Key Takeaways
- Miguel wrote Beyoncé’s “Rocket” by imagining what would excite both her and her audience.
- He focused on fan perspective to guide the song’s tone and lyrical choices.
- The process highlighted Beyoncé’s intent to express her sexuality and creative control.
Miguel has always had a gift for blurring the lines between sensuality and storytelling, but when it comes to songwriting, he says there’s a unique art to writing from someone else’s perspective. During his recent appearance on Shannon Sharpe’s “Club Shay Shay,” the R&B star reflected on what it means to channel another artist’s energy while still honoring their truth, using Beyoncé’s 2013 hit “Rocket” as an example.
Sharpe kicked off the topic by asking how Miguel approaches songwriting for female artists. “When you write, let’s just say for the sake of argument, you’re writing for [Mary J. Blige]. You’re male; she’s female,” Sharpe said. Miguel quickly added, “Or Beyoncé.”
The host agreed, telling him, “It’s funny how you’re able to do that … That takes a special talent to write a song that you’re not gonna sing. Someone else [is] gonna sing it, but you’re writing it in their voice.” Miguel replied, “And it takes a special talent [for the singer] to be able to take that and make it their own. So, there’s [an] art to that as well … I’m an enabler. I’m like, mischievous though. Like, I’m your friend that’s gonna be like, ‘Yeah, we should though’ … I’m paying attention to all the things, but I think that there’s something special about excitement. And I honor excitement.”
When writing “Rocket,” Miguel said he focused on what would excite both Beyoncé and her audience. “I think about ... what would excite the artist. I’m a fan first, so I’m thinking about them in a fan way and what I know about them and what they seem to resonate with the most,” he explained. “And then I’m thinking of what their audience may be excited by.”
The California native continued, “As a man listening to Beyoncé, what do I want to hear? What excites me? And then I’m going, what is she trying to convey? And at the time, I think she was wanting to … lean into the fact that she’s a grown woman … I'm listening to her tell me like, ‘Okay this is where I'm at.’ I'm going, ‘Okay, bet bet bet bet bet bet.’ What's exciting? To her, exciting was showing that she's leaning into her feminine, and she's being sexual … I’m grown and I'm owning my sexuality and this and that, and I'm going well, s**t, I'm a fan and I'm [like], what [do] guys [want to hear], and even, what do women want to hear … What [does] her audience want to say for themselves, too? What's exciting?”
Miguel said that energy inspired the song’s sensual opening. “Let me sit this a** on you,” he laughed, quoting the lyric. “Bet, I’m gonna go with the thing that sounds the most exciting.”
Miguel’s latest chapter with ‘CAOS’
Miguel recently celebrated his 40th birthday by releasing CAOS last month — his first full-length album in eight years. The 12-track project, described as a genre-bending exploration of transformation, includes a collaboration with George Clinton, along with new songs in Spanish that mark a new creative era for the singer.