miiiro

The Birds - Miiiro: EP Review

Vevna Forrow

You may remember Boy Okay, from our Q&A series and WHISKER FACTORY legacy issue #5 of Dipity Literary Magazine, with his adorable cat Boris. Since then, he has changed his artist name and goes by “Miiiro” now. Though he grew up in Colorado, he produces songs from a shed in Oregon, and his music is extremely honest and upfront about some of the much sadder, heavier aspects of life, tied to true experiences, things people say and do, but to me, quite a lot of his songs have a really fun rhythm and what I like to call a “bubblegum bounce” or “fly floating” style to them. He releases a lot of music—to date, there are over 50 total, so for this review, I’ll be examining his most recent March 20th EP: The Birds.

To me, the song in the EP that gets 1st place is “Stangers (Velmi Bad), and the second would be “Abstracts.” Because my rating takes into account the entire EP, it will not be as high. The other two songs, “The Birds, Pt. 1 and Pt. 2”, feel weaker, or rather ones I wouldn’t sing along to as much. Now I love 2:21 of Pt .1 and the lyrics of Pt. 2, but they don’t have the same speed as the others. We do hear the piano, and to me it would have been more consistent had the other two tracks had the same funky, fun beatwise atmosphere, but “The Birds” two parts do not jive well with the EP as a whole. At 0:49, that’s my favorite part of “Strangers (Velmi Bad).”

Typically, Miiiro has variations of a mascot, essentially, a little ghost on his covers, but for this EP, he did not, nor has he always, for instance, I did love the EP Dishie with a photograph of himself on the cover. I do love the cute ghost trademark or signature of Miiiro across his music and reels, but I think it’d be cool to see more photography of himself or even Boris, and his surroundings incorporated on the cover art. Just saying, I think little Boris’s photographs would make cool covers too for his releases! You can take a look back at our first Q&A with Miiiro (formerly Boy Okay) linked (here) to see adorable photos of Boris the cat in action.

Some of my fave songs from Miiiro, are “Water is Love,” “Apple Pie,” “Large Love,” “Kung Dew,” “Names,” “Balloons,” and of course “Lemonade” from the Dishie EP. I’m not opposed to sad songs or down in the dumps ones in nature; however, the best songs of Miiiro’s are the more lighthearted chill ones, ones you can sing along to—there are cool, unique beat patterns Miiiro creates across the board as well. I do love quite a few of the sadder-toned songs, though.

Miiiro states he is another “artist who wears his heart on his sleeve” every day, and you do feel real emotion when you listen to his music. You can see how much time and energy he puts into each release if you peek into his Instagram feed, and it is something he is passionate about that gets him through tough days. I may have said this elsewhere or a lot, but truly, you’re bound to come across one song you can relate to throughout his 50+ releases, like “Long Day,” “Heartache,” “Runnng Late,’ “Hope,” and many more. I love how his style is undoubtedly fun, unique, and he lets loose. I’d recommend listening to the Gentle Shapes album too, comprised of 13 songs. He also takes time to do some more personal shares in the description section of his reels and posts.

I’m hoping he creates some music videos or lyric videos for his work as well in the future. I think it’d be interesting to see Miiiro do collabs with other artists in the industry, too; he is no doubt skilled in super fun and lively music production.

Miiiro’s music reminds me of times in my childhood, watching shows and channels for some reason—I’m not sure why, but the softer and sadder-toned music releases just have that tone to it that makes you reflect. Some of the interconnected messages in The Birds EP are lovely, such as reminders that “it’s okay to make mistakes” and take the time to recover from them. He also mentions “care bout your mother,” and the importance of family, love, and noticing what’s around you, in this case, nature and birds. Of course, you’ve got to love a song that mentions poetry in it, too, right?!

Memorable Lyrics from “The Birds, Pt. 2:”

""put some food out for some birds

take a breath and calm your nerves

write a poem and leave a trace

send a prayer up into space"

RATING: 3.6 OUT OF 5

Remember to add songs from The Birds to your playlist(s) and take a look at miiiro's music out on these channels or your preferred streaming platform, find him @miiiromusic on Instagram and elsewhere.