Miguel recognizes both the romance and the risk embedded in the City of Angels, a clear-eyed balance that makes Wildheart as bracing as a plunge into the Pacific.
As with Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly, another work whose laser-focused assuredness counterpoises the ambivalence on display here, Wildheart stands out as a collection of songs about the significance of roots, using an assortment of West Coast imagery to communicate the splintered state of the artistic psyche Miguel presents.
On Wildheart, Miguel excels in embodying the name of the album by being an artist both making a progressive album, but also uncovering more knowledge of self in the process, too.
On Wildheart, Miguel makes good on all of his cross-genre dabbling of the past five years, but unlike the track-based experiments that dotted his two prior LPs and five mixtapes, he extrapolates the heavy funk across an entire album.
Miguel writes nothing but memorable melodies and his songwriting is the engine that makes Wildheart all work, that takes his affinity for funk, psychedelia and Prince, and turns them an album that feels totally of the moment.
Wildheart is his finest and most stubborn statement yet — a provocative, swooning mess, the 45-minute manifestation of that alternately deranged and inspired five-minute SNL performance. It also just might be one of the best rock albums of 2015.
You can hear the work Miguel put into making 'Wildheart' a true assertion of his growth as an artist. The production is expansive and layered, never resting on its laurels.
His previous albums were sonically scattered and eclectic, but Wildheart mints a signature musical style; moreover, it’s a signature musical style that doesn’t sound much like anyone else.
His third - and best - album moves farther away from beat-oriented R&B toward music that's heavy guitars, sex and hazy Cali vibes.
It’s not quite as satisfying as Kaleidoscope Dream, but it expands that album’s palette, pushing Miguel into further depths without submerging him in the squalor.
There’s an occasional tendency for the guitars to spill into the clunky arena rock territory preferred by Lenny Kravitz – who shreds on ‘Face The Sun’ – but ‘Wildheart’ impresses nonetheless.
Wildheart is a beautiful album from one of the most exciting and talented artists in music right now.
Wildheart is a leap in the right direction but Miguel hasn't shed off all of pop's restrictive trappings just yet.
Even with his sexy talk sometimes failing as foreplay, Wildheart is a magnificent, swirling epic of longing, love, and lust.
Wildheart sees Miguel expanding and refining his sound, and while not every experiment hits its mark, the result is an ambitious and moving album.
There's nothing on Wildheart to make one lose faith in Miguel's promise as a major creative and popular force of the decade, but neither is there enough to feel like he has satisfied his warring sides.
Wildheart is the sound of Miguel fully coming into his own identity. Now, we just have to wait for him to do something with it.
In attempting to avoid being part of a scene, the paucity of ideas becomes stark. Wildheart impresses in parts, and Miguel’s vocals are a thing to behold. For the most part, however, it’s a record that struggles to fully hold your attention.
Thanks so much @goncalocouto for the recommendation!
Extremely catchy! I really love this!
From the first track Wildheart sunk it's hooks into me, I had a lot of fun listening to this :)
From the very beginning of the album, Miguel took a tight grip of my attention with the groovy guitar riffs on “a beautiful exit”. Right off the bat, I was taken aback by sounds and instrumentation that I was not expecting from an rnb record and Miguel just kept the surprises coming through all 16 songs. This is an incredibly unique and exciting musical ride through the world of passion, sex and self doubt and it is one that I will soon find myself enjoying again.
Without a ... read more
in the middle of a relisten and just wanted to make it known this is one of my favourite r&b albums and it is unbelievably underappreciated
Hey bitches Guess what? I think i found my favourite R&B album now! And that's not a shitty-ass tiktok album!
"Wildheart" Is where Miguel (5 Years After he dropped the most corny debut album in his career) Is showing to everyone his psychedelic but very wild side.
Unlike his debut (*All i want Is you*... what a ass title name lol) & kaleidoscope Dreams, this album Is a fusion of Andrea Triana's Lost where i belong vibes with thee oh sees/temples's neo-psychedelic vibes, with ... read more
1 | a beautiful exit 3:05 | 83 |
2 | DEAL 4:18 | 80 |
3 | the valley 3:06 | 87 |
4 | coffee 4:47 | 84 |
5 | NWA 3:34 feat. Kurupt | 82 |
6 | waves 3:22 | 92 |
7 | what's normal anyway 3:14 | 88 |
8 | Hollywood Dreams 3:17 | 83 |
9 | destinado a morir (enter.lewd) 1:20 | 86 |
10 | ...goingtohell 4:04 | 83 |
11 | FLESH 4:30 | 86 |
12 | leaves 3:23 | 90 |
13 | face the sun 4:33 feat. Lenny Kravitz | 90 |
#1 | / | TIME |
#4 | / | Crack Magazine |
#4 | / | Idolator |
#5 | / | Mashable |
#6 | / | Slant Magazine |
#8 | / | Pitchfork |
#9 | / | Time Out New York |
#10 | / | Noisey |
#11 | / | The Guardian |
#12 | / | Entertainment Weekly |