Young Miko
The XOXO Tour 2024
Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land
August 20, 2024
According to the crowd – and co-signed by Puerto Rican rapper Young Miko, who took the stage last night at the Smart Financial Centre for her XOXO Tour – we are in the midst of a “girlie summer.”
“It’s a lesbian renaissance, mi amor,” Miko quickly added.
Miko, born María Victoria Ramírez de Arellano Cardona, is someone you should know if you don’t already. Her ascent within the urbano scene has been nothing short of breakneck.
The tattoo artist-turned-rapper released her first track in 2021, “105 Freestyle,” produced by Caleb Calloway, and followed it with a concept EP, Trap Kitty, in 2022, centered around the titular “trap kitty,” a pole dancer named Riri. Quickly, collaborations with hitmakers like Bad Bunny and Feid came her way, leading up to the release of her debut album, last year’s att., which broke into the top 10 on Billboard’s Latin Albums and Latin Rhythm Albums charts.
And importantly, she’s a woman, an unapologetically queer woman, who’s spent the last few years knocking down the door of a straight boy’s club with her recognizable rasp, smooth flow, and cool attitude. Her Spanglish lyrics can go from flex to painfully personal with ease, and she can be just as proud and wicked as the boys. The crowd skewed younger and femme, a sign of just how desperately Miko’s perspective is needed and wanted. The fact that she’s as talented as she is, is just icing on the cake.
Miko opened her set, backed by a live band, with “rookie of the year,” the first track off att. The rapper appeared sitting cross-legged on a bed, the stage morphed into a bedroom, with the charming, pop-inflected song an open-handed invitation into Miko’s world that settled into a weighty beat perfect to bop to. She launched right into the swag-heavy “oye ma’” after, another track from att., and it’s worth noting that Miko ended up playing almost every track off the album (with “ay mami” seeming to be the only one left off the setlist).
In “Lisa,” Miko describes her problem, which, in true genre fashion, is that she just can’t decide between girls. She wants them all, and between her flow and the beat, “Lisa” is a banger. “Riri,” the only track played off Trap Kitty, followed, with the appreciative crowd loving it and the opportunity to shout, “all my bitches bad/all my bitches yummy.” Next, “Tempo,” a song recorded with Marshmello that is designed to kick off the party, got an even bigger pop. The vibe continued with the earwormy old-school jams “arcoíris” and “wiggy,” which includes direct references to songs like “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)” and “Rapper’s Delight” – by way of “The Ketchup Song (Aserejé).”
The irresistibly sweet tune “8 AM,” recorded with Nicki Nicole, led to the beloved “DISPO,” Miko’s song with Karol G. A series of calmer songs followed, along with a set change that allowed Miko to sit on a fallen tree log amidst flowers and greenery before the addictive groove of “fuck TMZ” (which included the first and only ab flash of the evening) hit. A drum solo led into “tamagotchi,” a song that sounds just as playful as the toy where Miko likens herself to the little digital pet in a relationship. The egg-shaped toy, dangling from a woman’s fingers, appeared during the on-screen visuals, which throughout the show often stayed true to a video game-centric theme, with pixelated images, a loading and character select screens.
The catchy-as-all-hell “princess peach,” yet another of Miko’s signature songs, was up next, followed by “ID,” a sexy reggaeton track with a bassline to die for.
Miko went out of her way to connect with her fans, dubbed mikosexuals, during the show. In addition to taking time to express herself throughout her set, there were moments, like early on when she was caught gesturing to someone in the crowd and mouthing “I remember you” and a bit where she read through the signs for her in the audience. This part culminated with Miko pulling a young fan (or, as Miko described her, “the cutest girl in the room”) on stage for a photo. This is also the part of the show that gave us the references to “girlie summer” and “a lesbian renaissance” above.
Of course, there was a sign that name-dropped “MADRE,” which made the perfect segue into Miko’s anthemic collaboration with trans rapper (and fellow Puerto Rican) Villano Antillano. The pounding beat and lyrics are tailor-made for the ballroom scene, and if it hasn’t been used somewhere in RuPaul’s Drag Race yet, who’s waiting for what? “Colmillo,” off one of last year’s biggest albums, Tainy’s Data, followed and got a lot of love from the crowd. The lovefest continued as Miko asked her day ones to identify themselves. After, Miko tested the crowd with a fill-in-the-lyrics singalong to songs like “Big Booty,” “bi,” “Vendetta” and “Putero,” looking pleased as the audience was more than happy to enjoy these songs that got left off the setlist.
“FINA,” off of Bad Bunny’s Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana, kicked us back into the formal set, with “Chulo pt. 2” following and a toast – appropriately – leading into “pinot grigio,” before Miko turned to “offline.” It’s her second perreo-heavy collaboration with Feid, which she followed with the first: “Classy 101,” a song that was one of the biggest of 2023. It’s not hard to see why, considering it’s got a chorus you can sing along to all day. Producer extraordinaire Bizarrap’s “BZRP Music Sessions #58,” which has been racking up the views on YouTube, and “curita” closed the energetic set.
The Crowd Again: I’ve never had to navigate so many spilled drinks trying to exit the venue in my life.
Overheard in The Crowd: In talking to her friends, one mikosexual recalled her attempt at explaining what she was listening to (presumably Miko) to her dad, and the condescension was strong.
The mikosexual: “He was like, ‘Is it reggaeton? I love reggaeton! Is it Daddy Yankee?’”
The mikosexual’s friends: [laughter] “Oh no!” [laughter]
The mikosexual: “Right? I was like, ‘He doesn’t really perform anymore…”
Setlist
rookie of the year
oye ma’
Lisa
Riri
Tempo
arcoíris
wiggy
8 AM
DISPO
en la pichi interlude
tres tristes tragos
no quiero pelear
fuck TMZ
tamagotchi
princess peach
ID
MADRE
Colmillo
FINA
Chulo pt. 2
pinot grigio
offline
Classy 101
BZRP Music Sessions #58
curita
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
