About MICO:
Long before he had his first Canadian radio hit, MICO was a star in his own home. Born and raised in Toronto, he was the fourth of five siblings. His father filled the house with ’80s pop hits by Michael Jackson and The Police, and when guests came over, the family encouraged 6-year-old MICO to hop on the karaoke — he didn’t object. “I never thought about doing anything else in my life, because singing was the thing that was most fun to me,” he says. As a tween, he dove into the brazenly emotional music that would shape his path most — era-defining acts like 5 Seconds of Summer, Fall Out Boy, and The All-American Rejects. When he got his hands on a guitar, he taught himself the chords to their hits by watching their finger placements in music videos.
The screen became a two-way conduit as a teenage MICO worked his way into “Discord’s Got Talent” events, hopping between servers and performing cover songs to online communities. As he cultivated a loyal following, MICO pivoted to writing and self-releasing originals, starting with 2019’s “who do you love,” a striking mix of personal vulnerability and musical confidence. After graduating high school in 2020, he used a gap year to start posting songs on TikTok. It was time wisely spent — today, MICO has nearly 1 million loyal “amicos” on the platform. Over a series of EPs leading to his aptly titled Internet hometown hero, which got a 2025 deluxe reissue, MICO found his own path back to his influences, forging an original, pop-infused alternative sound.
As MICO’s creativity carried him from URL spaces to IRL stages, his work also grew increasingly personal. Viral bops like 2022’s “cut my hair” found him struggling with maintaining his identity amid romantic ruin, while 2024’s streaming hit “HOMESICK” sets the scene for the disconnect that fuels When the lights turn on. On new song “Like you mean it,” he pleads with a partner to face the facts of their uneven love: “You can’t call it healing, running from a feeling / I can’t be the only good thing that you’ve got / So love me like you mean it, not like you need it.” But on the next track, “Do it all again,” he’s the one chasing a connection that’s doomed to fail.
