Artists to Watch: MIDLO

MIDLO, a pop-duo with over 600K streams on Spotify and over 18,000 social media followers, they are breaking their way into the music industry.

MIDLO originally started as a stage name for Dan Middleditch, who at the age of 18 performed across the world on cruise lines. From Disney to Norwegian, cruise lovers everywhere were entertained by Dan.

While working on a cruise, Dan turned his cabin into a "home" recording studio, creating his unique sound that would later come to be, MIDLO. Once stepping foot back on land, Dan made his way to LA and met now pop-duo partner, Renata Baiocco and as they say, the rest is history!

On August 16th, 2019 they released their first single, "Emotional." The single was featured on Spotify's famous New Music Friday playlist, followed by 15 other Spotify created playlists, earning them over 600,000 streams in just a few short months!

KB had a chance to interview MIDLO recently and dug into their background, inspiration and goals... Something all young musicians can relate to.

Who do you look up to in the music industry?

Dan: So, I have quite the eclectic taste in music and, even though I’m a pop musician, I draw a ton of inspiration from a lot of progressive rock artists and experimental musicians in order to keep our music industry.

Someone I’ve always looked up to is Steven Wilson, formerly of Porcupine Tree and now a solo artist. While a prog rock musician by definition, he never stayed completely in the confines of what he felt was expected of him. This is something that’s always resonated with me with MIDLO. While at root we are a pop duo, it goes a level deeper. The lyrics may have a superficial, “pop friendly” meaning, but 9 times out of 10 there is a deeper root to it. The guitar parts are interesting yet accessible. It’s clearly pop music, but there’s a smattering of things throughout that break the mold. Steven Wilson has also gone on record defending pop music at his shows, stating that if you don’t like pop music you are a “musical snob”. This genre of music gets put down often, and it was a breath of fresh air to have someone in the industry who I look up to say something like that.

Renata: I really look up to people in the industry who truly start out on their own making music in their living room or with their friends. People who really just have such a deep passion for making music that they invest their free time learning and growing as an artist. I really admire the confidence it takes to believe in your own abilities and self-record and self-release an entire album. I believe anyone can be a musician, but it takes that kind of drive to be an artist.

What are you most excited about pertaining to your upcoming tour?

Dan: Personally, I’m most excited to strip down the music and make it an acoustic show! These songs are HUGE on the instrumentation side, and even playing with a traditional band setup is quite the challenge to really do justice to these recordings. That said, we really didn’t want this to be the standard “acoustic duo”. We had to make it MIDLO. There will be some fun elements in the show that you have to come out to see!

Renata: This tour is a chance for us to introduce ourselves to the world, to people who don’t know us and have never heard our music. I'm excited to show people that we’re more than just pop music because I feel like there’s a kind of stigma around pop music; that it’s not genuine and it’s the moneymaking genre. All of our music comes from such real places and real life experience and it’s an honor to be on a tour with BBMak and share our stories through music. If I love a song I listen to by another artist it's because I connect with their message on such a deep level and I hope people can hear what we’re saying and receive the messages of our songs.

Where do you see yourselves as music professionals in ten years?

Dan: Oh, you know, nothing extreme. Just world domination.... But seriously, in 10 years I see MIDLO signed to a major label, touring the world, doing all the “rockstar” things that any artist wants while maintaining a level of honesty to ourselves. Hopefully in 10 years, the music industry itself will sort out its major issues when it comes to artists being paid rightfully and treated fairly, so, being able to pay the bills solely with music would be a dream come true. I come from a theatre background and working on cruise ships, so acting has supplemented the music so far. That paradigm shift would be very welcomed.

Renata: I would love to continue my career as MIDLO for as long as we can but taking a step back and look at the bigger picture, I hope to just be in the industry whether or not it’s as an artist or something else. To me it’s not about money or success, it’s about being in a place where I’m doing what I love. I love all parts of music because music is a part of who I am.

As you can see, MIDLO has no plans of slowing down anytime soon! Us here at KB Pop Culture cannot wait to see them rise to the top! Want to see them on tour? Check out the dates below!

Follow them on Social Media: @WeareMidlo

And as always, continue to stay up-to-date with all of your pop-culture news, @kbpopculture !