Pop Culture Know-It-All Mikey Angelo Is Ready To Release His Own Music

In Elite Daily’s series At The Moment, celebs dish on their current projects, pop culture hot takes, and everything taking over their group chats. Below, content creator Mikey Angelo (@mrgrandeofficial) talks about how he got started on TikTok, his scrolling habits, and why he’s decided to drop his debut EP now.

Want the 411 on what’s currently trending? Look no further than Mikey Angelo. The 26-year-old content creator, also known as Mr. Grande, has reached viral success on the FYP thanks to his pop-culture raps about everything from the Kardashians to Taylor Swift.

Along with more than 3.6 million followers on TikTok, Angelo’s amassed almost 2.5 million YouTube subscribers and 746,000 followers on Instagram since he first started making videos in 2016. “I was still fresh in high school, and I was just really in love with this new world of content creation,” Angelo tells Elite Daily at VidCon 2024.

He may have jumped in without a plan, but he says he lucked out and is happy where he’s at eight years later. “I was really enthusiastic about songwriting, and I consume so much social media,” he says. “I thought, ‘How can I infuse my passion for songwriting into all this useless knowledge of memes and pop culture that I have stored in my head?’”

I need to touch grass in the best way.

Staying current on what’s trending requires a lot of scrolling. “Every morning, I wake up, check Twitter, TikTok, all the things,” Angelo says. “I watch a lot of reality television. Now that I do this as a career, it’s kind of being productive when I’m not being productive.” He jokes, “I need to touch grass in the best way,” but being chronically online has led to his success.

Nowadays, all Angelo’s videos get tons of views, but his first mega-viral hit was in 2020: a fake Nicki Minaj verse on the song “Baby Shark” that now has more than 14.9 million views. “That was the first one that really blew up and kind of catapulted me into the TikTok sphere,” he says. Having grown up watching YouTubers in the 2010s, Angelo says having his own viral video was “the most beautiful full-circle” moment.

Since then, he’s had celebrities like Lizzo, Doja Cat, and Kourtney Kardashian interact with his content, but the celeb he would love to work with next is Lil Nas X. “He has the same sense of humor as me, and he’s also very literate in the world of social media, memes, and pop culture,” Angelo says. “I’m also obsessed with him and his music.”

Eventually, I would love to do a full studio album, but right now, I’m working on an EP that is completely made from my bedroom.

This year, Angelo is taking his own music more seriously with the release of his debut EP. In May, he dropped his first single, “The Wizard of Oz(empic),” and released a second track, “Cybertruck,” on July 12. “Eventually, I would love to do a full studio album,” Angelo says. “But right now, I’m working on an EP that is completely made from my bedroom.”

In his Billie Eilish era, Angelo is recording, mixing, and writing songs right where he sleeps. “For the longest time, I was hoarding my music and waiting until I had that perfect sound,” he says. “I realized recently that people want to come on the journey with you and see where you're at, even if it’s not at the perfect radio level.”

That also means Angelo might be going on the road soon. He doesn’t have plans for a tour, but tells Elite Daily he’s doing a local show in Los Angeles in August “to kind of test it out.”

Soon you may be able to see Angelo in more places than just your FYP, but below, he dishes on his fave collab, the song of the summer, and what the biggest celeb moment of 2024 has been so far.

Elite Daily: Your favorite TikTok follow?

Mikey Angelo: Doja Cat.

ED: Your favorite person to collaborate with?

MA: Bob the Drag Queen. Bob had me on his EP, and we filmed a music video for it. We did a live show at the Troubadour in Los Angeles, which was the most exhilarating experience.

ED: Favorite celeb to rap about?

MA: Ariana Grande.

ED: Dream collab?

MA: Nicki Minaj.

ED: Song of the summer?

MA: “He Knows” by Camila Cabello and Lil Nas X.

ED: Fave TikTok trend right now?

MA: The twin challenge where they’re on both sides of the door and they tell the two twins to do the same thing. It’s very fun.

ED: Most controversial hot take?

MA: Pineapple belongs on pizza.

ED: Comfort show to watch?

MA: It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

ED: The biggest celeb moment of 2024?

MA: Billie Eilish’s new album coming out.

ED: Who’s winning pop queen of 2024?

MA: Sabrina Carpenter.

ED: Something you wish more people knew about you?

MA: That I’m Latinx. I don’t really talk about my heritage that much, but that’s an important part of me that I would love people to see.

ED: First celeb crush?

MA: Zac Efron.

ED: High School Musical Zac Efron?

MA: Yeah, absolutely.

ED: Which HSM is your favorite?

MA: High School Musical 2.

ED: Biggest career goal?

MA: To be a full-time professional songwriter in the studio.

ED: Fave meme of all time?

MA: It’s got to be a Wendy Williams one. She’s the queen of memes. The “what was that?” is a great one, or Dula Peep.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.