The Progressive Underground: Miyan Bryant is a legacy in the energy, soul and spirit of Detroit house
For Miyan, house music isn’t just rhythm and vocals; it is access, language, and connection. Learn more about her journey and sound in this edition of 5-on-5.
Detroit vocalist, songwriter, and electronic music innovator Miyan Bryant, whose church-honed soul and club-tested presence have made her a fixture in the city's underground and the global electronic music community for three decades.
Today we center the lens on Detroit-based vocalist, songwriter, producer, and label owner Miyan Bryant, a house and R&B force whose voice has been threaded through this show’s playlists for years.
Miyan’s story is classic Detroit: church-honed soul, club-tested stamina, and a refusal to stay in one lane. She first emerged in the early 1990s, stepping into the global underground with a collaboration with Key Statements, an alias of deep house artist Scott Grooves. From there, she moved through live band work, remakes of R&B standards, deep-house one-offs, and studio session work with heavyweights like Amp Fiddler, James Jamerson Jr., and the Detroit Beatdown camp.
At the same time, she was building a life outside the booth, earning a bachelor’s, a master’s, and PhD credits in deaf communications and developing sign language expression art that folds the deaf community directly into the experience of her music. For Miyan, house music isn’t just rhythm and vocals; it is access, language, and connection.
We’ll trace her journey in five cuts that show her range as a vocalist, a collaborator, and a builder of worlds on the dance floor.
Five Essential Tracks by Miyan Bryant
1: “Over You (Vocal Mix)” – Key Statements feat. Miyan Bryant
We start at the beginning. The record that introduced Miyan Bryant to the international house community and stamped her as a force from day one.
“Over You (Vocal Mix)” arrived in the early 1990s as a Key Statements production that rides a classic drum pattern, rubbery bass line, and minimal keys, leaving space for Miyan’s voice to carry the emotional payload.
There is a rawness to the performance that feels almost live: ad-libs curling around the beat, notes that crest just as the hi-hats start to hit. There’s a tension between vulnerability and power, a trait that would become one of her signature characteristics.
A foundational anthem, the track helped introduce her to club crowds far beyond Detroit.
2: “Believe (Main Vocal Mix)” – Dwayne Jensen feat. Miyan Bryant
From here, we move to another underground favorite that cemented her status among music heads who pay attention to record labels, producers, and catalog numbers as closely as they follow artists.
Produced by Dwayne Jensen, this cut lives in that sacred space where soulful house, gospel, and late-night techno tension intersect.
You can hear the kinship with Chicago’s vocal house tradition and the influence of figures like CeCe Peniston and Steve “Silk” Hurley, both of whom Miyan cites as inspirations and peers. But the phrasing is pure Detroit: unpolished in the best way, conversational, and emotionally direct.
The tune has lived several lives, including a later remaster that reintroduced it to a new wave of underground listeners and reaffirmed Miyan as a vocalist whose work rewards rediscovery.
Track 3: “Love That I Want (BASSRemix)” – Miyan Bryant
From the collaborative lineage of early Detroit house, we turn now to a track that carries her name alone, spotlighting her as writer, vocalist, and conceptual center.
Here, Miyan stands in full command of the song’s architecture. The vocal is crafted with a songwriter’s eye for detail: verses that move, a hook that lands and lingers, and stacked harmonies that thicken the emotional field without cluttering the mix.
It is a clear marker of her evolution into a self-directed artist who can hold her own name on a record and deliver something that hits just as hard as her collaborations.
Track 4: “I Am Energy (Detroit Disco Funk Mix)” – Miyan Bryant
Next up, we step into her current chapter, a record that doubles as a personal manifesto, spiritual declaration, and club weapon. On this cut, Miyan’s voice rides the beat like a wave, turning the dance floor into a space where affirmation, Black futurism, and Detroit’s musical lineage converge.
“I Am Energy (Detroit Disco Funk Mix)” is a fitting emblem of who she has become: an artist whose life, scholarship, and creative practice all revolve around the frequencies she puts into the world.
Track 5: “Treat Me Right” – Miyan Bryant / Carl Bias
For our final selection, we return to collaboration, a space where Miyan has always thrived. Here she teams up with producer and musician Carl Bias who brings Miyan’s sensibilities into a more stripped, conversation-level space. She alternates between direct address and melodic flourish, making the title phrase a demand, a reminder, and a dare.
“Treat Me Right” from Miyan Bryant and Carl Bias, a fitting closer that distills her approach to love, respect, and self-worth over a groove designed to move bodies and shift mindsets. We hope you enjoyed getting to know Miyan Bryant in five songs.
For more journeys into the worlds of artists like this, keep it locked to The Progressive Underground every Saturday evening at 6 p.m. on WDET 101.9 FM and online at wdet.org.
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