Miguel – Kaleidoscope Dream

Miguel – Kaleidoscope Dream
RCA: 2012

Miguel’s sophomore album, Kaleidoscope Dream, arrives at a time when R&B music is in an extremely strong place. His contemporaries—from “underground” favorites the Foreign Exchange to 2012’s king of the world (Frank Ocean)—continue to push the boundaries of a genre that some were quick to say was on life support just a year or two ago. Of course, those same folks seemed to overlook the fact that Miguel, among others, was dominating the Billboard charts and radio waves with singles like “Quickie”, “All I Want Is You”, and “Sure Thing”. Sure, his debut, All I Want Is You, was underwhelming as a whole, but it displayed that this dude definitely had it in him to make something brilliant.

But Kaleidoscope Dream is not that “something brilliant,” though it treads very closely to that peak. Musically, this LP is right up there with the “oh shit” moments you heard on the Weeknd’s trio of mixtapes and Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange. Forget everything you knew about “conventional R&B”—meaning both what’s on the radio and what you look for online—because stylistically, Kaleidoscope Dream does it all. This includes a stripped-down guitar-driven tune (“Pussy is Mine”), a stadium-status anthem for first-time lovers (“Use Me”), and a stunning jam-turned-Zombies interpolation (“Don’t Look Back”). Even when Miguel does get “conventional,” it results in him churning out the best R&B single of the year. That would be “Adorn”, one of the most heartfelt love songs of the past decade, if not longer. It’s a timeless lovey-dovey jam with enough modern touches to make it, you know, dominate the radio like it has.

Where this album begins to slide down from its summit is in the details. The aforementioned “Pussy is Mine” is admittedly playful and used as an interlude of sorts, as his studio engineers and players tell him to “get serious” at the end. But it’s still laden with cringe-worthy lyrics, as are the otherwise great “Do You…” and “How Many Drinks?”. On the former, you have Miguel doing his playboy thing asking a female if she likes drugs and hugs. Aww. It’s also so musically sharp that saying anything negative feels sacrilegious, but it’s kind of … corny. And when he sings sweetly “I wanna do you like drugs,” there’s an air of bi-polar smooth-sleaziness. Later on “How Many Drinks?”, Miguel shows off his slowly improving rapping talents that you heard previously on Nas’ “Summer on Smash”. Whereas that was a surprising lil’ treat, “How Many Drinks?” stumbles as it moves into eye-roll territory with lines like “Let me dig that out like a fossil.” Sigh.

There’s no question that R&B artists have always walked the line between lover-man and fucker-dude; meaning they’re handing you a rose at one moment and then looking to deflower you seconds later. It’s that kind of mentality that makes guys like The-Dream, the Weeknd, and Miguel so difficult to digest without suffering from heartburn. They are both musically and lyrically innovative, but they’re also like that good-lookin’, quick-talkin’ dude at the club who molests you with his eyes. Subtlety is a tricky thing, y’all, and it’s forever gone when Miguel belts out “Devour me!” at the top of his solid-gold pipes on “Use Me”. And it’s that imbalance that makes Kaleidoscope Dream a damn-good album, but not a great one.

3.5 out of 5