Miguel Hanging in the Air From His Back Piercings Will Make Your Jaw Drop

Miguel performed a jaw-dropping stunt to announce his upcoming album, Viscera. 

The 37-year-old singer pierced the skin on his back to allow him to be suspended through the air by hooks. Miguel hosted a special four-song concert at Sony Studios in Los Angeles on Friday, August 25, to preview his upcoming album. Before beginning "Rope," two assistants came out to put metal rods in piercings through Miguel's back and wires elevated him.

The new song's lyrics include, "I'm hanging on to nothing / I'm hanging from the ceiling / Rope around my neck."

Friday's set, which was also live-streamed, was promised to be a "boundary-pushing performance" for Miguel, who hasn’t released a full-length album since 2017. He spent several months preparing for the big stunt with experts, according to TMZ.

Warning: The image below may be considered graphic.

Miguel spoke about suspension with The Los Angeles Times in a feature published earlier this month, explaining that he considers it a trust exercise.

"Initially it was a bit of, 'What is the most extreme way to push outside of what’s expected?'" Miguel told the outlet. "How far can I go in demonstrating how far I'm willing to go for art, for conversation? I couldn't have known how committed I was to the real purpose of this s**t until I had hooks in my back."

He explained that the weight of his body draped was as heavy as the fear and control he was struggling with. "It was a scary and freeing experience and emotion to go through because it's such a light switch," he said. "It has so much to do with pain. What does pain mean?"

Miguel told The Los Angeles Times that he wrote "Rope" while depressed prior to his marriage to Nazanin Mandi in 2018. The former flames first announced that they were splitting up in September 2021 after tying the knot in Nov. 2018. Before exchanging vows, the pair had been together for nearly 14 years. The singer first met Mandi when they were both 18. They dated until getting engaged in 2016.

The pair announced that they had reconciled in February 2022, four months after first splitting up, but Mandi filed for divorce in October 2022.

"I don't think I'd ever been in a place where I was creating from there," Miguel told The Times. "You build a reputation and a repertoire around love and sex and sexiness -- these completely unrelated tones. Getting to the point where I allowed myself to express these emotions was a bit of a journey."

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