Sure Thing

Album: All I Want Is You (2010)
Charted: 4 11
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Songfacts®:

  • "Sure Thing" is a single from Los Angeles born R&B singer-songwriter Miguel's debut album, All I Want Is You. He penned the song as a pledge of his devotion to an ex-girlfriend after cheating on her.

    "I believed we could overcome adversity, obviously unbeknownst to her," Miguel told MTV News. "But I wrote a record for her about how perfect we were for each other."
  • Miguel told The Boombox why he wrote about his own romantic escapades on his debut album. "On All I Want Is You, I discussed my experience in my last three or four relationships. It was a great way to introduce myself because I think love brings us all together," he said.
  • Veteran hip-hop director Hype Williams (Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind," Lil Wayne's "6 Foot 7 Foot") shot the music video in Honolulu, Hawaii. It features scenes of the singer dancing in a narrow, backlit hallway intercut with shots of his love interest. Miguel told Baller Status: "The video was set out to be an art piece and evolved into more of an emotional collage of images that I hope really conveys the emotion of the song, but more importantly, I think it’s the imagery in the song that I used to explain my infinity of this other person, my girlfriend at the time."
  • "Sure Thing" surged back in late 2022 thanks to a wave of sped-up takes on the song on TikTok. It entered the charts worldwide in January 2023, including the UK Singles chart for the first time.
  • Miguel wrote "Sure Thing" in 2007 with Usher's Here I Stand album in mind. However, after Mark Pitts signed Miguel to Jive Records, he recorded the song himself. "That was the reason I really got in through the door," the singer told NME, "and then it was the songs around that that kind of solidified it."
  • It was the same Mark Pitts that broke the news to Miguel of the song's viral success 12 years after its release. Pitts called him at 3 in the morning from his home on the East Coast to share the news. "He was like, 'Man, look at your phone. I'm sending you all this data. Do you understand what's going on?'" Miguel recalled.

    At the time, Miguel had been working in the studio until late and he didn't realize what Pitts was talking about. Pitts explained that "Sure Thing" was gaining momentum on TikTok, leading to increased record sales. "The song and my first album were being purchased because of it. It was affecting album sales, which is wild," Miguel commented.
  • "Sure Thing" logged its 76th week on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs list during its second wind a decade after its initial chart run to overtake Mary J. Blige's record 75-week run with "Be Without You."
  • Miguel wrote "Sure Thing" when he was just 18, but it wouldn't see the light of day for nearly seven years - a delay that might have rattled a less patient artist. For Miguel, the slow burn was all part of the plan.

    "I believe in signs," he told Billboard. "For whatever reason, everything just didn't align for 'Sure Thing' back then."

    Miguel sat with the song for years before music mogul Mark Pitts finally heard it. The following month, Miguel signed a recording contract with Jive Records, but more time passed before the track made its official debut. When it finally landed, the timing was right.

Comments: 3

  • G from SjWho is the backing singer?
  • Lovely from Idki love this song
  • AnonymousWho's the girl in the baby blue outfit?
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