Bill Graham Civic Auditorium

cha·os (Spanish: caos)

/ˈkāˌäs/ noun

• complete disorder and confusion.
• behavior so unpredictable as to appear random, owing to great sensitivity to small changes in conditions.

In order to rebuild, one’s former self must be destroyed. That’s a lesson that the Multi-Platinum, Grammy Award winning Miguel has learned over the years. Through the course of four albums, Miguel has carved a niche for himself that has not only galvanized a global fan base, but has dictated trends for the current music landscape, across genres. With his fifth studio album CAOS, the stakes are raised for Miguel Pimentel. He’s in a new era of his life and career, geared for the next chapter while delivering his most vulnerable work to date.

Miguel first arrived in the very early aughts as both a singer, songwriter, and producer from Los Angeles, eager to cut his teeth in the industry. He worked with top tier talent like Usher and Musiq Soulchild, while building a recording career of his own. Miguel released his major label debut in 2010 titled All I Want Is You, a project that catalyzed his stardom, most notably through its title track, along with the single “Sure Thing.” While the latter was first introduced on social media a few years prior to the release, it’s since reverberated for over a decade, finding a second life on TikTok. “It was so nice to see that song hit again,” Miguel recalls. It’s a testament to the longevity he cultivates through every lyric he writes and beat he produces, as other songs like “Quickie,” and “Girl With The Tattoo” have also transcended generations as newly discovered favorites. “I don’t aim for anything less than timeless music,” he adds. It was 2012’s Kaleidoscope Dream, however, that arguably baptized Miguel as a generational voice, one who is both the prototype and the archetype. His lead single “Adorn” became an instant classic, earning Miguel his first Grammy Award for Best R&B Song in 2013. From Wildheart in 2015 to War & Leisure in 2017, Miguel’s voice and presence were a mainstay in music. His was a sound and style that others have aspired to achieve.

But heavy is the head who wears the crown.

Eight years have passed since Miguel released his last project, and so much has happened in the way of his life and career. CAOS is a culmination of the emotions and experiences that Miguel has embodied along the way. From grief, to heartache, fatherhood, love, sex, and overall identity, CAOS is just as intense as it is honest. “The past eight years have been so unpredictable—and for lack of a better word chaotic—in terms of having any kinds of guarantees or any semblance of normalcy,” he reflects. “Whether it’s a global pandemic or a new election, our beliefs overall have been challenged.” He continues, “Personally, it has been a challenge to my own core beliefs and a real wanting to know myself and the ‘Why?’ while finding a deeper ‘Why?’ in the process.” As a famed recording artist, in order to do that, he had to recalibrate. “In retrospect, there was a lot of value that I was giving away and putting in the hands of other people,” he says. “I wanted to really own my value and take the time to understand how to do that.” He enlisted an A-list group of friends to help him produce CAOS, including Dave Sitek of TV on the Radio, Ray Brady (b.k.a. RRReymundo)—who has produced for the likes of Kilo Kish, Santigold, and

Vince Staples, as well as Grammy Award winning Jeff Bhasker, who has produced for everyone from Kanye West to Harry Styles, and Lana Del Rey. Miguel checks in on the production as always, even playing the drums on the album.

The project is intentionally sequenced, bringing the listener on a journey through the ebbs and flows of Miguel’s life during this highly transitional near-decade period for him. He began reflecting on how music affected him in his youth, from Alternative Rock to Psychedelic, Latin, and everything in between. Harnessing those emotions became his compass in creating music that enables that evocation in others. The title track is an experimental ride, as Miguel sets the stage for what’s to come. He tempers that introduction with cuts like “The Killing” and “RIP,” using the music as a sonic counterbalance to his poignant lyrics. His mindset is almost Nietzschean, questioning the distinction between living and dying, with the understanding that in order to be reborn, parts of him must die, while also grappling with losing people around him.

“It started with loss, so dealing with death and then it happens almost every year after that first loss,” he explains. “And then, inevitably grief has to be addressed, avoiding that grief in my own ways, and simultaneously looking at the breadth of my work and maybe losing sight of the ‘Why?’ again. Like, ‘What am I doing this for?’ It wasn’t really giving me the thing that was exciting me before. There was something else that I needed.” You can feel these realizations throughout the work, as songs like “El Plaito” are deeply personal, locking into Miguel’s Mexican heritage, while also speaking of his family and the broader societal landscape, while “Perderme” dissects that aforementioned lost feeling in a multitude of ways and “Angel’s Song” speaks vulnerably of fatherhood. “Everything was chosen with the holistic intention of revealing that this is my energy,” he adds. “This is what I’m coming from, and this is where I’m going.”

Other cuts like “New Martyrs,” “Oscillate,” and “Always Time” bring the signature, hypnotic Miguel style, only elevated, while “Triggered” brings out another side of the artist that boldly echoes the “chaotic” ethos of the work. The album’s closer “Comma Karma” is a deep reflection of the hope of finding peace, even in the eye of the storm.

With a career that spans over two decades, Miguel is never one to tread lightly in his work, and CAOS is no exception. A visionary, a trailblazer, yet above all a human, Miguel is revealing on CAOS just as much as he is reveling. It’s been a long time coming, but he’s back. “At this point, there are two types of Miguel fans: those who are fans of my hits, and those who truly fuck with me,” he says. “This one is for the fans who truly fuck with me.”