The Miguel-Frank Ocean Rivalry Just Got Real: Miguel Says He Makes “Better Music”

Carl Williott | July 6, 2015 8:40 am
Idolator Interview: Miguel
The singer talks his new LP & the cerebral message under its sexy veneer.

UPDATE: Miguel has posted a statement on Twitter, backpedaling a bit from his original comments, saying “there’s no need to compare apples to oranges.” See his full statement at the bottom of the post.

Well that escalated quickly! The MiguelFrank Ocean rivalry just went from pop talking point to in-the-flesh competition, as Miguel said he offers the superior product. Shit, as they say, just got real.

In a new interview with The Sunday Times, Miguel was asked about Ocean. According to NME he said their relationship is “cordial,” adding, “I wouldn’t say we were friends. To be completely honest — and no disrespect to anyone — I genuinely believe that I make better music, all the way around.”

Both singers had a huge role in getting the so-called PBR&B/Alt-R&B movement to cross over into the mainstream, so even though they’re actually quite different artists, their genre-crashing approach and dual rise inevitably led to them being mentioned together in reviews and thinkpieces. It still happened in several Wildheart reviews in recent weeks, as well as the above-mentioned interview. But maybe it wasn’t ginned up by music bloggers looking for a shortcut to put the whole movement in context after all.

“It’s interesting. But we’ll see who’s in it for the long haul,” Miguel told the paper regarding his peers like The Weeknd and Ocean. “It’s like a marathon, you know?”

Without the full context of the interview, it’s tough to know if this is shots fired, or just a star with total confidence in himself. I’ll just say that based on my chat with Miguel, he seems like the type of thoughtful dude who wouldn’t just throw out a click-y quote like that to stir the pot or insult someone. Regardless, it’ll be interesting to see if Ocean decides to respond, or if he’ll let his new album do the talking up against Miguel’s latest. (Going by his beef with Chris Brown, we know Ocean isn’t afraid to speak his mind and throw shade/punches.)

[via NME]

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