When we arrive at Lala, the restaurant co-owned by Bad Bunny that’s tucked into a San Juan, Puerto Rico, mall, we’re immediately swarmed by a crowd of 20-somethings in oversized streetwear. I’m pretty sure any of them would kill to interact with Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio. But tonight, judging by their fervid squeals and bandanas under matching bucket hats,1 they’re awaiting someone just as exciting: music phenomenon Young Miko—or “just Miko, please,” as she asks me to call her.
1. A trademark Young Miko style. Tonight, she’s wearing baggy Comme des Garçons pants and a cropped shirt by an emerging designer from Spain, AAA Studio. And her alluring smell can be blamed on YSL, she confesses about her fragrance.
Miko pulls me to a corner table and orders for both of us as her sizable team lingers in another room—the speed and gravity of her ascent means she now requires people. And stealth. As we start talking about Bad Bunny’s upcoming Super Bowl halftime performance, I ask her if she plans to attend the game. She says no. Two weeks later, she’d be dancing to Bad Bunny’s set next to Pedro Pascal and Cardi B in center frame during one of the most-watched television events in American history.
What’s remarkable about Miko (born María Victoria Ramírez de Arellano Cardona) isn’t just how quickly she’s broken out; it’s how fully formed she arrived. She careened into the spotlight with her 2021 breakout hit “105 Freestyle.” Within two years, she’d charted on the Billboard Hot 100, opened for Karol G, and joined Bad Bunny onstage. Her debut album, 2024’s Att., cracked the top 10 on Billboard’s Latin albums chart, and she later opened for Billie Eilish before selling out San Juan’s Coliseo de Puerto Rico arena. A Grammy nomination followed, as did collaborations with Central Cee, J Balvin, and Feid. This year, she’s fronting Spanish-language campaigns for global brands like Gap.2 All of it done as an out queer woman in a corner of the music industry that has historically had no place for her.
2. In March, Young Miko became the first openly queer Latina to star in a Gap ad, for which her song “Wassup” was reworked and retitled “Sweats Like Us.”
Swimsuit and hat Dsquared2, boardshorts Rusty, earrings (worn throughout) Hirotaka, necklaces (top) Don’t Let Disco and (bottom two) from The Society Archive.
That tension is the point: Miko’s subversive and sexually fluid lyrics—“Tu jeva que no me llame / Si no, la meto en un trio” (“ Your girl better not call me / Otherwise, I’ll put her in a threesome”)—slice through a genre built on a very specific mythology: male dominance and heterosexual desire. There are few openly queer artists3 in the worlds of rap, reggaetón and Latin trap, styles she cites as her biggest inspirations. Not that that’s held her back. She’s known for confidently rapping about sex with women, wearing a Pride flag as a cape onstage, and standing up for trans rights. “Trans women are women. Trans men are men. And nonbinary people are nonbinary,” she says, punctuating every word with her hands.
3. While Ricky Martin’s 2010 coming-out was considered groundbreaking at the time, he’d already achieved global stardom singing about heterosexual love. Most other queer artists in this space operated in the underground “neoperreo” scene.
“I’m literally a gold star lesbian,” she says of her sexuality. On QueerTok, fans memorize her verses, get tattoos inspired by her songs, dissect every candid photograph of her, and speculate about her relationship status. It’s a community she wholeheartedly embraces, acknowledging it’s done as much for her as she’s done for it. “I feel lucky,” she says, “that my queerness has been powerful for my career. I now represent something bigger than me.”
Still, she adds, her most important community is right here. She wants everyone to love Puerto Rico. The restaurant seems to go quiet as she sips her whiskey, telling me about her favorite island gay bars and secluded beaches. She shares stories about her two brothers, Carlos and Juan, and about her mother and father’s long and healthy marriage. By the time I leave Puerto Rico a few days later, I’ve met her dog, Naila, and hung out with her best friend and manager, Mariana (Mari), and I feel like I could pick her many loved ones out of a crowd. Miko is a global artist who has decided that home isn’t something she’ll ever leave behind. It’s a place she brings everyone else into, while revealing parts of herself along the way....
Your mom collected magazines when you were growing up. Did you read Cosmopolitan?
I did. And now she’s piling up magazines again, but this time it’s all the covers I’ve done. It’s really sweet of her.
Before the covers, before your big breakout, you were playing national-level soccer and running a tattoo business. Then you told your parents you wanted to be a musician. How did that go?
They seemed worried. Then I remember my little brother going up to my mom and saying, “Why are you worried? She said she wanted to play soccer, and she made the national team. She said she wanted to tattoo, and she almost owns a studio. Now she wants to make music. She’s going to tour the world.” You know those memes that are like, “I will succeed because I’m insane?” That’s me.
Siblings know you better than anyone. My younger sisters are huge fans of yours. I love that they have someone like you to look up to, since queer artists have been historically overlooked by mainstream labels. How did you avoid that?
Mari, my manager. I’ve been with her since day one. She quit her corporate job at a dispensary for me. She left, having not managed anyone ever.
TikTok loves your friendship with Mari. What is it about your relationship that translates so clearly to your fans?
We studied together in college, and we played on the same soccer team. That’s when I told her my dream was to make music. She knew Angelo Torres4 and showed him five freestyles. He agreed that this was special, so we went to Miami, and I met his team. A year later, we dropped “105 Freestyle.” I remember wanting to throw up because I was so nervous. Then we dropped “Riri” for Trap Kitty. That was the year Bad Bunny was doing his shows here in Puerto Rico, and he invited me onstage.
4. One of the owners of The Wave Music Group, a label with Capitol Records.
Did he DM you?
He DMed Mari! After that, we knew all this was something.
What do you remember about meeting Bad Bunny?
It was so cool. He’d gone beneath the stage to get some water or change his shirt. I remember hearing, “Miko.” I raised my head, and he was standing right in front of me. He seemed like a little kid. He was so excited and said, “Thank you for coming. You’re so fire.”
The next year, you put out 20 songs and opened stadium shows for Karol G on her Mañana Será Bonito Tour. You did all that before releasing your debut album or headlining a single show of your own. How’d you pull that off?
It’s why having real people around you is so important. And Benito is so real. Anytime we see each other, he always gives the biggest hugs. He remembers my brothers’ names. He’ll ask for Mari. He’s just a really down-to-earth guy. He’s sweet as hell.
You’ve also opened for Billie Eilish.5 What’s the difference between Billie’s and Bad Bunny’s fans?
Benito’s fans are intense. I can tell you that. At least here in Puerto Rico, he’s loved so much. People really look up to him, and he deserves all the hype. But I feel really close to Billie’s fans because I saw them up close and personal for a bunch of shows. I felt like I really got to see them, what they would wear, and the things they would tag me in online.
5. About Billie, Miko says, “She’s literally just a girl.”
Shirt ERL, vest Coach, bikini top Christopher John Rogers, pants Nili Lotan, necklace Hannah Blount, watch Hublot, ring (worn throughout) Miko’s own.
Top Collina Strada, bra Deborah Marquit.
Billie said in an interview that she lost more than 100,000 Instagram followers after releasing her first explicitly queer song, “Lunch.” Do you think writing about lesbian sex has held you back at all professionally?
Honestly, no. I, honest to god, feel like it’s been the other way around. I always knew I was a lesbian. I had my first girlfriend when I was really young. My mom was like, “You’re weird around this girl, different than you are around other people.” She noticed, and then she just dragged me out of the closet.
I’ve read that your mother initially struggled with your queerness. I can’t imagine how tough that must have been, knowing how close you two are.
My parents tried to take me to church first and to therapy. They thought I was young and confused. We ended up going to therapy together, and I learned that I was perfectly normal. My mom just wanted me to be happy. It’s not her fault that she was taught that my queerness wasn’t okay. She had to unlearn to learn again. It was a really tedious, delicate moment between my parents and me.
A few years later, my brother came out, and their reaction was completely different from what I went through. They were like, “We love you no matter what. You’re always going to be our son. Nothing is going to change that, no matter what you identify as.” It was honestly super beautiful to watch them evolve.
Was that healing? I imagine it could have felt complicated, too.
I cried when I saw how my mom reacted. I told her I was proud of her. She cried, too. She said, “Thank you. I hope I’m doing the right thing. I just want you guys to be happy, to find love, and feel the way I feel about your father.” I grew up knowing what someone deserves, what love is supposed to look like.
Seeing your parents choose to accept you rather than lose you, what did that teach you about love?
It’s honestly really complicated when somebody you care about doesn’t support you. But I think love will always win at the end of the day. I was lucky to have parents who decided that their love for me was bigger than anything they didn’t understand. But I do have friends who have lost a relationship with their parents, and it’s so sad.
How do your parents feel about your songs, especially the more graphic ones?
Obviously, they’re the last people I’m thinking of when I’m writing these things. But then we’ll be in my car, on our way to grab dinner, and they’re like, “Let’s listen to it.” And I’m like, “Okay, but before I press play, I’m actually so sorry.” But no, they’re cool. We laugh about it.
When did you have your first kiss?
I was in high school. The way I felt like my soul was leaving my body, I was like, Oh, bitch, you be gay. You as gay as they come. I remember feeling the fire, where it’s just like a body being on fire. I never felt this in my life; this is crazy. Is this love?
What does love look like for you now?
I’ve dated people where maybe we go to a restaurant and they don’t thank the waiter. I’m not saying that literally happened, but you know what I mean. I need someone with empathy around me. Someone who notices those little things the way I do.
Dress Burberry, shorts R13, rings Hirotaka, necklace Don’t Let Disco, anklet Presley Oldham.
When was the last time you were in love?
Not too long ago. And after a breakup, I have to go no-contact. When I love, I love really, really deeply, so going no-contact after a breakup is the only way forward.
What did you love about that person?
When you make me laugh, it’s like I’m putty in your hands. I honestly couldn’t care less about how you look. Obviously, there are certain characteristics that catch your eye, but at the end of the day, it’s about what you can’t see. It’s about the things they show through actions, the way they think, the way their heart works, or how they see life. If you laugh, genuinely care, and are smart and intelligent, that’s so attractive to me. If you’re well-spoken and eloquent, that’s fire. That’s really attractive.
Do you want to get married?
I think the right person will make me want to be married to them.
Would you say you tend to be monogamous?
It feels more natural for me to be monogamous. It already feels like my life belongs to the world, so I do like to have things that are mine, that belong just to me.
Would you ever date a fan or a person who wasn’t famous?
Of course. I don’t care if you’re famous or not, if you have social media or not or money or not. I don’t give a fuck about none of that. That’s not what I’m going to see when I wake up and we get into a deep conversation with each other.
But it’s scary to date as a famous person. I’ll be like, “Does this person genuinely care for me? Are they genuinely interested in knowing me?” I live such a fast-paced life, I don’t know where I’m going to be tomorrow. I think I’m here, and then suddenly, it’s like, “We just booked this thing in Korea and we have to leave tomorrow.”
Is it lonely being single now?
Sometimes it is. Sometimes it’s not.
You’ve been able to make your concerts into events where your fans can feel safe and maybe even less lonely themselves. How do you protect them in those spaces, especially in countries where being openly queer can be dangerous?
I have a segment in my show dedicated to my trans family and friends. I wrote “Protect the Dolls” over the big screen and put a trans woman front and center. And fuck you if you
hate that. There have been places we’ve traveled that have said we can’t hang the flags. We have the lesbian flag, the trans flag, we have them all. My team will be like, “So do we still pull out the flags?” And I’m like, “Yeah, we’re pulling out the flags!”6
6. Miko calls the Pride flag her “superhero cape.”
Especially right now, it’s important to have spaces like your concerts where people can feel safe and seen.
When I was in fourth grade, my dad said to me, “You’re not famous yet because nobody has discovered you.” He didn’t know what he was doing to my brain. He was helping my delusion. But I was like, if my dad thinks I’ll be famous and both my parents think I’ll be able to make it, how should I give a single fuck about what anybody else thinks? Besides, it’s up to us. People like you and me.7 We need to make change.
7. She points to me, then to herself, cheersing to our matching head-to-toe menswear and queer advocacy.
Lead image: Bikini Miu Miu, boxers and necklace from The Society Archive, rings Hirotaka, necklace (bottom) Hannah Blount.
Cover image: Dress Burberry, ring Hirotaka, necklace Don’t Let Disco.
Styled by Brandon Tan. Hair by Christian Alexis. Makeup by Jonuel Nader Lopez. Produced by Once : Once. DP: Rachel Batashvili. Special thanks to Vintage Garage PR. Shot on location at Hotel El Convento, available on Hotels.com.
