Miguel has a lot of incredible qualities: world-class singer, inventive guitarist, skilled songwriter and that jawline. Another is his willingness to commit to an aesthetic direction, even if it’s not the obvious path. Put another way, Miguel has the vision, ability and confidence to follow his muse, wherever it might go. Not every artist does.
He established himself with three hit singles from his hip-hop-influenced 2010 album All I Want Is You, but followed that with 2012’s Kaleidoscope Dream, a near-perfect album of fuzzy future-soul jams. One of those jams (“Adorn”) pushed Miguel to new heights on the pop charts. Rather than remake Kaleidoscope Dream, however, he then released 2015’s Wildheart, an album heavy with rock ‘n’ roll guitars and hard edges.
Now, Miguel is back with his fourth full-length, War & Leisure, and again, he’s going his own way. Not that it’s that different from his past work—this is not Miguel’s country record or anything—but it does find the man in a brighter, breezier place, generally speaking.
You can hear it in songs like “Pineapple Skies,” a horizon-wide pop wonder built on a taut bass line and tropical synths in which Miguel promises his lady that everything will be alright “while we Stevie Wonder through the night.” Then there’s “Skywalker,” a sprightly, shirtless celebration of shot-takin’, wave-catchin’, hater-wildin’ good times. As the album’s first single, it caught most Miguel stans off guard, and worried some. (It’s a grower, though.)
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