| Kaleidoscope Dream | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | September 25, 2012 | |||
| Studio |
| |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 42:11 | |||
| Label |
| |||
| Producer |
| |||
| Miguel chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Kaleidoscope Dream | ||||
| ||||
Kaleidoscope Dream is the second studio album by American R&B singer-songwriter Miguel. It was released on September 25, 2012, by Black Ice Records, ByStorm Entertainment, and RCA Records. After the commercial breakthrough of his debut album All I Want Is You (2010), Miguel pursued a greater creative role on Kaleidoscope Dream as its principal writer and producer. He recorded most of the album at Platinum Sound Studios in New York City and MJP Studios in Los Angeles, working alongside producer-musicians Oak Felder, Jerry Duplessis, and Salaam Remi, among others.
With the album, Miguel wanted to explore the roots of R&B beyond the genre's contemporary trends and began playing guitar as a compositional source for his songs. With his studio personnel, he incorporated dense bass lines, buzzing synthesizers, and hazy, reverbed sounds into a musical style that draws on pop, funk, rock, soul, electronic, and psychedelic genres. Miguel titled Kaleidoscope Dream as both a metaphor for life and the creative freedom possible in dreams, while wanting to reflect his lifestyle and personality in the songs, which deal mostly with sex, romance, and existential ideas.
In marketing Kaleidoscope Dream, Miguel previewed the songs virally through a series of free EPs. The album was promoted further with three singles, including his biggest hit yet "Adorn", and his touring in North America and Europe from 2012 to 2013. Kaleidoscope Dream debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 71,000 copies, eventually selling 535,000 copies total by 2015. One of 2012's most critically successful releases, it was viewed by reviewers as an innovative and appealing R&B album, receiving praise for Miguel's singing and songwriting.