Miguel dropped by Genius to dissect his new record “El Pleito.” The Dahi and Ely Rise, produced track comes from his new album 'CAOS,' arriving eight years after his last release. The R&B veteran breaks down his lyrics, talks about being deeply intentional in the booth, writing in Spanish, why he feels the song is the core of the album and more!
00:00Gaius is about the opportunity that conflict and change provides us.
00:05And that's what El Pleito kind of, it's meant to honor because El Pleito means conflict.
00:13And in there, you can find clarity.
00:16You can find yourself and you can find who you are at your core to refine and to kind
00:22of push you to that next level.
00:30Getting in the studio for El Pleito, it was really intentional.
00:35I went in knowing that I had some things that I wanted to say or some feelings, I think.
00:40The music for the song was there and it was calling for something deeply personal.
00:46I knew that I didn't have the words in English, so I called my cousins, who are both incredible
00:52writers and artists in their own right, Vince and Victor, and there's a tremendous amount
00:56of trust and understanding there.
00:58I was really happy that the song kind of unfolds in the way that it does.
01:03And it's the song in the end that I think holds the album together.
01:06It's the core and the soul and the theme of the album.
01:17I wanted all the smoke.
01:18I wanted because it creates color and interesting situations and circumstances in my life.
01:25And in a lot of ways, I was choosing that to my detriment.
01:28It's given me a lot of great experiences to lean into my proclivities, so to speak.
01:34It's also put me in situations where I've avoided the work that needs to be done.
01:40But in the song, I'm acknowledging that that's very much been a part of my life.
01:43And maybe I'm taking a step back to look at what that means and if it actually serves me.
01:50My errors or my mistakes follow me like my shadow.
01:59I'm shadow boxing.
02:00Here I'm acknowledging the consequences of my avoidance and that you can't escape the things
02:09you do and the choices that you make, that you have to address them and so in that there's
02:15a confrontation waiting for you.
02:23So time is disintegrating like the streets in the Gaza Strip, which is just calling attention
02:29to the times that we live in and also that life is finite and this experience in each
02:36moment is fleeting.
02:39Calling attention to my nana's house is about not recognizing things that feel familiar
02:54and like home.
02:56It's literal and symbolic to the ways that we evolve and grow and sometimes find ourselves
03:03in situations and circumstances and relationships and places with people that we live in and
03:09we never would have expected and in ways that maybe show us things about ourselves that
03:14we don't recognize or didn't expect to become good and bad.
03:18Oh man, coming to realize the line, I lost myself when I needed me most, man that's a hard one.
03:43Those lines was me realizing that I needed to take a pause and start sorting through my pain, my resentment, all of my human experience and humanity and that took some time.
04:02So yeah, I lost myself when I needed me most probably in that I didn't really pay attention, I wasn't paying attention and confronting.
04:15I was avoiding.
04:16So, la misma sangre cabrona que mi jefe, I'm like, same fucking blood as my father.
04:29There's a tremendous amount of pride and admiration in that line.
04:38In the time that I grew up, you know, this is pre-therapy, no one's talking about therapy
04:44or anything like this and where he came from, the generations before him, I know that he
04:50didn't receive the kind of love that he deserved.
04:56And so that line is speaking to him pouring into me, you know, in the ways that he should
05:08have gotten.
05:10So you know, it's a thank you.
05:14That line is a thank you.
05:15You know, I'm like, man, I'm so proud.
05:20That's speaking to, again, the sacrifice of choosing your path.
05:30It comes at the expense of a lot, comfortability, of course, ease, you know, it's going to be
05:39a challenge.
05:40There's going to be plenty of challenges that you can't, you're just not going to be able
05:43to anticipate.
05:44You're just going to have to, you'll learn, you're going to be learning it in real time
05:47as it happens.
05:49But because you want that, you know, you're choosing your path, that means you're going
05:55for yours.
05:56You know?
05:57And that's why I'm saying like, Plata y, you know, you don't like giving them both.
06:00Or Ploma, it's like money and death.
06:03It's almost at any expense that you're willing to sacrifice.
06:07Here we are trying to overcome our personal limitations and in that we sacrifice so much
06:29and we give so much, we've given so much, we've sacrificed so much, we've worked so hard.
06:37And here you are trying to tell us that now we don't belong here.
06:40People coming from all parts of the world were welcomed in and ushered in in order to work
06:46hard and to build the foundations of this country.
06:49And here we are now being told that we don't belong here.
06:53It's a reflection of the fact that laws can change, but principles don't change.
06:59What I was hoping to capture in that line is like, again, the parallel of my personal journey
07:08and the sacrifice that requires and then the universal journey that everyone takes in order
07:15to create better situations for their family and the sacrifice that that requires.
07:29I'm hoping to capture the realization of how much pride I have to represent.
07:52And that I represent something that's bigger than me.
07:55And that's where the line, I choose myself because I need me most is sort of, it kind
08:04of is meant to represent that that discovery happens in that verse, you know?
08:08And that this is sort of how I'm moving forward.
08:11I will always choose myself because I need me most kind of thing and not just myself, but
08:15us, you know?
08:16It's a collective myself and that we should choose ourselves and represent for each other
08:21and to speak up for each other and to fight for each other and one another.
08:25The song overall is the journey of choosing a path, the sacrifice that requires, feeling
08:35the weight of the sacrifice, then discovering the real motivation at the core of that and
08:43picking yourself up and doing it for a much bigger purpose.
08:47And in that purpose, finding yourself.
08:52Especially as a parent, I'll say, I don't know if you have kids, but man, it makes you
08:56appreciate it even more when there's no one reminding you.
09:00It's such a conscious effort to really like make a change to how you were taught, you know?
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