Myylo: I'm A Nice Boy Too EP Ranked

Last time I talked about Myylo on this blog I had seen him live once and I ranked the 5 songs off his 2019 EP I'm a Nice Boy. In the time since I've now seen Myylo 3 times live and he now has a sequel EP to I'm A Nice Boy. In typical Myylo fashion his newest EP has a clever title that is both cute and endearing: I'm a Nice Boy Too.

While I'm a Nice Boy Too acts like a sequel to Myylo's last EP, there are many departures throughout which show Myylo's growth as a songwriter. I'm a Nice Boy dealt solely with matters of the heart, whereas I'm a Nice Boy Too sees Myylo singing about broader topics affecting the Gay community as a whole in 2020 such as Body Dysmorphia, the fear of coming out of the closet and toxic masculinity.

I'm A Nice Boy Too is now Myylo's 3rd EP and looking back it's clear how much Myylo has grown as songwriter. Myylo has also challended and pushed himself to be as open and honest as possible about how he sees the world as a gay man and for that I am very thankful. Myylo continues to prove he is one the best and most unique voices we have right now in pop music and I can't wait to hear what he has in store for us in 2020. Hopefully I'll be able to see him live 3 more times this year!

Below I rank the 5 songs off the new EP like I did for the last EP but like the last EP I love all the songs on here. It's another 5 star EP from Myylo as far as I am concerned.

5. Skinny Boys

Skinny Boys tackles the subject of body shaming and body dysmorphia. While body shaming is a universal subject matter it's one that hits the gay community hard. A lot of times having a six pack and huge biceps are required for being seen as attractive or worthwhile within the gay community and it's so toxic at times. Nonetheless even I can't deny that I struggle with this as well and so too does Myylo. At the start is he sings:

"Every night as I’m laying on my mattress
I get so damn instantly distracted
Scrolling up through these six-pack abs
I know I’ll never have
Ooh, don't look like that
No, I never hav."

I can't tell you how many times I've done this myself and I bet most people reading this review right now can relate as well. Myylo then turns it around and declares we should celebrate all body types and learn to have fun instead of shaming each other constantly on superficial things:
"Give it up for the skinny boys
Give it up for the chunky ones
Cause we’re gonna have so much fun
Not give a fuck about anyone

Give it up for the
Boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys
Never let them steal your
Joy, joy, joy, joy joy."

Having a sculpted body is nice but it's not what self worth and happiness is all about and it's a poor criteria when choosing a mate or friend as well. This is a conversation we are starting to have in the gay community but it's one we need to keep having because it's suffocating & neglecting too many members of our community. We have to be better than that.

4. Tuck Your Head Under The Covers
Tuck Your Head Under the Covers deals with a subject that is universal among all queer people but has rarely been talked about in pop music in the past. Here Myylo teams up with fellow queer pop star Jordy to song about a mutual friend of theirs who is afraid to come out as gay for fear that his family will reject him. In the first verse Myylo sings:

"It breaks my heart that you're broken
Spillin' out on the bedroom floor
Afraid your mom isn't open
To lovin' everything that you are
Don't really know what to say
I'll be honest, I don't know if it's gonna be okay
It breaks my heart that you're broke."

I can tell you from firsthand experience that this is a fear that grips everyone when struggling in the closet. While I was accepted by my friends and family once I did finally come out, many of my friends were not so lucky. I knew people who's parents wouldn't let their boyfriends come to their home, then there was another friend who's father texted him on the day of his wedding saying that he will burn in hell if he gets married to another man. Then there was a friend in college who was kicked out of his own home freshmen year for coming out. Even in 2020 Queer people across the world are struggling to find acceptance and love. Yet, it's the allies and people you meet in the queer community who end up becoming your family in the end and give you the support you need when your biological family fails you. This is when Myylo sings the main chorus about how no matter what happens he will be there for his friend through thick and thin.

"Just tuck your head under the covers
You know I got you covered when you need me
Tuck your head under the covers
You know you got someone who'll never leave you behind
Even when you cry yourself awake
If you're in my arms you know you're safe
Just tuck your head under the covers
Tuck your head under the covers."

Being there for a queer person when they are at their most vulnerable and helpless is honestly life saving! Sometimes just by being there as a friend for someone who is struggling in the closet can mean a world of difference. You have given this friend comfort and assurance that they may have lacked their whole lives. Tuck Your Head Under the Cover is gentle, loving and healing and it's the kind of song that could also save lives for those who need to hear it's message and reassurances most.

3. I Can't Help But Look

I Can't Help But Look was the first song released from the I'm a Nice Boy Too EP and it was a wise decision because it feels the closest to his last EP in terms of production, lyrics and overall sense of fun. Whereas as Skinny Boys laments gay men with sculpted bodies, I Can't Help But Look revels in it and once again I can't deny that I haven't done the same from time to time. Here Myylo fixates on a man who's body is "Killer!" The song itself is jammed packed with Myyloisms (Did I just make up a word? Yes, yes I did!) His clever word play and quirky sense of humor are at a peak here with lyrics like:

"You're drinking Kombucha,
Sunbathe on the roof-uh, you're making me stupid!
I'm singing hallelujah
And you're pumping that iron, never physically tired
You're lookin' like Beckham, before he retired."

Later on he takes it up a notch and sings:

"Oh me Oh my, I'd like to hit the beach,
I'll be rubbin' in that sunny-screen baby
We sippin' Sunny D-you need them calories, I need that Vitamin D!."

I Can't Help But Look is a lust anthem for sure, but one with its tongue planted firmly in cheek and bursting with personality. It's another example of a song that only Myylo could have delivered.

2. Sad Boys

This song connected with me immediately the first time I heard it. Sad Boys is where Myylo laments how men are not allowed to express their feelings or emotions as openly and honestly as they should because of toxic masculinity in both the queer culture and mainstream culture as a whole. From the start Myylo gets straight to the heart of the matter in a way that only he can when he sings:

'Y chromosomes Make human beings
But only double Xx's get to feel the feelings
What the fuck
I feel them too
But all my friends we never get to say
We're blue with grief."

Myylo is saying here that only women are allowed to express their full range of emotions despite the fact that we are all human and should all be able to feel and express ourselves openly and honestly like everyone else.

I personally connect with the message of this song deeply because growing up gay in the closet I learned to suppress a lot of my emotions and feelings in order to survive and make people more comfortable around me. For years I honestly couldn't cry because I had done my best to shut that part of myself down. In the last few years though I've finally begun to grapple with my internalized shame and emotions I wouldn't let myself feel and it's honestly been life changing. I am starting to cry more but in a good way because I'm allowing myself to process feelings in a healthy way again.

The song itself is the most stripped down on the EP with just Myylo singing with a guitar. In all honesty this song is what seeing Myylo live sounds like because the 3 times I saw him live it was just him and an acoustic guitar playing in a living room and he was absolutely captivating. Myylo really does possess so much raw talent and that talent shines on Sad Boys where he forgoes the pop production and let's the song speak for itself.

1. I Saw A Boy At the Party

By the time Myylo released the I'm a Nice Boy Too EP 4 out of the 5 songs had already been released as singles meaning I Saw A Boy at the Party was the only new song by that point. Nonetheless this was certainly a case of saving the best for last because I Saw a Boy at the Party is perfect pop bliss! Lyrically this sees Myylo return to themes of his last EP, which dealt more with matters of the heart. Here Myylo spots a boy at the party that he is instantly attracted to, but Myylo is afraid to go up to the boy because he thinks he'll make a fool of himself.

"Should I get him a tequila? Tequila?
Ask him if he’s into chicos or chicas?
God I hope that I don’t freeze up, freeze up
When I say I want to see him after tonight

Hope that I don’t hydro—hydroplane
Swerve and stumble over every word I say
Cause it feels like I’ll never be the same
Even though I don’t know his name."

Musically the song sounds a bit like Biz Markie's early 90s novelty hit Just a Friend, something Myylo references directly in the song itself, but once again the execution is pure Myylo from start to finish. Some of my favorite Myylo lyrics ever are within this song. I can't help but smile every time I hear him sing:

"I’ve got some BIZ MARKIE feelings
I don’t want to be friends this evening
Just friends, that’s not how we’re proceeding
So I’m testing pick up line greetings

Like, "Hi boy, did you fall from heaven?"
And, "Look at those guns, those are weapons"
"Where is your heart, can I have directions?"
Fuck it, I’ve other questions."

I wish I had songs like this growing up in the closet as a teenager but I'm happy that songs like this exist now. The entire song is the epitome of adorable in the best possible way and I can't get enough of it. The best way to sum up I Saw a Boy At the Party is to quote one of my favorite TV shows Happy Endings and declare it "Suh Cyuht!"