Miguel Jontel Pimentel (born October 23, 1985) is an American singer and songwriter who specializes in contemporary and alternative R&B.

After Jive's dissolution in 2011, he moved to RCA Records and released his second studio album, Kaleidoscope Dream (2012) to continued success, spawning the hit single "Adorn."

His third and fourth albums, Wildheart (2015) and War & Leisure (2017) further experimented with psychedelic and alternative influences; the former peaked at number two on the Billboard 200 while latter contained the single "Sky Walker" (featuring Travis Scott), which received triple platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Miguel incorporates R&B, funk, hip hop, pop, rock and electronic styles into his music, and has been compared to vocalists Babyface and Prince.

[13] At a young age, Miguel was introduced to the older R&B his mother listened to,[12] and his father's musical tastes, including funk, hip hop, jazz and classic rock.

Later in 2004, Miguel was signed by independent record label Black Ice and started working on his studio album,[15] Young & Free.

[22][23] Miguel also released Mischief: The Mixtape; he explained that the title referred to his attempt to "[tell] people that there is an alternative to getting sort of the same thing".

[7] It initially performed poorly, debuting at number 109 on the Billboard 200 on 11,000 copies sold,[18] and was underpromoted by Jive,[7] amid the label's dissolution.

[24] The album's title track attained radio airplay, while Miguel toured as a supporting act for Trey Songz and Usher.

[39] During an energetic performance of "Adorn" at the Billboard Music Awards on May 19, Miguel failed in an attempt to leap across the stage, injuring two audience members in the process.

[41] It has also been the subject of controversy, with the show's producers claiming that they had denied the singer permission to attempt the leap, while Miguel's representatives have countered that no objections were raised during earlier rehearsals.

Miguel played a Cuban-American gangster in Ben Affleck's period crime drama Live by Night, which was released on December 25, 2016,[46][47] He covered Beyoncé's "Crazy in Love" for the theatrical trailers of Fifty Shades Darker (2017).

I'm just hoping to help educate myself on the realities of our immigration policy and also shed whatever light I can on the families dealing with cruel and unjust treatment in Adelanto.

Miguel partnered with Revolve Impact and headlined the Schools Not Prisons tour, along with other musicians, to spread awareness of mass incarceration throughout California.

[53] Miguel sang a duet of "Remember Me" with Natalia Lafourcade on the soundtrack of Disney Pixar's movie Coco, which debuted in theaters in the US on November 22, 2017.

In January 2019, Benny Blanco, Miguel, and Calvin Harris released a music video for the song "I Found You", in tandem with the While They Wait campaign, an initiative by Brooklyn Defender Services, Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services and American Civil Liberties Union which raises awareness about the challenges immigrants face while waiting for asylum.

Miguel personally replied physically on the social media platform and clarified verbally in the video to expect another, "project", by the end of the year.

Miguel identifies himself as part of the new wave of R&B artists that include Frank Ocean, The Weeknd and Elle Varner.

[4] Miguel cites musicians Prince, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, Freddie Mercury, Phil Collins, Donny Hathaway, The Notorious B.I.G., Kanye West, Saul Williams, Queen, Usher and Pharrell Williams as influences[59][60][61][62][63][64] in addition to expressing his admiration for Stevie Wonder, John Lennon and Diane Warren.

"[69] In LA Weekly Salaam Remi states: "Miguel is letting his art rule his whole flow, and that's the best place for an artist to be.

"[11] Speaking in 2021, media personality and culture critic Charlamagne tha God called Miguel "the greatest R&B singer of the past decade", adding that, "There's a lot of other brothers and sisters doing they thing man, but I'm just talkin' 'bout when it comes to like, that old OG traditional R&B that I love, you know.

[77] Miguel denied the accusation, calling it "bizarre" and "twisted," as well as claiming that Bass' story of what transpired is not accurate.