Miguel learned a lot from his first foray in music, not just from a recording point of view but from a business standpoint.
Speaking of his journey in a recent interview, Miguel said “The first record was me trying to balance creativity and business.”
“As an artist I try not to pay too much attention to what’s going on in music around me, what are the trends on radio or the charts. I want the art and the music to be completely unique, without influence, without any added expectation. I do want to be successful – just about all my favorite music has been popular – but that has to be creative too. It has to fit who I am as an artist,” Miguel shared with the Chicago Tribune this week. “I’m a young guy, an even younger artist, and a less experienced businessman with a lot to learn. There are other forces out there that go into making any product successful. The first record was me trying to balance creativity and business, and I learned a lot from that – including what not to do. Experience lent itself to what this album became and gave me confidence to push harder for what I really wanted.”
With the success of “Kaleidoscope Dream,” which has propelled him to a new level of recognition and stardom – landing tours with Trey Songz and Alicia Keys (among other things) – Miguel believes the album benefited from small releases, reaching those who couldn’t consume his music before due to a cluttered music market.
“I learned a lot from my first album, and how I wanted to connect with my fan base as well as engage a broader audience,” Miguel says. “The purpose of releasing the album in smaller parts was to engage people who didn’t have time to consume an entire album all at once. There is so much content being put out by so many artists, there’s not enough time to absorb it all.”
As recently reported, Miguel has signed on to tour with Alicia Keys next year. The two broke the news in an online chat Tuesday night, while promoting Keys’ new album “Girl on Fire,” which is due in stores Tuesday, Nov. 27. Miguel is also featured on that album and will embark on the tour March of next year.
