Miguel: "War & Leisure"

[Live Your Life]

[wavey.✨️]

Did anyone really like WildHeart? It went under the radar for me.

[B-Boy]

I can't wait.

Oh, Wildheart was a decent album. I think his label could've done a better job of releasing singles. "Waves" would've made a better lead than "Coffee". It represents the sound and vibe of the album.

[Active Aggressive]

Beyond stoked and WildHeart was one of my favorite albums, from start to finish, of the DECADE, so yes, I really liked it, LOL.

[Caviar]

I loved "Coffee". One of his best.

[Deleted]

Yeah, Wildheart was really good and got stellar critical reception (84 on Metacritic), but it was very poorly handled. I don't know if that was more on RCA (much as I love shoving shit off on them lol) or Miguel. But Coffee shouldn't have been the lead single, and I'm still miffed that they missed an obvious cultural tie-in by not dropping NWA as the second single to coincide with Straight Outta Compton premiering that summer.

[wavey.✨️]

I think my name was bad luck that go around.👐🏼

[slowmo]

Speaking of "waves", it was just used in a montage/promo clip during the World Series. Kind of random.

[Troublemaker]

This is what happens when your 15 mins is over...

[Active Aggressive]

I'm not sure I follow when Miguel has had multiple critically acclaimed, Grammy-nominated works and makes quality music. It might not be to your particular liking or tastes but it's not like he's Paris Hilton or something. But, out of curiosity, what exactly do you see happening, other than a new album, which would imply that the clock is still running on his "15 minutes".

[#LisaRinna]

Anticipating!

[Live Your Life]

Miguel Talks Prepping His Most Politically Charged Album and Planning His Wedding

“Damn -- I should've brought the weed with me,” says Miguel, staring out at the rows of yachts moored by the waterfront patio of the Marina del Rey Ritz-Carlton in Los Angeles.

It’s another sunny SoCal afternoon, two days before the singer born Miguel Pimentel’s 32nd birthday, and he just politely ordered avocado toast and an almond-milk latte. He’s clearly ready to unwind: After a year-and-a-half in the studio, Miguel is finally finishing up his fourth album, War & Leisure, and he’s in the middle of planning a wedding to his fiancée, model Nazanin Mandi. But, most of all, “Yesterday was an emotional day,” he explains, tugging at his navy sweatshirt with the words “War and Love” emblazoned on it. He had spent his Friday protesting with immigrant rights advocates in front of the controversial Adelanto Detention Center, a privately owned federal facility for undocumented immigrants two hours from Los Angeles where in recent months three detainees have died, five have reportedly attempted suicide and several more have gone on a hunger strike to call attention to alleged inhumane treatment. The protest was followed by a free concert by Miguel and a late-night bus ride back to Los Angeles, during which the singer spoke with several immigrants affected by America’s toughening policies, and places like Adelanto.

“They call them ‘detention centers,’ but they’re really jails,” Miguel says. “You start to see the real reason behind innocent people’s lives being ruined -- it’s just money. The corporations are getting money from cheap labor, essentially.”

That’s right: The guy who once sang “Pussy Is Mine” is becoming woke. After building his career -- which includes two No. 1s on the Hot R&B/HipHop Albums charts, 2015’s Wildheart and 2012’s Kaleidoscope Dream -- on songs about lust, love and lechery, Miguel has gradually been putting his political beliefs more front and center, starting with the Black Lives Matter tribute “How Many” he dropped on SoundCloud in July 2016. On War & Leisure, due later this year, his focus is still on the bedroom, but the music is threaded with a subtle yet undeniable subtext: Donald Trump and the dystopia he’s ushering in.

“Banana Clip” is mostly an extended my-love-is-a-gun metaphor, but in between, Miguel sings of “missiles in the sky” and “terror on my mind.” The Salaam Remi-produced “Come Through and Chill,” originally released as a SoundCloud loosie last year, is a late-night “U up?” text in musical form, but newly added guest J. Cole’s second verse references Colin Kaepernick, police brutality and Trump “manipulating poor white folk.” Think having Tantric sex with CNN on in the background. Like a lot of us, Miguel is seemingly trying to go about his life as it was before Nov. 8, 2016 -- the album’s first official single, “Skywalker,” is about partying and posturing -- but an uncomfortable reality keeps butting in.

“We’re trying not to pay attention, but we have to pay attention,” says Miguel. “With my albums, I always try to take a picture of what’s going on in my life. War & Leisure has political undertones, because that’s what life feels like right now. This album is intentionally about the ethos right now, that we are right in the middle of all this. We’re trying to flourish in the middle of all this. We all wake up, and it’s time to be creative and amazing and positive and all the things that we’re supposed to be when you look on Instagram, but then we’re dealing with these same problems, this injustice, wars between politicians with egos. Like, 140 characters are going to get us into a war right now?”

The message rings loudest with “Now,” easily his most overtly political song to date. The soft guitar ballad starts by directly addressing the “CEO of the free world,” asking if building “your walls up high and wide” is “the look of freedom” before name-dropping the things his policies have affected, from Dreamers to storm-ravaged Puerto Rico. “In my mind, I was having a conversation with [Trump] and playing it out,” says Miguel. “Like, ‘You’re in charge now, and this is what you want to do? These are the seeds you’re planting? Go ahead and watch what happens. Not even judging. But let’s talk about this.’”

Miguel acknowledges that appealing to Trump’s humanity might not match the resistance zeitgeist -- it’s certainly in stark contrast to Eminem’s widely shared recent freestyle on the BET Hip-Hop Awards, which ended with the rapper yelling “Fuck Trump.” “Eminem’s verse was so visceral, and that’s why we all loved it,” says Miguel. “That’s how I feel too. But how I deal with things, after I get over my emotions, it’s always: Let’s talk.”

There’s one line on “Now” that pleads, “let’s not waste our common ground.” Is Miguel trying to find common ground with Trump? “No,” he responds quickly. “That’s for ethnic people. And poor people. People who are lower on the ladder. We’ve all felt the oppression in some shape or form, and on that level we can understand each other. Let’s use that and galvanize and say no -- we will not accept this.”

Miguel’s advocacy for immigrants comes at a time when he has been deliberately reconnecting with his own roots. He was raised mostly by his African-American mother in Los Angeles’ San Pedro neighborhood, but his father is a naturalized citizen who immigrated from Mexico’s Michoacán region as a child. Earlier this year, Miguel traveled there for the first time to meet some of his extended family, as seen in a recent episode of Viceland’s Earthworks. “It’s amazing how somehow you cannot know someone, you’ve never met them, but the energy is like you’ve known them your whole life,” he says. “Before [my Latin heritage] wasn’t really a big part of my life -- that trip to Mexico really changed it for me. It made me want to make music that gave me a reason to go back.”

He did just that with “Caramelo Duro,” one of the new album’s standouts, and his first predominantly Spanish song. (It translates to “Hard Candy” -- another signature Miguel sex metaphor.) “I’m really proud of it -- I only had to change one lyric after I had a couple of people listen to it who know Spanish better than me,” he says with laugh.

Miguel is willing to take new chances in his music, but he’s ready to establish a more solid foundation elsewhere: at home. He and Mandi got engaged around January 2016 after dating on and off for more than a decade; they recently decided to push back their wedding so he could focus on War & Leisure and she on her new E! reality show, The Platinum Life, which also stars the significant others of Nelly and Ne-Yo. “We always make sure we’re on the same page. I was young, making dumb mistakes,” he says, taking responsibility for their past ups and downs. “But we always had a very strong connection, and that always brought us back.

“I’m glad we took the time we needed to figure it out,” he adds, getting up leave so he can head back to the studio and prep for a birthday trip (he and Mandi are going to Joshua Tree to meditate and get a sound bath). “I can’t fuck it up now.”

[Linnethia Monique]

Wildheart was an amazing album that I still play regularly. The suite of remixes that he did for "Waves" was an incredible display of how one song can have so many different faces while still keeping the same lyrics and melody intact.

[die Lotterie]

Beyond excited for new Miguel. Give me some more "Candles In The Sun" woke moments.

[Deleted]

"Told You So" is a jam!

[die Lotterie]

"Told You So" sounds amazing. It's incredible how easy it is for him to manage and maintain such fresh sounds time and time again.

[Zinc.]

[Zinc.]

Set to drop Dec. 1 and will feature 12 tracks

[Gekkouga]

ugh, i'm ready KING!

[Linnethia Monique]

Pineapple Skies is the next pre-release single and it's the one we've all been waiting for since his interview with Snoop Dogg. After a few listens this is already one of my favorite Miguel songs. It's like waves turned up to one thousand.

[Zinc.]

[willapted33]

Super excited for this, I've loved the singles so far

[#LisaRinna]

He performed at the Victoria's Secrets fashion show.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BbvGRHWBI7m

[maine]

Next song to be out before the album is "Come Through and Chill" which features J. Cole and Salaam Remi.

[SHOOTER]

This is really dropping next week? Not that RCA is great at promotion to begin with but I feel like he and K. Michelle (last two major R&B releases of the year) are about to flop hard AF.

[maine]

Digging back into Kaleidoscope Dream, and man, I think it still stands at the best R&B album of the decade for me. Phenomenal from front to back.

Yeah, I didn't realize it was coming out next week either. The promo for the album has been pretty bad on RCA's end, but that's typical for them. Still excited for the album. "Sky Walker", "Told You So", and "Pineapple Skies" are all hot. I wasn't too big on Wildheart, but it was solid as a whole (just no replay value at all for me outside a few tracks).

[Linnethia Monique]

[groovetheory]

"Come Through and Chill" is so good, loving it.

[Zinc.]

http://instagram.com/p/BcC7_yNhep2

12/13 Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater
12/14 Phoenix, AZ @ Celebrity Theatre
02/22 Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater
02/23 Seattle, WA @ Showbox SoDo
02/24 Vancouver, BC @ PNE Forum
02/26 Salt Lake City, UT @ The Complex
02/27 Aspen, CO @ Belly Up
02/28 Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
03/02 St. Paul, MN @ Palace Theatre
03/03 Milwaukee, WI @ Riverside Theater
03/05 Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theatre
03/08 Cincinnati, OH @ Taft Theatre
03/09 Detroit, MI @ Royal Oak Music Theatre
03/10 Cleveland, OH @ Agora Theatre
03/12 Toronto, ON @ Rebel
03/13 London, ON @ London Music Hall
03/15 Albany, NY @ Upstate Concert Hall
03/16 New Haven, CT @ College Street
03/17 Providence, RI @ The Strand Ballroom & Theatre
03/19 Boston, MA @ House of Blues
03/20 Philadelphia, PA @ The Fillmore
03/21 Baltimore, MD @ Modell Performing Arts Center at The Lyric
03/23 New York, NY @ Terminal 5
03/24 Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
03/25 Charlottesville, VA @ The Jefferson Theater
03/27 Atlanta, GA @ Coca Cola Roxy Theatre
03/28 Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore Charlotte
03/29 Orlando, FL @ The Plaza Live
03/30 Miami, FL @ The Fillmore Miami Beach
04/01 Tampa, FL @ The Ritz Ybor
04/03 Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live
04/04 Dallas, TX @ House of Blues
04/06 Austin, TX @ Stubbs
04/07 San Antonio, TX @ The Aztec Theater
04/09 Tucson, AZ @ The Rialto Theatre
04/12 Berkeley, CA @ The Greek

[Zinc.]