Miguel - Wildheart

Miguel
Wildheart
2015

Miguel has never followed the classic R&B soul singer path. He has always been a wide open book whether it comes to drug use, his love of women or his messiah complex. This theme not o9nly continues on Wildheart but Miguel has taken even more steps to separate himself for anything that could be associated with mainstream. His ideas and songs are far to big to be contained with hooks, catchy themes or being relatable to the masses. On Wildheart Miguel takes Neo-Soul into it's most psychedelic iteration, channeling Jimi, Prince and his other predecessors in the genre. Miguel's writing on this album is almost aggressively present, the moment seems to matter to him more than anything and having his songs grounded in that theme is of the utmost importance. Whether through sexual experience, drug use or the music itself Miguel revels his way of connecting with the Universe and wants you to go on the ride with him.

"Hollywood Dreams" is the first song in awhile to actually capture something new about Los Angeles, and pays homage to Miguel's hometown. The "hits" really aren't on this record, you would be hard pressed to find something that could actually make it onto the radio, especially the explicit version. "FLESH" however is a super powerful track and could have come right off Purple Rain or 1999. "leaves" shows Miguel at his absolute most vunerable, lamenting about his home and love lost it is also the track where he opens his voice up completely. It ends up most being Miguel and a guitar on that track something quite interesting. Wildheart lives up to its name, it is wild and full of heart, firmly grounded in Miguel's now signature exploratory style. This record is fascinating and will be one that people may not appreciate today, but they'll sure as hell remember it tomorrow.

8.2 out of 10