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Here’s a failed movie pitch: A 1980s-era top 40 solo artist of some success finds his way into a time machine and emerges in 2025 with the songwriting and production knowledge of all the years he missed in between. Yet in spite of that new understanding, he stays comforted by the tastes that defined his native time.
No, you probably wouldn’t see that stupid movie, and I wouldn’t either. Though the premise is a decent roundabout explanation for what’s going on with MICO. The music from this 22-year-old digital phenom whose career is on the upswing—and with good reason—is staunchly pop at its core, tempered with the kind of last-century arrangements that, were it not for some contemporary synth work and razor-sharp editing, would sound like the most futuristic single to come from Irene Cara or Corey Hart in 1983.
When was the last time you heard a musical artist under 25 whose full-length collection is built around guitar chords with programmed, danceable drums and steers clear of any rapping? MICO is lighter on the curse words than many of his contemporaries while leaning heavy on the relationship-centered lyrics. That’s a recipe that comes from another time, if not from another place. And it’s not an Ed Sheeran-acoustic deal by any stretch—we’re talking about pop music just like the 1979 song by M told us to do (look it up).
MICO’s wordsmithing is firmly in this decade though, plunging headfirst into our phone-focused lives and the perilous trappings that come with tech shaping our relationships with our friends and ourselves. So while you’ll get titles such as “glhf<3” (which stands for “Good Luck Have Fun”) and lines from “Idontwannaknowyou!” like “You need the validation / every time your phone is buzzing / gets you feeling like you made it / no, not a single conversation / without a f**ked up flex or self-celebration”—things that are seriously current concerns, you also get an occasional guitar solo. Just like it’s 1983.
