Are we going to receive a new Miguel album sometime in the near future? No official announcement about a follow-up to 2015’s excellent Wildheart has been made, and Miguel himself hasn’t even dropped any hints, but as the saying goes, where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Smoke, in this case, is randomly-released singles and/or loosies, of which there have now been two in the past couple of weeks.
First came lush pop play “Sky Walker,” arriving decked out with a Travi$ Scott guest verse and a luxurious video from Director X. Close on its heels is “Shockandawe,” a shorter and less radio-ready jam that gets Miguel back to the rock influence he explored on his last album. It features not one, but two electric guitar tracks, the first opening the song with a phased-out reggae strut, and the second being of the grimy, vaguely Latin-sounding persuasion that dominated the charts in the early 2000s, mostly thanks to the Neptunes. In fact, “Shockandawe” might be the best N*E*R*D homage made by anyone not named Tyler, The Creator in the past five years.
Befitting the swaggering instrumental, Miguel flexes in a sort of half-assed sing-song that has a “Don’t try this at home” appeal to it– he sounds great even when it sounds like he’s not trying. He speaks of dropping bombs (which is echoed in the single artwork), running shit, playing the hero, and has a somewhat confusing line about “the media” trying to take him down. Has there ever been a major headline about Miguel’s personal life? Dude’s managed to keep a relatively low profile, but maybe that’s because he’s been watching his back like this.
Miguel’s never released a 7” vinyl single before, but we’re just saying, “Sky Walker” with “Shockandawe” as the B-side would be a killer 7” vinyl single. But more so than that, let’s get the ball rolling on an album. More news (hopefully) soon.
