Miguel Hints At A New Album After An Eight-Year Break
Miguel has assured his fans that they won’t have to wait long for his upcoming album.
Caos, the 40-year-old singer’s follow-up to 2017’s War and Leisure, was released on October 23 after eight years of waiting.
The Sure Thing hitmaker needed to “step away” from the music business for a while because he had lost interest in it over the long break, but he continued to write songs.
“I lost my love for the business of creating and everything that comes with it: the scrutiny, the disappointment, the unpredictability,” he said to GRAMMY.com, adding that he had never lost his love for creating. There are numerous unreliable variables. Even if you make the greatest choices after looking at the data, you may still be left with hope.
“I can’t even pinpoint it; there’s a lot of divine timing in this thing, and a lot of it is larger than you. Who knew Sure Thing would return years later and become the number one song on mainstream radio? Who would have guessed that streaming would overtake blogs, that radio would no longer be the primary source of music discovery?
I eventually lost the motivation to push myself through my work. Finding a way to make that feel worthwhile again took some time.
He said, “Yeah, I love to cook,” when asked if he was still actively creating music. I will always enjoy cooking.
“There’s still real joy in creating,” Miguel exclaimed. It got hard, but I never stopped. I didn’t want to conceive of it as a “body of work,” or had to come up with a story that people could follow or a rollout strategy. In addition, there is the pressure to have a danceable tune, take pictures, conduct interviews, respond to the same questions, deal with things being taken out of context, and then hit the stage. I needed to take a break for a time because I had simply reached a point where I wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue doing all of that.
Miguel is committed to creating new music and doing everything in his power to support the growth of “Black, brown, and Latino artists.”
“No, I’ve got plenty more,” he said when asked if fans will have to wait a long time for his next full-length release. It took eight years away to produce twelve tracks.
“I’ve planned out the next ten years, and we’re starting the tour in February. My current focus is on being as productive as possible, not only for myself but also for all the left-of-center Black, brown, and Latino artists who want funding and growth. I want to invest in their future by using my time, effort, resources, and network. That’s the next step, and I can’t wait to get out of bed each day and accomplish it.
“I had the good fortune to serve as executive producer on the documentary Papa Melissa, which recently made its premiere to rave acclaim at Mexico’s largest film festival. It tells the amazing human story of a Mexican family whose father changes into a woman. Along with continuing to make music, I hope to work on additional projects like that.
