Feature: Miguel’s Art Dealer Chic

When Miguel walks into a hotel room at The Star casino he looks fresh (partly due to the hint of shimmery makeup catching the light on his temples) and placid. Perhaps it was the LA native’s brimming industry showcase at the casino’s Marquee nightclub the night prior, where the skirts and the button-ups show immeasurable skin and a table reservation will set you back $10,000; however it’s more likely he’s humbled by his Mariah Carey collaboration #Beautiful. The single quickly sold a million copies by last August, charted at #6 on the ARIA Chart and most impressively, marked his third single to do so. The song succeeded 2012’s Sure Thing – a track he wrote when selling extended car warranties in LA – and 2013’s seductive siren song, Adorn. “Art and culture are supposed to reflect the time period and what’s supposed to be going on.” Miguel props himself against two couch cushions as he takes on the awkward task of explaining his place in music’s current landscape. “In this day and age, information is the new hot commodity and attention is the new hot commodity. The way I reflect the times, is that my music isn’t one thing, in that it incorporates all of my influences.”

His moniker Miguel is obviously a mononym; born to a Mexican father and African American mother, Miguel Jontel Pimentel is a reaction to the classic rock, blues and hip hop he continues to grow against. His neo-soul amalgam gently requests women drop to their knees whilst instilling chivalry – no mean feat for an artist boxed into a genre pregnant with objectification and unintelligent sexual innuendo.

At 27, Miguel has already been scorned by the music industry, released two full-lengths and five EPs (including a soon-to-be four volume EP series), injured a woman at the Billboard Awards, and made headlines on celebrity gossip websites for a drunk-driving arrest the same month #Beautiful hit the million mark. Yet it seems a man scorned is a man determined; Miguel has a lot to prove and with the genius of Sam Cooke’s impromptu trill and a resolve to wear his heart on his sleeve, his new wave of R’n’B is in direct rebuttal to the current grasp of the genre that he refers to as “washed out and repetitive”.

“You can see it coming from a mile away. It’s not interesting; that’s our perception of R’n’B and that’s why it’s become a lost thing.”

Miguel may not be the only R’n’B anomaly to tinker with the formula, but if his female fans can listen to his music and still call themselves feminists, then he’s at the very least found a balance. “When I am discussing love or romance or sex it’s normally from a very honest and vulnerable place. I cut straight to the chase, even when it’s about picking up on a girl […] I say exactly what I’m feeling and I think that’s at the very least respectable. Even if you don’t like it, or even if a woman didn’t like that, I think she can respect that.”

In reality, Miguel’s honest resolve is inspired by the past. He lists ‘60s R’n’B acts like Marvin Gaye, lyricists like Prince and of course, Michael Jackson, as his influences. Unsurprisingly, all these of the aforementioned leave women feeling mesmerised not objectified.

“My favourite R’n’B bands and R’n’B musicians had this transparency that allowed them to do exactly what they thought,” he says, his gold chain swaying. “I think we’ve lost familiarity with that kind of music so maybe that’s why it may feel like ‘wait, how is it that he can he tell me that pussy’s mine and women can listen to it and enjoy it and it feels romantic?’ Because I’m not saying it in a brash way. I don’t know how to explain it, but there’s a transparency. It’s not said completely out of bravado because it’s rooted in vulnerability.

“I‘m not going to pretend like I’m trying to be cool with you when I’m really trying to get your pants off, and then when you don’t take them off I get all offended – I’m not going to do that.

“I’ve never been the clever dude to game my way in, I’ve just never been that dude. I’m not a slick dude. I’ve just found that honesty is what works best for me. I think really I’m a good guy – it’s a nice balance.”

It hasn’t been an easy ride for this almond-eyed straight talker. His debut album All I Want Is You remained dormant for two years and struggled to reach ears when it did see the light of day, due to legal hassles with his former production company. Not to mention the record-company expenditures from Jive Records offsetting his moderate sales. Jive’s sub-label Bystorm Entertainment endeavoured to market him as an R’n’B act, which Miguel believes contributed to his stunted green years. “I think at the time people had this perception of me as being a fly-by-night artist and that’s why I think my first album was overlooked so much,” he muses. “Marketing makes a big difference in this game, it is the visual age.”

Today, he’s assertive and cautious of his projection. After the interview, TMN asked Miguel if he wouldn’t mind conducting the photo-shoot in the bedroom of the hotel suite – he declined and said he wanted to avoid any R’n’B clichés. Miguel has been exercising heavy control over his public image for over a year now; before the release of Kaleidoscope Dream in September 2012, he self-released his micro-EP series Art Dealer Chic. The three volumes comprise nine songs and just about 30 minutes of music, which he created over a period of three months. The project saw Miguel producing, shooting music videos and even painting the dreams that inspired it. “Logically it was like, ‘How do I remain relevant and how do I tread water? Or at least stay afloat in these tides as people are releasing loads and loads of music, without sacrificing my convictions that my music is valuable?’” Released through his label of the same name, Art Dealer Chic forced the industry and fans alike to stand up and take notice. Its genre- crossing eclecticism faded the R’n’B epithet and built anticipation for Kaleidoscope Dream, which debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200 and sold more than 322,000 copies in the US, as of February (Nielsen SoundScan).

“Free music is the standard now. An artist almost has to put out free music and I’m all about that. But at the same time an artist has to value music for what it’s supposed to be and that’s art,” he says with articulate poise. “It’s supposed to be an artistic expression. You can’t give away your feelings for your entire life. We start to devalue the creative process and your entire creativity if you continue just giving yourself for free.”

Earlier this year Miguel set to work on the EP series’ follow-up. The release will be presented in the same fashion: self-funded and dripfed over three months. Hitting stores through July, August and September, it will come with clothing he’s designed, conceivably his balanced the mediums as to not undervalue his work.

And while the new interest in publicising his artistic expression in more tangible ways may be new to us, the essence behind the product hasn’t changed.

“I’m always painting my reality, at every single turn at every point, it’s always a paint brush in my fucking hand and I’m choosing the colours. So I choose whether or not I’m living a beautiful life, an abundant life, or if I’m living in chaos.”

Miguel’s career beginnings as an underdog act – too green to speak up to label execs – should only be viewed as half of the backdrop that lead to his ascent; a cursory look at his past twelve months proves his hunger to transcend pigeon-holing was coursing through his veins long before he began rewriting pop culture patterns.

When asked to reflect on his past year Miguel smiles and sits forward. “I hope that they’re ready to strap in,” he says, “because we’re about to make it a lot more progressive.”

 Miguel is touring next month with Bruno Mars. Click here for details.

This article (and numerous others) feature in the Australian Music Industry Quarterly – out now. To get a copy delivered to you for $9.95, click here.