The Daily Spin, November 22
Miguel | Wildheart
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023.
Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here. Additionally, you can check out a list of my favorite songs from each album right here.
Album: Wildheart (2015)
Artist: Miguel
Link:
At a time where the landscape of RnB was sexy, but dominated by crooners mostly talking about slinging dong, Miguel splashed onto the scene with a refreshing perspective on romance, one that made a lot of his earlier dabbles across genres feel a great deal more authentic.
Around the same time that Leon Bridges and Frank Ocean rose to popularity, Miguel dropped this, Wildheart, his second full-length, an album that, as with the work of the other two mentions, attempts to revolutionize what this sort of bedroom RnB can sound like - and I’d argue that the three of them, as a triad, have been delightfully successful in that regard.
Beyond the positive social implications of this album, it’s just fucking good music. Somewhere between rock, RnB, and electronica, comfortably settling the differences between the three with all the tightly orchestrated melodies and harmonies that you’d expect from someone twenty years into their career, the album just rips. A lot of the vocal harmonization is fantastic, well beyond his time, pulling forth echoes of Prince in its higher moments, and even when not, it’s this delightful infusion of guitar into a genre that had become so overtaken by kick drums and low synths.
It’s fun to listen to, it’s an album versatile in many situations, and it’s hot. What’s not to like?
Rating: 8.5/10
Best Tracks: coffee; waves; leaves
Worst Tracks: destinado a morir (enter.lewd)