The Singles Jukebox

We (mostly) swoon…

[Video][Website]
[7.09]

Stephen Eisermann: Cuco, a Chicano artist who fills a space that I never knew existed, understands how to play with production, phrasing, and song pacing better than many of his peers. On “Amor de Siempre,” we are treated to a master class in atmospheric production, romantic phrasing, and a sped-up tempo, all done to amplify the feelings that the rush of love bring to mind. It’s simultaneously exhilarating and comforting, because who doesn’t love being in love.
[9]

Camille Nibungco: Cuco’s appeal is a tried and true indie dream pop recipe: romantic, wistful musings for unrequited love in layers of slowed 808 beats, simple yet groovy synth hooks, and nonchalant vocals. The muted mariachi adds cultural relevance to this dreamy love ballad; both innocent and honest like the back pages of a high school notebook. 
[7]

Juana Giaimo: “Amor de Siempre” sounds like a pure celebration of love. The mariachi trumpets bring in the happy and festive tone while the violins add a heavenly feeling that responds to the typical image of lovers feeling weightless — Cuco actually sings: “I’d never seen the good side of my life until you taught me how to fly”. In between this excessive production, his tender voice makes “Amor de Siempre” a warm and beautiful song.  
[8]

Nortey Dowuona: Sweeping yet slight strings follow Cuco and the lilting guitars of Mariachi Lindas Mexicanas as dribbling percussion and soft, raising trumpets sidewind around his feet. Then Mariacho Lindas Mexicanas stand up and run ahead, dropping drums out of the sky and backflipping over each other while Cuco stays still as they strum the guitar into a speedy wop, then let go and sail into the sun in a whisper.
[8]

Alfred Soto: The tempo change mirrors the singer’s realization that, shit, this love is real. Cuco holds the elements — strings, acoustic guitar, organ — together. 
[7]

Katherine St Asaph: This is the song that should’ve been called “Tempo,” given how much better in every way it becomes once there actually is some.
[5]

Anthony Easton: His voice is so lovely, lilting and swooning in equal measure, with a little swing exactly where we want. It’s bedroom music of the four-track on the floor variety, as opposed to the euphemism — though I suspect it could be used for both. 
[8]

Will Rivitz: Appreciation of music is subjective, and I know every other rating here is going to offset my own into oblivion, so let me whinge for a moment: this song sucks. It’s not a suckage specific to this song, or even to Cuco’s oeuvre as a whole, but a suckage which applies to everything in the “post-DeMarco” realm of lo-fi bedroom indie pop. The movement of psychedelic retro-fetish-pastiche organ and guitar noodling is by far my least favorite musical development of the past ten years. It sucks when Mac DeMarco does it, it sucks when Clairo does it (her excellent collaborations with Danny L Harle and SG Lewis notwithstanding), it sucks when Boy Pablo (excuse me, “boy pablo,” lowercase emphasized because ~ennui~) does it, and, yes, it sucks when Cuco (excuse me, “CUCO,” all-caps emphasized because ~mood~) does it. It’s music that is fundamentally anemic, the artistic equivalent of buying a pack of cigarettes at a gas station once every three days for the rest of your life, and the only change effected by the trap beat and Spanish lyrics of “Amor de Siempre” is buying a different brand of cig.
[2]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: Homespun charm that swells into something larger than Cuco could’ve imagined. The structure makes “Amor de Siempre” feel like love is worth pursuing.
[7]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: Cuco eases you in here — the first verse or so could be mistaken for a Spanish-language twist on standard, bedroom-esque pop, but as soon as the tempo picks up and that rush of Mariachi horns dances in, “Amor de Siempre” gets lifted into a stratosphere of joy, with Omar Banos’s blissed-out vocal performance tying the whole thing together.
[8]

Andy Hutchins: This is a man’s song — the sentiment is too cute, too purple to be anything other than a man’s idea of loving a woman. But it is a beautiful lyric that makes good use of the fact that vivir and morir rhyme. And the women’s heart(s) of Las Lindas Mexicanas and the use of starry-eyed violin and sweet and low guitar that elevate “Amor de Siempre” and evacuate it from the bedroom to the sunlit mariachi love song it now is and forever will be.
[9]