Now Playing
Daniel SannwaldMiguel tells Paper magazine in a new interview that the political themes woven into his newest album, War & Leisure, had “been in the back of my head for some time.”
“I think it was understanding my body of work and trying to make heads or tails of it,” he says.
The “Told You So” singer continues, “I just felt an overwhelming sense of inspiration that’s pulling in opposite directions, on every level. When I really sat down to think about what those opposing forces were, that was my best way to describe it.”
When asked by the publication if politics was something he’d always been engaged with, Miguel replies, “I wouldn’t say that I’m super-involved in politics now.”
“I think War & Leisure in general is more about, not even the political aspect, but just energy. It’s what’s permeating my reality, it’s what I feel and what I’m experiencing.”
He adds, “I am more aware of what’s happening politically, socially and whatnot. I’m a lot more sensitive to it now.”
“But I wouldn’t say this is a political album. The album is a good representation of what’s occupying my mind in this space and time.”
“I want to be an artist whose personal life is really reflected in their music,” Miguel explains.
“If I didn’t include some of the things that are happening in the ethos and the things that I’m seeing and paying attention to and that I care about, if I didn’t include those topics in my music, I think it wouldn’t be a real, honest representation.”
War & Leisure is available everywhere now.
Copyright © 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
