Omar Banos (born June 26, 1998), known professionally as Cuco, is an American singer-songwriter from Hawthorne, California. His music has been described to blend elements of bossa nova, indie-pop, and psychedelia.
Teaching himself how to make his own music, Cuco self-released his first EP, Wannabewithu in 2016, which featured some of his first songs to go viral, "Lover is a Day" and "Amor de Siempre". He then released his second EP, Songs4u, the following year. Cuco rose to prominence following the release of his 2017 single, "Lo Que Siento", allowing him to drop out of college to pursue a music career.
Signing with Interscope Records in 2019, he released his first studio album, Para Mi (2019). He released his second album, Fantasy Gateway in 2022, created with producer, Manuel Lara. He released his third EP, Hitchhiker on November 10, 2023.
Early life
Omar Banos was born an only child in Inglewood, California, on June 26, 1998, to immigrant Mexican parents.[6][7][8] His mother, Irma, came from the city of Puebla, while his father, Adolfo, came from Mexico City.[8][9] He grew up in the city of Hawthorne, California,[10] and began playing music at the age of eight. He had experimented with trumpet, guitar, keyboard, drums, bass guitar, mellophone and French horn before the age of 15.[11] Banos attended junior school in Lennox and graduated from Hawthorne High School where he played in the school marching band as well as the jazz band.[12][13][14]
Career
2015: Heavy Trip
After graduating, Banos uploaded a slide guitar cover of Sleep Walk by Santo & Johnny to YouTube, which gained thousands of views.[15] He began producing and releasing songs from his parents' home and releasing them onto Bandcamp and SoundCloud.[16] In January 2015, Banos released his first EP on Bandcamp, titled Heavy Trip.[17] In the same year, Banos had released his first song, "Yeah" on SoundCloud under the moniker of Heavy Trip.[13][18] He then switched to Cuco, which was a nickname given to him by his mother as a child.[19]
By the age of 18, Banos had self-produced his first mixtape Wannabewithu in 2016, after teaching himself how to use Ableton Live software.[10][20] Cuco released his second mixtape, Songs4u in 2017 when he started playing at clubs in Southern California, selling out his first two venues.[21] Cuco released his first single "Lo Que Siento" in 2017, which has reached over 320 million streams on Spotify alone.[22] Following the success of "Lo Que Siento," Cuco dropped out after a year of attending Santa Monica City College to pursue a career in music.[8]
Cuco collaborated with American singer Clairo for the single "Drown", which was released in August 2018.[23] He then collaborated with Polyphia on a track called "So Strange" off their album New Levels New Devils, which was released in October 2018.[24] Cuco played alongside saxophonist Kenny G at Coachella in April 2018,[25][26] as well as at Lollapalooza in October 2018.[27] In February 2019, he collaborated with his childhood Chicano rap idols MC Magic and Lil Rob on a track called "Search".[28] After a bidding war that lasted two years, Banos signed under Interscope Records in March 2019.[29] On April 2, 2019, Cuco released "Hydrocodone," the lead single for Para Mi, before releasing "Bossa No Sé" with Jean Carter on May 22, 2019.[30][31] Cuco later released his debut studio album, Para Mi, on July 26.[22] The album touches on recent problems that Cuco has experienced first-hand, including a tour bus accident that sent him and his band to hospital.[15] It debuted at 94 on the US Billboard 200.[32]
2022-present: Fantasy Gateway and Hitchhiker
On April 29, 2022, Cuco released "Caution" as the lead single from his sophomore studio album, Fantasy Gateway. On July 22, 2022, Fantasy Gateway was released via Interscope Records. The 12-track LP includes appearances from Kacey Musgraves, Adriel Favela, Bratty, and DannyLux.[33] On March 10, 2023, he collaborated with indie pop band the Marías on the song "Si Me Voy", later performing at the Camp Flog Gnaw music festival in November of that year.[34] He released his third EP, Hitchhiker, on November 10, 2023, which included 6 tracks.
Artistry
Musical style and songwriting
Banos' musical style blends elements of bossa nova and indie pop.[35] Suzy Exposito from Rolling Stone described his music as "psychedelia-soaked love ballads".[8]Brett Calwood told LA Weekly that Banos's music has "smooth Latin influences with a nostalgic lean".[36] Banos blends English and Spanish lyrics over what he describes as "alternative dream pop" melodies that have "a lot of synthesizers" and "a lot of 808's".[37]
