R&B singer Miguel is in an odd position. To the average music enthusiast, they associate him with the romantic staples that define 2010s nostalgia: “Sure Thing,” “Girl With The Tattoo Enter.lewd,” “Adorn,” and “All I Want is You.” These tracks have brought couples together ever since they were released, and are a core aspect of his musical identity. However, with his first studio album and tour in eight years, Miguel experiments with new styles, topics, and imagery that bring chaos to his role in the R&B game. Although originally advised to cancel tour dates due to album sales, Miguel’s bold pivot resonated just fine with the sold-out crowd at Houston’s 713 Music Hall.
For those attending the concert but unfamiliar with the change in sound, opening act Jean
Dawson set the tone for what to expect. Dawson, also of Afro-Latino heritage and genre-bending style, has collaborated with artists from Mac DeMarco and Earl Sweatshirt to A$AP Rocky and SZA. His music is primed for a concert environment, with alt-rock guitars and a punk cadence that elevated the crowd’s responsiveness, even those who were unfamiliar with him.
By the time Miguel took the stage, the crowd was more packed than my homemade burritos. The enthusiasm for Miguel’s long-awaited headline return to Houston was in the air, and the singer immediately returned the favor with a grand entrance of his own: through a cloud of smoke, energetically strumming on guitar chords (flanked by two more guitarists playing the longer tempos, a unique aspect of the night). Through the night, fans could look forward to a 25-song setlist, with Miguel playing all but one song from his newest album: CAOS.
The Grammy-award winning artist has always used theatrics as a strength of his, but it shone through especially on this tour. A larger-than-life mask, emblematic of the album’s personal growth themes, gave instigating commentary as Miguel brushed through his own anger: about ICE tearing his community apart, about unnecessary war, about the pedophiles that run the U.S. government, and about the need for “us” to start class warfare (Miguel’s net worth is between $12-15 million, which is ostensibly more than his average fan but also ostensibly less than the billionaire class). Sitting on top of a car flipped upside down, the singer spray-painted “ICE OUT” and demonstrated the dystopian motif present throughout his new project, and unfortunately, in the real world. He never said it outright, but the message was clear: this Miguel can no longer be boxed in by love songs.
CAOS, as a record, is a bit messy. Songs are scattered by genre and topic, and as Miguel mentioned – there’s no hit single tying the album together. Fortunately, alongside giving multiple interviews, he riffed about tracks like “Angel’s Song,” centering on his child as the peace in his chaos — “I forget the world’s unraveling when I’m looking at you” serving as a standout line. This gave the songs a sense of emotional depth in a live environment.
Long-time Miguel fans were not disappointed in any regard. “How Many Drinks?” may have played in the beginning of the show, but it generated a musical momentum that would not stop until the final note of the night. The 2017 deep cut “Anointed,” gaining recent prominence on social media, was his vocal highlight. Meanwhile, the hits that we’ve all come to know as our escapism have found a new life on this tour: prioritizing love and community in a world that wants us angry at our neighbors, fighting with our partners, and letting worry paralyze us from action. Although he’s working through the chaos of life, Miguel’s place in R&B greatness is a “Sure Thing.”
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