--- ---  # Review: The Third Time’s the Charm for Miguel by [Maura Johnston](https://time.com/author/maura-johnston/) ## Maura Johnston Jul 9, 2015 3:24 PM UTC  Miguel attends Dom Perignon Celebrates "Metamorphosis" Art Basel Miami Beach at Wall at W Hotel on December 4, 2014 in Miami Beach, Florida. Miguel attends Dom Perignon Celebrates "Metamorphosis" Art Basel Miami Beach at Wall at W Hotel on December 4, 2014 in Miami Beach, Florida.Andrew Toth—Getty Images by [Maura Johnston](https://time.com/author/maura-johnston/) ## Maura Johnston Jul 9, 2015 3:24 PM UTC In 2012 the Los Angeles–born Singer-Songwriter Miguel released his sophomore album, Kaleidoscope Dream; it sounded both heady and full of heart. The hit single “Adorn,” a slow-burn come-on, tore up radio and positioned Miguel as a player in pop, alongside fellow alt-R&B crossover acts like Frank Ocean and the Weeknd. His third album, Wildheart, out now, is nominally an R&B album, but he’s savvy enough to know that inspiration can come from a record store’s least familiar corners. The reverb-swaddled “leaves” plays on California’s mythical lack of seasons, while “FLESH” takes the listener to Erotic City and back, with magnifying-mirror lyrics delivered in impressive falsetto. Miguel has made such an impact on R&B–and, really, pop music as a whole–because of his willingness to be utterly himself. Take the bed-headed “Coffee,” in which he offers precise descriptions of the tiniest intimacies (“Peach color, moon glistens, the plot thickens/As we laugh over shotguns and tongue kisses”). His love songs–and their sexier siblings, like “the valley”–twist and curve and shift the way that people do in heightened states. Then there’s “what’s normal anyway,” in which Miguel sings frankly about not fitting into boxes musically or racially as a half-black, half-Mexican-American artist. That defiance of categorization makes Miguel go in unexpected directions. On Wildheart, all those sharp turns make for a thrilling ride. –MAURA JOHNSTON Review: For Miguel, the Third Time’s the Charm ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3951162/for-miguel-the-third-times-the-charm/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3951162/for-miguel-the-third-times-the-charm/"},"headline":"Review: The Third Time’s the Charm for Miguel","datePublished":"2015-07-09T15:24:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T09:05:58.923Z","description":"His new album borrows from many genres","url":"https://time.com/3951162/for-miguel-the-third-times-the-charm/","keywords":["Music"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6b96ea022f797af5/6987702a35ba6fbf76c06209/miguel1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maura Johnston","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maura-johnston/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6b96ea022f797af5/6987702a35ba6fbf76c06209/miguel1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Dom Perignon With Alex Dellal, Stavros Niarchos, And Vito Schnabel Celebrate \"Metamorphosis\" Art Basel Miami Beach","caption":"Dom Perignon With Alex Dellal, Stavros Niarchos, And Vito Schnabel Celebrate \"Metamorphosis\" Art Basel Miami Beach","creditText":"Andrew Toth—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3951162/for-miguel-the-third-times-the-charm/","name":"Review: The Third Time’s the Charm for Miguel"}}]}] ```