Miguel Jontel Pimentel (born October 23, 1985) is an American singer and songwriter who specializes in contemporary and alternative R&B. Raised in San Pedro, California, he began pursuing a music career at age thirteen. He signed with Jive Records to release his debut studio album, All I Want Is You (2010). Though underpromoted upon release, it became a sleeper hit and spawned the hit single "Sure Thing", which went viral on TikTok in 2023; as a result, it reached a second peak of number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and remains his most commercially successful release.

After Jive's dissolution in 2011, he was moved to RCA Records and released his second studio album, Kaleidoscope Dream (2012) to continued success, spawning the hit single "Adorn". His third and fourth albums, Wildheart (2015) and War & Leisure (2017) further experimented with psychedelic and alternative influences; the former peaked at number two on the Billboard 200 while the latter contained the hit single "Sky Walker" (featuring Travis Scott), which received triple platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Miguel incorporates various genres such as R&B, funk, hip hop, pop, rock and electronic into his music, and has been compared to vocalists such as Babyface and Prince.

Miguel Jontel Pimentel was born on October 23, 1985, and raised in San Pedro, California. He is one of two sons of an African American mother and a Mexican-American father. Miguel's parents divorced when he was eight years old. At a young age, Miguel was introduced to the older R&B his mother listened to, and his father's musical tastes, including funk, hip hop, jazz and classic rock.

In eleventh grade, Miguel was introduced by a friend to a member of the production company Drop Squad, and he subsequently spent the rest of high school learning his way around a recording studio before seeking a record deal. Miguel is also close high school friends with rapper Blu, who also lived in San Pedro.

Miguel signed a production deal with Drop Squad in 2000. In 2004, he auditioned to be part of the group Fatty Koo, but their label, Columbia Records chose someone else to complete the sextet. Later in 2004, Miguel was signed by independent record label Black Ice and started working on his studio album, Young & Free. It was scheduled to be released on November 30, 2006, but was ultimately shelved. Black Ice released the single "Getcha Hands Up" with a video debut on 106 & Park, but Miguel decided to change his sound and image and walked away from Black Ice Records. He later said in an interview for LA Weekly, "We shot a video, and if you ever see it, you will laugh your ass off. I have a fitted hat on and a white T-shirt and baggy jeans. I was 19 years old and it was the first time anyone had ever given me money."

That album was a huge learning experience. I left the marketing of my album and me as an artist up to the discretion of the label. They marketed me like the typical R&B artist, which I can't really blame them for, because that's what they know. But that's not what my lifestyle was.

For nearly a year, Miguel's manager at the time submitted several songs to music mogul Mark Pitts; after receiving a song titled "Sure Thing"—which Miguel described as a "highly personal ... record that no one was ever supposed to hear"—Pitts scheduled a meeting with Miguel in October 2007. The following month, Miguel signed a recording contract with Jive Records. Miguel recalled that the signing of his contract took place in a "very small room in a very small office in a small corner of the building at Jive". After being signed, he recorded his debut album All I Want Is You, but was sued by Black Ice for breach of contract. Consequently, his album was not released for two years. In 2007, Miguel also contributed vocals to three tracks on the debut collaborative project of Blu and Exile, Below the Heavens, appearing under the moniker "Miguel Jontel".

For the following three years, he contributed to Usher's Here I Stand and Raymond v. Raymond, as well as Asher Roth's Asleep in the Bread Aisle and Musiq Soulchild's "IfULeave". Miguel also released Mischief: The Mixtape; he explained that the title referred to his attempt to "[tell] people that there is an alternative to getting sort of the same thing".