Miguel - How Many Drinks ft. Kendrick Lamar

Miguel goes down in the book with the likes of Bobby Valentino in the chapter of borderline offensive lines that still weirdly sound romantic. I'd say Bobby Valention's: "Slow down, I just wanna get to know you, but don't turn around 'cos that pretty round thing is good to me" makes you feel at least a bit more 'worth it' than "you look good, and yeah I got money but I don't wanna waste my time" from Miguel. But, albeit his dodgy lines, Mr Miguel has mastered sounding like an a** yet making you think "Miguelo Miguelo, where for art thou Miguelo?" at the same time. A good slow jam needs that va-va-voom passion, which Miguel formulates perfectly with his sweet tenderness balanced with blunt sourness. A TRUE slowjam though, is defined by peppermint-spray-in-the-eyes-worthy-chat-up-lines actually sounding like Shakespeare's finest sonnet. And that's exactly what How Many Drinks does.

After 'Adorn', 'How Many Drinks' was my FAVOURITE song off Kaleidoscope Dream, so when I found out it was being released I was happy happy happy. When I heard Kendrick was featuring though, I was a bit wary. I love Mr Lamar but I didn't think the song needed to be or should be tampered with. However, Kendrick pulled it off managing to match the boyish/cheeky side to the song, laying his verse over what was originally Miguel's half-rap. I like that the verse was really Kendrick-ish, even adding in a few "Swimming Pool" references but still actually relevant to the song. God knows how many remixes I've heard when an artist has jumped on a track with lyrics that don't fit with any part of the track except the rhyme scheme. Good job Kendrick, you didn't kill the vibe (harhar).

When I imagined the video to this song, I imagined there would be some sort of story set in a club with a few slick slides across the dance floor over to the bar where the pretty girl is standing. Instead they opted for the whole performance visual, which I think is a missed opportunity and a lazy lick of the envelope to seal a damn-good-package. I will be positive though, and say I like the way Kendrick throws the mic at the end of his verse and Miguel catches it - yeah, I'm amused by the little things... (and NO, that "little things" was not in reference to Kendrick - although he does look like an ikkle cutie in this video).

But yes, although the video isn't "extraordinary" and I think a lot more could have been done with it, it's the closest we'll get to being serenaded by Miguel... *sigh*