desert love affair filled with speeding cars, electric guitars and a sense that something dangerous could happen at any moment.
Directed by longtime Cyrus collaborator Mert Alas, the video opens on a deserted road surrounded by mountains as a Pontiac Firebird races through the landscape. Cyrus is eventually revealed behind the wheel, while flashes of intense red lighting, black and white photography and scenes of her playing electric guitar establish a visual world that feels equal parts rock performance and fever dream.
At the center of the storyline is model Charlie Knepper, who joins Cyrus for the high speed journey. Alas described the concept as the story of a woman who becomes almost religiously obsessed with a man and is pulled into a dangerous affair in the desert. The director deliberately leaves questions hanging around the mysterious character before revealing that the entire encounter may have been a dream.
That approach fits closely with the song itself. “Different Religion” turns the vocabulary of faith into a metaphor for overwhelming physical and romantic attraction, with Cyrus treating her object of desire almost like a personal deity. Model/Actriz frontman Cole Haden trades vocals with her throughout the track, while additional figures in the video mouth along to portions of the song, giving its obsessive narrative an increasingly surreal quality.
The collaboration with Model/Actriz goes deeper than a featured vocal. Cyrus, Haden and band members Jack Wetmore, Aaron Shapiro and Ruben Radlauer are among the song’s writers, alongside Kid Harpoon and Michael Pollack. Cyrus, Kid Harpoon and Model/Actriz also produced the track, with additional production from Pollack and Cyrus’ fiancé Maxx Morando.
Sonically, “Different Religion” brings a harsher rock edge to Cyrus’ latest era. Distorted guitar, heavy percussion and electronic textures surround her vocals, while Haden’s presence gives the song an additional layer of tension. Alas told Vogue that the raw energy was intentional, describing the visual as an opportunity to show Cyrus in full rock star mode. He also noted that she genuinely played the electric guitar seen in the video.
“Different Religion” appears on Cyrus’ 10th studio album, Bass Persuades, which arrived Sept. 18 as her first project under Atlantic Records. The album subsequently debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, marking her first chart topping album since Bangerz in 2013.
The video is also the third visual Cyrus created with Alas for the Bass Persuades era. Their earlier collaborations for the title track and “Let’s Get Married” explored very different sides of the singer, with “Bass Persuades” leaning into dance and pop nostalgia while “Let’s Get Married” captured the intimacy of her relationship with Morando. For “Different Religion,” they deliberately pivoted toward something darker, rawer and more reckless.
With “Different Religion,” Miley Cyrus turns infatuation into something that feels almost supernatural. The open road, mysterious lover and aggressive rock energy give the video the atmosphere of a romance that could disappear as quickly as it arrived, while the dreamlike ending leaves the line between desire and reality deliberately blurred.
