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I hope you get to see the Kilby Court Cuco show opening the Kilby Block Party Friday lineup. He’s so good, I could have included him in my 2022 Top 20 albums. Here’s what you need to know about the bedroom pop singer Cuco + a couple of songs from 2022’s entrancing Fantasy Gateway.

Kilby Court Cuco concert a nice start to Kilby Block Party Friday lineup

The singer Cuco — he uses the handle cucopuffs on the Insta — got his pet name from his mother while growing up in Hawthorne, California. Omar Banos has written lyrics both in English and Spanish since his early releases, Wannabewithu (2016) and Songs4u (2017) as a budding songwriter and Spotify phenom. His bedroom pop full length debut was 2019’s Para Mi.

By 2022, Banos was incorporating more elaborate orchestration on Fantasy Gateway as he felt his way into new territory. You can hear why the Kilby Court Cuco appearance came together. I’m not posturing — this was a favorite album of mine last year.

The intimate “Time Machine” has such a pure singer-songwriter inside that you can’t help but fall in love with the kid.

Sing along Kilby Court Cuco show in Spanish. Singer Cuco is bilingual pop star

One of the reasons I was taken aback by Fantasy Gateway was the sophisticated lyricism you’ll hear at the Kilby Court Cuco show. Sure there are the ridic catchy samples and chorus on last April’s “Caution” … then he steps into a mix of English and Spanish on the smooth R&B-via-soft 70’s “Aura.”

Here is the Spanish verse:

Ves que me causan celos cuando te habla alguien más
Nunca te quiero lejos, la distancia me hace mal
Eres siempre el tema del que quiero platicar
Hechamos fiesta solos, nos ponemos a bailar

…in which the singer Cuco is singing:

You see that they make me jealous when someone else talks to you
I never want you away, the distance hurts me
You are always the topic I want to talk about
We party alone, we start to dance

I expect most of the Kilby Court Cuco show at the Kilby Block Party Friday lineup will be in English. But Utah has plenty of Spanish speakers and returned missionaries to go cukoo for cocoa puffs. I’m looking forward to hearing fully Spanish numbers from the singer Cuco, like the gorgeous “Fin Del Mundo” (“End of the World”).

Be at the Kilby Court Cuco concert. You’ll go cukoo for cocoa puffs

Final note, whether you’re a 19-year-old kid reading this on the Insta or a jaded 50-something like me listening to bedroom pop singer Cuco for the first time…get to the Kilby Block Party on Friday. I recommend Fantasy Gateway without reservation and can’t wait to see him kickstart the Kilby Block Party Friday lineup!

Grab yourself a tshirt, an album or CD of Fantasy Gateway from Cuco’s website.