Every once in a great while, there comes a talent so mind-blowing that it warps the fabric of human history, inspiring generations of enviers and imitators. Freddie Mercury was such a talent; so were the Beatles. And so is Tico, an 18-year-old double yellow-headed Amazon parrot who sings classic rock covers on TikTok.
With his dad Frank Maglio, Tico has made a career out of riffing on such classics as “Free Bird” and “Psycho Killer.” He started out on YouTube, but has since carved out an impressive audience on TikTok, winning almost 46,000 followers for his AC/DC and Kiss covers. His inability to actually follow a melody is more than made up for by the sheer force and soul of his vocals, which sound a little bit like Nancy Wilson meets Axl Rose. He also demonstrated his cabaret chops with this video, in which he appears to be singing the words “a purple bird”:
He also demonstrated his cabaret chops with this video, in which he appears to be singing the words “a purple bird,” wringing decades of pain and suffering and heartbreak out of every last note:
@ticoandtheman A purple bird
This week on Don’t Let This Flop, Rolling Stone‘s podcast about internet culture, cohosts Brittany Spanos and Ej Dickson pay homage to Tico by crowning him as our first non-human Himbo of the Week. They also discuss the unveiling of DeuxMoi, Halsey’s beef with her label, and how an OnlyFans creator got her Instagram account back by sleeping with Meta employees.
DLTF is released Wednesdays on all audio streaming platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher and more.