War & Leisure
7 min read
Singles from War & Leisure
Released: August 24, 2017
Released: November 3, 2017
Released: April 10, 2018[3]
War & Leisure is the fourth studio album by American singer Miguel, released on December 1, 2017, through RCA Records.[4][5] The album was preceded by the release of the first single: “Sky Walker” featuring Travis Scott. The album features further guest appearances from Rick Ross, Quiñ, Kali Uchis, J. Cole and Salaam Remi, with production led by Miguel himself, alongside a variety of contributors including Happy Perez, Steve Mostyn, David Andrew Sitek. Detail, Raphael Saadiq, Jeff Bhasker, Jerry “Wonda” Duplessis and Remi, among others.
Contents
- 1 Background
- 2 Release and promotion
- 2.1 Promotional singles
- 3 Critical reception
- 4 Commercial performance
- 5 Track listing
- 6 Personnel
- 7 Charts
- 8 References
Background[edit]
He describes the album as having “political undertones, because that’s what life feels like right now”.[6] He also announced that a Spanish version of the album is in the works.[7]
Release and promotion[edit]
An early version of the song “Come Through and Chill” was uploaded to Miguel’s SoundCloud page on June 23, 2016. It did not feature vocals by J. Cole, but the version that appears on the album does.[8][9]
The album’s lead single, “Sky Walker”, featuring American rapper Travis Scott was released on August 24, 2017.[10][11] The song charted at number 29 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it Miguel’s second-highest charting single as a lead artist since 2012’s “Adorn”.[12] The song was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It was also certified gold by Music Canada (MC), becoming Miguel’s first certified single in that country.
“Told You So”, was released on November 3, 2017, as the second single from the album.[13]
Promotional singles[edit]
The track “Pineapple Skies” was released on November 17, 2017, as a promotional single from the album.[14][15][16]
Critical reception[edit]
War & Leisure was met with widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 81 based on 19 reviews.[18] Reviewing for The Observer, Kitty Empire noted the record’s musical daring and scope, while writing that “Miguel’s versatility and sureness of touch recall that of [Michael] Jackson in his pomp”.[27] Robert Christgau was less enthusiastic in his capsule-review column for Vice, citing “City of Angels” and “Sky Walker” as highlights while finding the album overall to be “more leisurely than the title might make you hope, believe, or fear”.[28]
Commercial performance[edit]
War & Leisure debuted at number nine on the Billboard 200 and topped the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart with first week sales of 40,000 units.[29]
Track listing[edit]
Notes
- ^[a] signifies a co-producer.
- ^[b] signifies an additional producer.
Sample credits
- “Pineapple Skies” contains a portion of the composition “Sexual Healing”, written by Marvin Gaye, David Ritz and Odell Brown.
- “Come Through and Chill” contains interpolations from “Crushin'”, written by James Yancey.
- “Now” contains interpolations from “Where Is My Mind?”, written by Charles Thompson.
Personnel[edit]
- Miguel – lead artist, production (tracks 1, 3, 4, 6-9, 12), instrumentation (tracks 1, 3-8, 11, 12), programming (tracks 3, 6-8, 12), guitar (tracks 6, 7, 10, 12), keyboards (track 7), engineering (track 11), A&R, executive production
- Rick Ross – featured artist (track 1)
- Travis Scott – featured artist (track 3)
- Quiñ – featured artist (track 5)
- Kali Uchis – featured artist (track 9), background vocals (track 9)
- J. Cole – featured artist (track 10)
- Salaam Remi – featured artist (track 10), production (track 10), co-production (track 2), bass (track 10), drums (track 10), keyboards (track 10)
- David Andrew Sitek – production (track 1), instrumentation (track 1)
- Noel “Detail” Fisher – production (track 2), engineering (track 2)
- Happy Perez – production (tracks 3, 6-8, 12), instrumentation (tracks 3, 6-8, 12), programming (tracks 3, 6-8, 12), guitar (tracks 3, 6-8, 12), keyboards (tracks 3, 7)
- Steve Mostyn – production (tracks 4, 9), instrumentation (track 4)
- Raphael Saadiq – production (track 5), instrumentation (track 5)
- Jeff Bhasker – production (track 7), instrumentation (track 7), programming (track 7), guitar (track 7), keyboards (track 7)
- Jerry “Wonda” Duplessis – production (track 11), instrumentation (track 11)
- Sidney Swift – co-production (track 2)
- Arden “Keyz” Altino – co-production (track 11), keyboards (track 11)
- Eyal Federman – additional production (track 2)
- Sir Dylan – additional production (track 5), instrumentation (track 5)
- David Davis – bass programming (track 1), drums (track 6), additional guitars (track 12), engineering (tracks 1-4, 6, 7, 9, 12), additional engineering (track 5, 11), mixing (track 1, 3, 4, 6, 12)
- Rogét Chahayed – instrumentation (track 3), keyboards (track 3)
- Ronald “RJ” Kelly – drums (track 4)
- Bobby Avila – additional instrumentation (track 4)
- Izzy Avila – additional instrumentation (track 4)
- Jayme Silverstein – bass (track 7)
- Bernard Grobman – additional guitar (track 11)
- Brandyn Porter – additional guitar (track 11)
- Gleyder “Gee” Disla – engineering (tracks 2, 10), mixing (track 10)
- Hotae Alexander Jang – engineering (track 5)
- Alex Williams – engineering (track 8)
- Serge Tsai – engineering (track 11)
- Bo Bodnar – engineering assistance (tracks 1-3, 6, 7, 12)
- Chad Gordon – engineering assistance (tracks 1-3)
- Cousin – engineering assistance (track 1)
- Joshua Adams – engineering assistance (track 2)
- Roberto Moreno – engineering assistance (track 4), mixing assistance (track 12)
- Chaz Sexton – engineering assistance (track 6)
- William Delaney VI – engineering assistance (tracks 7, 12)
- Michael Peterson – engineering assistance (tracks 9, 12), mixing assistance (tracks 1, 3, 4, 6)
- Jaycen Joshua – mixing (track 2)
- Bobby Campbell – mixing (tracks 5, 11)
- Mark “Spike” Stent – mixing (track 7)
- Christian Plata – mixing (tracks 8, 9)
- Gerry Brown – mixing (track 11)
- David Nakaji – mixing assistance (track 2)
- Ben Milchev – mixing assistance (track 2)
- Scott Moore – mixing assistance (track 5)
- Michael Freeman – mixing assistance (track 7)
- Geoff Swan – mixing assistance (track 7)
- Joseph Valdovinos – mixing assistance (tracks 8, 9)
- Wesley Seidman – mixing assistance (track 11)
- Casey Cuayo – mixing assistance (track 11)
- Mark Pitts – A&R, executive production
- Wayne Barrow – associate production
- Mike Bozzi – mastering
- Randy Merrill – mastering (track 3)
- Leticia Hilliard – A&R coordination
- Jordan Feldstein – management
- Elena Awbrey – management
- Erwin Gorostiza – RCA creative direction
- Brian Roettinger – art direction, design
- Timothy Saccenti – photography
- Van Van Alonso – styling
- Nadia Mohammadpour – grooming
- Heath Mattioli – set design
- Annee Elliot – shoot production
Charts[edit]
References[edit]
