Album: wannabewithu

Artist: Cuco

Record Label: Cuco

Recommended Tracks: 1- “Lover Is A Day” 3- “Amor De Siempre”

Wannabewithu is an album released on July 18, 2016 by Mexican-American singer and songwriter Omar Banos, a.k.a. Cuco. Twenty year old southern california native, has already made a name for himself within the music industry. Despite the album being released almost 3 years ago, it has just began to receive mainstream attention, being featured on a popular Spotify premium playlist: Pollen. The album has a genre-agnostic ambience to it, with underlying hip-hop and R&B textures sprinkled throughout.

“Lover Is A Day”, the first song on Wannabewithu is one of Cuco’s most notable songs on his entire discography. Being streamed upwards of twenty-eight million, the melodramatic; yet upbeat, is a song that can easily be listened to for hours at a time. But as catchy as the tone is, it isn’t hard to find out within a few moments of listening that it’s just another sadboi hours song that is filled with dreary metaphors that have the same everlasting theme … “I miss you. And I love you still.” There will be no need to worry of finding a song to put on que either, as the track has a runtime of seven minutes, thirty six seconds. One of the highlights of the song, is the glorious trumpet solo at six minutes, twenty-five seconds, that is honestly very emotional and can accurately depict the vibe of the song.

The albums standout song is track 3, “Amor De Siempre.” This song is written entirely in spanish as he smoothly states “Cuando veo esos ojos, ahí es donde quiero vivir” translating to, “When I see your eyes, that’s where I want to live.” The lyrics in the song are soulful and beautiful as he sings in spanish, displaying his spanish roots as a mexican- American artist.  Despite the last minute of the song being a really bad brass section,

While still respecting the music he creates, this album lacks a sense of creativity, unlike some of his other albums and singles, it feels like watered down sad, bedroom pop. Some of the songs are mediocre at best, but I do not think display Cuco’s full potential. This album is stale in terms of beats and instrumentals, and Cuco’s vocals do not show versatility or depth. This album is perfect for somebody who needs a gateway into sad boy music, or for females who want to seem deeper than they really are.