![]() ![]() (Even when he sang about drugs on "Do You…" it was all just a metaphor for love). The nag champa-tinged smokiness of earlier songs like "All I Want Is You", or the glowing synth arpeggios on "Adorn" and fuzzed out scales on "Gravity" expressed something more wholesome, hopeful, and musically psychedelic. ![]() Amidst the washed out presets and drum machines and drugged-out boasting of his peers, he was a guitar-toting outlier, more of a throwback to a sensual showboat like Ginuwine instead of a self-loathing narcissist like the Weeknd. Miguel has occupied a unique space in the awkward "alt-R&B" narrative of the last few years. You know the plan, conjectures of society," from the reverb-y opener "A Beautiful Exit"-are a testament to how Miguel's grown from radio-baiting R&B archetype to a maker of high-concept, genre-splicing pop music. The first words on this album-"Don't ever sell yourself short. If Frank Ocean is young soul's prismatic, consciousness-expanding Marvin Gaye, Miguel's the reliable Al Green. Languorous and detailed, it transcends the genre's established narratives with a focus on pleasure and partnership instead of one-sided pursuit. But all of these supposed libertines are focused on the primacy of male pleasure, treating their sexual experiences with all the reverence of a bunch of wadded-up tissues. On Wildheart, his third full-length album, Miguel, the writhing, pompadoured soul singer, has a similar focus, but it's sex-positive instead of sex-obsessed, a crucial difference. The current R&B landscape is painstakingly virile: From Jeremih to Trey Songz, Ty Dolla $ign to PARTYNEXTDOOR, men are singing about sex and love.
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