thread of miguel

from all evidence miguel live is still full band workouts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doeWN1nK1RQ

https://t.co/vovUAwRYXB

nice!

I'm a bit nonplussed by this one which saddens me a bit. "Now" is my favorite thing on here

sky walker is both lame and gorgeous

Feeling that about City of Angels rn.

Pretty disappointing album. All just feels a bit safe and samey.

yeah this sounded like a dud to me

i thought this was ok, but not at the level of most of his other stuff. but i should relisten

i haven't given it a second listen yet lol

I threw a list together.

yeah on second listen i’m not really into this at all :(

alfred you are missing “teach me”!

wtf y’all

i dunno i'm no miguel scholar but seems as good as the last one to me

first two >> last two

don't @ me

ok k3v we get it you like all i want is you

Pineapple Skies is beautiful but I can't disassociate it from Whenever You're Near Me by Ace of Base.

first two >> last two

This can't even be in dispute, right? His latest albums are nice but those first two were visionary. Even Wildheart was a fairly considerable step down from Kaleidoscope Dream

i have listened to both recently and i think that position is bullshit though i get why people feel that way, i guess???

first three tracks on wildheart are a little weak but then the rest of the album is perfect

I like the debut but even after hearing "Sure Thing" on the radio and loving it and digging into the album I thought it tentative, almost furtive.

every song on the debut is good but whenever i listen to it it always feels like it’s being pulled in a few different directions at once e.g. “pay me”

yeah the debut is pretty scatttered. It's ideas rich but all over the place. Most of the time that approach works wonders (it's got several of his best singles on it), but Kaleidoscope Dream is a much more focused/accomplished statement

Kinda easy to forget what a miracle AIWIY was at the time, though. 2010 was the era of peak A&R interference, so for Jive to give a newcomer like Miguel a pass and let him release an album w/o marquee guests and a clear slam-dunk single was kind of remarkable. My initial impression of it was the label was basically ready to write it off (cheap packaging, barely any promotion, a shitty Nov. 30 release date, etc.)

No matter how good the rest of it is, those first three tracks definitely put Wildheart below Kaleidoscope Dream, especially as both KD and AIWIY start off with such perfect statements of intent. The debut doesn't even feel of a piece with the rest of them any more but there's a marked improvement in his voice between the first and second albums.

I like War & Leisure but I'm not convinced it's up there with the others - it's at least an intriguing development though, retaining the guitars and the live feel but moving away from the overt rock references. I actually want him to go further down the Latino R&B route he seems to be edging towards in parts of this, and it would make total sense for him to do that. If anything the new one doesn't quite differentiate itself enough from its predecessors.

i like the first three wildheart tracks :\

as others have said he is stretching out his voice in lots of interesting ways on W&L and the lyrics on e.g. City of Angels are appealingly goofy but I just find myself playing a couple of (obvious I guess) songs: Pineapple Skies, Told You So, Caramelo Duro

considering i didn't like wildheart much and am not shaping up to be feeling most of this one either, perhaps it's time i finally listened to all i want is you. "sure thing" is still my favorite miguel single most of the time so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

i like this when i listen to it but haven't felt super compelled to return. it has some of the fizzy effervescence of kaleidescope dream but not just the same magic. it's a good record tho & maybe it will sound better once it gets warmer.

also there are some good lyrics in here interspersed among all the gun as dick/sex as war metaphors

I wish he would sing about hugs more often :(

i think 'dud' was harsh; like this is obviously good music, i think my expectations of miguel are just high cuz i know what he's capable of and there didn't seem to be anything in that zone

I actually want him to go further down the Latino R&B route

otmx1000

I think if his had been his first album after Kaleidoscope Dream this might scan as a major disappointment, but this is about the same step down from Wildheart as Wildheart was from KD.

Big picture the guy has released four consecutive good to exceptional albums and is probably the most consistent R&B albums artist of the 2010s. Small picture this is p clearly his worst album.

the most consistent R&B albums artist of the 2010s

I'd say K Michelle is

i would say dawn but R&B is open to interp

evan otm

i'd say jeremih

sassybeyonce.gif

point taken about 2010 being a bad time for r&b albums ever coming out but

"an album w/o marquee guests and a clear slam-dunk single"

"'All I Want Is You' is the debut single by American R&B recording artist Miguel released as the lead single from his debut album All I Want Is You (2010). The song features rapper J. Cole and was produced by Salaam Remi."

Cole was coming off a guest spot on Blueprint 3 and an XXL Freshman namecheck, among other signs that he was a "priority artist"

Cole hadn't had anything resembling a hit at that point, nor had he released an album. He was just an industry bench player; definitely not a draw with a halo effect.

Looking back at the chart history it looks like "All I Want Is You" was performing respectably on the charts around the time the album came out, so I may be relying on faulty memory, but there was something chintzy and rushed about the album's release. It didn't feel at all like the rollout of a star.

Just kind of seemed like in an era of aggressive A&R tinkering and shoehorned Wayne and Ross features the album slipped under the label's radar in some ultimately fortuitous ways.

I'd say K Michelle is

― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, December 10, 2017 8:08 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i would say dawn but R&B is open to interp

― Chocolate-covered gummy bears? Not ruling those lil' guys out. (ulysses), Sunday, December 10, 2017 8:29 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

itt insane posts

i'm guessing you're going with keef

K Michelle, Fantasia, two albums worth of Kehlani -- I'm cool with any of them.

rihanna not doing too bad from that time period either

yikes, low bar with some of these picks

miguel/beyonce solid contenders

which picks?

yours mostly lol

i dunno, i really like some of the music K michelle and fantasia have put out but i have a hard time seeing anyone making an enthusiastic case for them as artists of the decade. maybe i'm too out of step with the R&b consensus these days though