My biggest mistake from the previous year was not being interested in listening to Miguel’s new album. The reason for it was the fight he had with Frank Ocean. No matter how often these media fights occur, I consider them as lame, especially when main protagonists are top notch artists. Still, I must admit his reaction was kind of appropriate. Frank was instantly and universally accepted as a huge talent (remember, when Beyonce heard Nostalgia Ultra, she asked to meet Frank and he wrote many beautiful songs for her next album), while Miguel’s road to success was really per aspire ad astra. His great debut became sleeper hit, while the second album brought him deserved attention. It wasn’t until Wildheart, his third studio album released in the last quarter of 2015 that he confirmed his reputation as one of the most exciting r’n’b’ artists of 21st century.
The album is a typical r’n’b record about love and sex (tantric here and there). Miguel defined his work as having a wider discourse in a song Whats normal anyway, a track in which he confides about insecurities he had to overcome in his childhood. Later on, he had to deal with obstacles of being a child of Mexican guy and black girl. He wanted for this album to be represented as the story of Los Angeles, the story of his system of values, about sex, about psyche, lust and loneliness. Aggression and rawness of Wildheart make this album awesome. The topics I really appreciated were the ones covering shallow businessmen who are flaunting their wealth, lost girls who are dreaming about Hollywood success, bad girls chasing gangsters (NWA) and making love in the valley of San Fernando, a place of vibrant porno industry.
This album is both dedication to California and result of individuality Miguel was fighting for all these years. Definitely r’n’b album of 2015.
