Love, lust and liquor-soaked late nights are the themes that make up LA singer/songwriter Miguel‘s particular brand of libidinous R&B. Yet in creating his third album, Wildheart, the Jessie Ware and Mariah Carey collaborator is hoping people will dig a little deeper to unearth a more rebellious message behind his super sexy songwriting. “This album is way better lyrically than [my second album] Kaleidoscope Dreams,” says Miguel, sipping a post-Chiltern Firehouse, restorative green tea, a few days before the release of the new record. “This record is a call to action. Wildheart is the action of the faith. It’s the moniker that says, I stand by my beliefs, I stand by my principles, I stand by my passion and it’s evident in my actions. It’s the belief that nothing great and nothing special, nothing timeless or of note was ever accomplished by being faint of heart or timid or fearful. It’s all about having that little bit of delusion, that little bit of fucking crazy to just ignore everything, ignore the negativity. You choose your life. Do what makes you happy and don’t let the programming dictate who and what the fuck you are and what you believe in and what you wanna do and who you wanna be and who you wanna love and how you wanna love. I believe that we all can have it all. You can, you will, you just have to do it. You are against the fucking grain and you live your passion. I just believe that everyone should do that and that’s what Wild Heart is. A call to action.”
What music did you grow up on?
It was just me and my mom when was I was a kid and she was all about soul and jazz standards. Just older, ‘clean’ music. The Hernando’s Hideaway, that really reminds me of my mom. [Singing] “I know a dark secluded place, a place where no one knows your face…”
It reminds me of driving in her Honda Civic, back and forth to school. I’m thinking of a specific time, 5th grade, when I was in a Performing Arts school. That was my favorite grade cuz I was finally around all these artsy kids and I felt right at home. Those mornings driving to school were amazing. We would listen to this tape she had with a bunch of amazing standards, like The Hernando’s Hideaway, Mr. Sandman, Fats Domino’s Blueberry Hill. I remember figuring out what he was talking about and being like ‘ah, clever’.
What about the first record you bought?
Boyz II Men. Motown Philly. After that, I was super into underground hip hop. All throughout middle school it was straight R&B shit and hip hop, whatever was on the radio. It was the 90s so that was the best hip hop you could hear anyway, whether on the radio or otherwise. After that it was lots and lots of Dilla — anything from Detroit. I was way into it. My boy put me on to all these amazing musicians like Dwele, all of the Soulquarians, D’Angelo, Bilal, The Roots, Musiq Soulchild…
Who was your favorite artist from that era?
Jill Scott. She is insanely talented and so sexy. So sexy. Actually, I ran into her at the K West [hotel in London] years ago on one of my first trips here. She was super sweet and she knew my music, which blew my mind. She invited us to her show, so we went down. She was dating a mutual friend at that time, we’d had the same keyboard player too, so it was all love. I remember watching that show and thinking ‘I would really try to fuck the shit out of Jill Scott’. For real, she’s sexy. She’s amazing.
What’s your favorite heartbreak track?
[Heartbreak] has only really happened one time, just before I released the first album. All I Want Is You, which I wrote and it’s about the woman I’m still with. We went through some things back then. So that song is very much rooted to her, to us.
Which song do you wish you had written?
Man, there are so many. Foster The People, Pumped Up Kicks. [Sings] “All those kids with the pumped up kicks better run, better run, faster than my bullet.” The song is essentially about a kid going into school and shooting up his fucking classmates. I just love shit like that, where it makes everyone sing this happy sounding song and it’s really about some fucked up shit. I love shit like that.
Sade’s Sweetest Taboo is supposed to be about anal sex…
Wait, what, really? You’re kidding me. Wow. Big shout to Sade. I knew she was a freak.
Who’s your best friend in music?
Probably [J] Cole. Of all the artists, Cole is the dude I can be like, ‘Bro, I don’t know about this right now, I’m really going through it’. He is a dude’s dude. He knows his fucking sports stats, he knows what the fuck is going on, he’s really thoughtful. It’s not that we talk on a consistent basis, but he’s just cool, we have the same intentions, we have the same goals. Also [President of RCA] Mark Pitts is hands down my mentor, my big bro, my fairy god-manager. He is the most stand-up dude I know in the industry. He is one of the last true music men, he has a really good heart, he loves hard, fights hard. If he doesn’t agree with what you doing, he will stand by you. He’s a good man. Which is rare. Very rare.
What/who are the people/sounds/places that have influenced Wildheart?
I’ll always go back to Hall & Oates, Marvin Gaye and David Bowie. Specifically Bowie and his storytelling. Bowie could go anywhere narratively, whereas I think my intention is to be more direct. Then there are the usual suspects like Michael Jackson, Prince, those that I grew up with. That’s a part of who I am: The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, a little bit of Queen. The place would be Los Angeles, hands down. Big time. This is like a completely LA-centric album. Twilight, right when the sun is setting. It’s the best, most tangible experience, and it perfectly describes how I wanted the album to sound. I wanted it to sound like twilight. What else? My beliefs really. How do we get people to say, ‘Fuck it’. A lot of songs will be taken at face value for the most part as being about love and lust. I am hoping interviews like this and the visuals that we are creating will help tell it the way that I mean it, so that kids can really understand it.
What song would you like played at your funeral?
Good Thoughts Bad Thoughts by Funkadelic. It’s my favourite song and it’s probably the best example of exactly who he [George Clinton] is. [My second album] Kaleidoscope Dream is essentially building up off those ideas. It’s like, free your mind and your ass will follow.
What song do you like to listen to when you get high? Do you still get high?
Who doesn’t still get high? I love weed. I vape. It’s legal where I am so… One specific track is hard to say. I’ve been so in album mode. I need to catch up on what’s out there.
If you were to propose, and you could have any singer perform for you while you got down on one knee, who would it be?
Stevie Wonder and the song would be As. It’s kinda obvious but it’s one of the best songs ever written. The way it’s written is so vivid and it’s coming from someone who’s never seen. So there’s the context and on top of that, the sentiment is so simple but it’s so meaningful.
Who would you like to work with next?
Björk. Ennio Capasa, Creative director of CoSTUME NATIONAL, I’d love to work with him. Saul Williams, he is, like, the best.
What was the last piece of music you bought?
Royal Blood. That’s my shit.
Wildheart is out now.
Credits
Text Hattie Collins
Photography Stephanie Sian Smith