Miguel: I Make Better Music Than Frank Ocean

Miguel is not afraid to speak his mind. When it comes to the competition, the confident crooner is declaring his superiority.

In a conversation with the U.K.’s Sunday Times, he spoke out about comparisons to his peers including Frank Ocean, who he ran into at a London hotel bar during the interview.

“We’re, er, cordial. I wouldn’t say we were friends,” says Miguel, who lost the Grammy for Best Urban Contemporary Album to Ocean’s Channel ORANGE in February 2013. While the rest of the crowd at Staples Center stood for Ocean, Miguel remained seated.

He admits that when it comes to his art, he’s “super-competitive.” “To be completely honest—and no disrespect to anyone—I genuinely believe that I make better music, all the way around,” declares Miguel, whose third album Wildheart dropped last month.

When asked about other R&B singers like Ocean and The Weeknd, Miguel suggests that he will outlast them. “It’s interesting,” he explains, “but we’ll see who’s in it for the long haul. It’s like a marathon, you know.”

So does he envy Ocean’s status as a troubled soul? “That’s Frank. Frank is the tortured. That’s his thing. That’s not who I am. I may not be dark—as dark—and I may not be as poetic, but I’m living my real shit.”

During the interview, he also spoke out about the accident at the 2013 Billboard Music Awards, when he fell on top of an audience member while trying to jump across the stage. Since then, one of the women is taking legal action against Miguel and the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, where the awards took place.

“I was devastated,” he says. “It was almost like mocking me. I’m a Scorpio, and we don’t really do well with embarrassment.”