CUCO: POSSIBLY THE BEST ARTISTS OF THE EARLY 2020S

Image of Cuco a singer from Space.

CUCO: POSSIBLY THE BEST ALTERNATIVE ARTIST OF THE EARLY 2020S

Well, idk how to start this. I’m like really nauseous but whatever, I’ll try (lmao).

A Little Background

Let’s talk about Omar Banos, aka Cuco. Born on June 26, 1998, this musical genius hails from Hawthorne, California (as mentioned on his Para Mi album). Cuco’s music is a beautiful blend of Bossa Nova, Indie Pop, and Psychedelia—a mix that somehow feels like a warm hug for your ears.

Here’s where things get crazy: Cuco is entirely self-taught. Yep, he taught himself how to make music (honestly, how is that even fair?), and in 2016, he dropped his first self-released EP, Wannabewithyou. This EP gave us gems like “Lover is a Day” and “Amor de Siempre,” which also happen to be some of his first viral hits.

But Cuco didn’t stop there. In 2017, he released another EP, Songs4U, and the single that truly changed everything for him: “Lo Que Siento.” (Fun fact: I was literally listening to this song while writing this—talk about timing 😭). Thanks to its massive success, Cuco was able to drop out of college and fully commit to his music career.

Since then, he’s blessed us with his first studio album, Para Mi, and his third EP, Hitchhiker, which was released on November 10, 2023. This guy’s career arc is nothing short of inspiring—and yes, slightly intimidating (in the best way).

 

His Early days

Omar Banos—better known to the world as Cuco—was born on June 26, 1998, in Inglewood, California. (“Inglewood, always up to no good,” as 2Pac famously puts—if you don’t get the reference, we need to have a serious talk). He grew up as an only child with his two immigrant parents: Adolfo, de Mexico City, y Irma, de Puebla.

Cuco spent most of his childhood in Hawthorne, California, where he started dabbling in music at the ripe—and let’s be honest, cringe—age of 8. (Remember being 8? Yeah, good times… and by “good,” I mean absolutely mortifying.) Despite the cringe factor, young Omar was stacked with musical ambition. By the time he was 15, he’d already experimented with the trumpet (you can hear it in “Lover is a Day” and “Lo Que Siento”), guitar, keyboard, drums, bass guitar, mellophone, and even the French horn. Basically, he was like a one-man orchestra, minus the tuxedo.

Cuco attended junior school in Lennox before graduating from Hawthorne High School, where he kept the music bug alive and well by joining both the jazz band and the marching band. Clearly, he wasn’t just the kid who carried the band—he was the band.

The uhh…uhh…crap its like his career or something

After graduating, Cuco didn’t waste any time. He uploaded a guitar cover of Sleep Walk by Santo & Johnny to—you guessed it—Mrs. YouTube (I think we all know that website too well), and much to his surprise, it racked up a few thousand views. This small step was just the beginning. He started recording tracks at his parents’ house, putting them out into the world on platforms like Bandcamp and SoundCloud.

In January 2015, Cuco officially dropped his first EP on Bandcamp, titled Heavy Trip (because what else says “I’m about to make it” like a solid name for an EP?). That same year, he released his first track “Yeah” on SoundCloud under the Heavy Trip title. But, in a rare moment of “wait, that name is too long for the branding!”, he decided to change his artist name to Cuco.

And with that, Cuco was born—marking the beginning of a wild ride for the self-taught musician.

Our beloved Cuco stayed busy and blessed us with some incredible moments between 2018 and 2019. First, in 2018, he teamed up with Clairo (another amazing alternative artist) to create “Drown.” Honestly, it’s a vibe and worth adding to your playlist ASAP. Later that same year, in October, Cuco collaborated with the prog-rock wizards Polyphia to bring us “So Strange” on their album New Levels New Devils.

But wait—there’s more! In February 2019, Cuco got to live out a childhood dream by collaborating with his rap idols, MC Magic and Lil Rob, on the nostalgic and chill track “Search.”

And if that wasn’t legendary enough, April 2019 saw Cuco performing alongside the one and only Kenny G—yes, the saxophonist king himself—at Coachella. He then went on to light up the stage at Lollapalooza in October of the same year.

Cuco wasn’t just making music—he was making history.

 

Jason shut up already this is supposed to be why Cuco is “amazing”

 

OKAY, I’M SORRY, STOP BULLYING ME!

Anyway, let’s talk about why Cuco is truly amazing. For me, it’s all about his lyrics, the pace of his music, and the overall vibe. His songs hit that perfect sweet spot between deep emotions and chill energy. Take “Bossa No Se” for example—he dives into heartbreak as he reflects on a girl who broke his heart by hooking up with his friend (ouch, right?). Or “summertimehightime,” where he captures the dream of spending summers with someone special.

But my all-time favorite? It’s got to be “Aura” (pronounced “ow-da” because, duh, Mexican). In this track, he paints a beautiful picture of taking a girl across the world, shopping, swimming, and just vibing together. It’s the kind of song that makes you want to pack a bag and live the dream, even if the furthest you’ve been lately is the grocery store.

If you haven’t already, I think you need to give some of his songs a listen. If you don’t like them, well… watch your back. 😌 But seriously, I genuinely believe Cuco is the best alternative artist of the early 2020s—maybe even ever.

Then again, I’m just a creative brown boy, not weird—just more imaginative than you.

Also, that 4U tour thing, I WAS THERE! It was really cool the bassist signed my phone but Cuco left right before he got to me. :[

The Top 6 Songs On My Cringe Playlist

The Top 6 Songs On My Cringe Playlist

Top 6 Songs on my cringey playlist :ppp

 

I decided to make this article because I love music, if you clicked on this you love music. You saw the title, you know this is gonna be cringe (just like me fr).

#6:Look at this from ‘Helluva Boss’

The song is about this guy (the person in the picture (no that is not a girl its a guy, cmon its 2024 keep up)) trying to distract these other guys who kidnapped him and his friend while the friend tries to break them out, it’s such a dumb song and it’s so stupid but I love it so go listen to it.

 

#5: A Little Theorizing by The Stupendium

This song is an homage to MatPat after he retired, this song IS a collaboration so it’s not some cringey fan song, it’s just a cringey MatPat song chock full of references to his videos (I get all of them). I suggest you listen to the music video version of it though because at the end it says “that’s just a theory, a GAME THEORY

 

#4: Dumb Dumb by Mazie

I’m pretty sure everyone knows this song from those 2022 animation memes but one day I was bored and found it on my computer so I thought ‘screw it might as well’. Now it’s in my favorites album. The song is about how everyone is dumb and disappointment can happen to anyone anytime…This song is kinda depressing now that I think about it

 

#3: Taking What’s Not Yours by TV Girl

TWNY is about a man who’s coping with his girlfriend breaking up with him and she left everything at his place and never came back to get her stuff, and vice versa so womp womp buddy.

Honorable mention!!!!!!!!!: I have a couple songs for honorable mentions, first is Humility by Gorillaz, IT’S SUCH A GOOD SONG I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!! And also The entire album of Plastic Beach. For the middle child of all this im gonna include terrible things by Axie. Lastly for honorable mention is There’s Something Happening, this song…IS SO GOOD, much better than it should be. 

 

#2: Hypnotize by The Notorious B.I.G.

This is your average Biggie song if i’m gonna be honest, It’s just Brooklyn, Cubs, being rich, him being a good rapper, and girls and some more expensive cars, and a lot more girls and “substances”. The song is just him flexing…Oh yeah Puff Daddy is there too.

#1 The Whole Being Dead Thing from Beetlejuice (the musical, the musical, the musical)

 

This song is AWESOME!!! I love beetlejuice and I have since like 3 and a half years ago or some’.

Also not to mention Alex Brightman’s voice is just chef’s kiss, Also he’s the person who performs Look At This so yeah.

My Top 6 Jack Stauber Songs <3

My Top 6 Jack Stauber Songs <3

I have recently started listening to an artist named Jack Stauber. His songs are (to me at least), awesome. Since I just wanted an excuse to write about him, here are my top 5 Jack Stauber songs. One of the reasons I chose Jack Stauber to write about is because he has a different singing style compared to literally anyone else, he calls it singing in cursive. His songs are very strange and my mom even said that one of his songs, (the #1 song) he “sounds like a crackhead”. Even though he’s weird as heck, he’s still an amazing artist.

6: Baby Hotline

My #6 is baby hotline, it’s the first Jack Stauber song I’ve ever listened to, the beat is wonderful and the lyrics are strange. It is such a good song. The album cover shows a white rotary phone with eyeballs on it. 

5: Today Today

 I chose Today Today, Today Today is a calming song that helps me focus and when its raining it hits different like, OH MY GOD ị̸̉ẗ̸͙́s̶̻̈́ ̶̥̅š̷͈ȍ̴̤ ̷͍̿g̷̰͝ǫ̷̆o̷͇̽ḓ̷̾. The album cover shows a woman named Hamantha who is from Jack’s song Ballad of Hamantha . The song has a slow pace and nice beat to it, the lyrics ever sound normal there’s always something off, like he could sound like he’s on the radio, the mic is muffled, or he’s far away.

4: Dinner is not over

I chose Dinner is Not Over for #4. I chose this song because of the way the lyrics sound. The lyrics sound SO GOOD. They are strange and yet sometimes I put my headphones on and jam out to this. The album cover is a Turkey with eyeballs on it and on a black void. The song has a strange meaning to it but nonetheless I’d still recommend it.

3: Ballad of Hamantha

Ballad of Hamantha is such a good song, the story is about a woman named Hamantha who had a ham for a head. In the song it says that she dreams of being famous but sadly she was never going to be. Her father is upset about the whole ham head thing so in a fit of rage, he shoots his gun at the sky cursing God. Hamantha is just chilling when she gets a call from her doctor. The doctor says that he had developed a cure for her and she should go to the hospital to get it. Hamantha runs out of her house crying tears of joy, sprinting in the rain. But sadly, “something else fell with the rain”, a bullet from her father fell and hit her, ending her life. Then she is taken to the hospital and the doctor eats her head, it’s really weird.

2: Dead Weight

The song dead weight is a very good song. It has a very nice beat, flow with lyrics, and just song vibes in general. People think the story is about a man who wasted his life and now carries the burden of “dead weight”. The song has a very cool vibe to it as well, if you listen to it while there’s an overcast or it’s an overcast with rain, this song hits differently.

1: There’s Something Happening

There’s Something Happening is such a good song!! I need you to go outside at around 3-4 pm and take a walk. Have this song playing in your airpods and just enjoy that you’re the only one there. The vibe is so freaking good with this song If you’re doing something. People say that this song’s lyrics “Close up, WOW, haha I look so beautiful” and “What do we beautiful do?” means you have to put on your big boy pants and put yourself in the best light possible. Lastly my mom thinks that Jack is on crack when she listens to this song.