Michael Wycoff, Looking Up to You | Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶

In the 179th edition of Throwback Vibez (2024), we recollect and reflect on “Looking Up to You” by Michael Wycoff.   

The vibes, the vibes, those Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶! Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 is a column that celebrates awesome songs from the past.  The records that grace this column are older, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re ancient – no fossils 🦴! All genres of music are welcome. In the 179^th edition of Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 (2024), we recollect and reflect on “Looking Up to You” performed by Michael Wycoff.

“So sweet, got me looking up, got me looking up to you.” Michael Wycoff (1956 – 2019) was an underrated talent in R&B music.  He released three albums but never received his just due, sadly.  One of his hits that should have but didn’t impact the pop charts is the silky, smooth “Looking Up to You”. “I’m looking forward to that sweet reality, oh yeah,” he sings in the first verse, continuing, “I see myself rewarded with the love I need.” “Looking Up to You” is the second track from his sophomore album, Love Conquers All, released in 1982. Webster Lewis produced this awesome record. Not a commercial success, “Looking Up to You” has since received millions of streams.

“Looking Up to You” is groovy from the beginning. The arrangement and production are exquisite – rhythm section, lush strings, and glorious horns.  Even though “Looking Up to You” arrives post-70s when ‘symphonic soul’ was king, some of the magic of that era remains on this sleek joint. It’s not all instrumental glory, though. Vocally, Michael Wycoff sounds exceptional. His talent shines through like a beacon. His pipes are commanding, expressive, and nuanced. “There’s a thing never simplified, oh no / Only mastered by those who take the time,” Wycoff sings prudently in the second verse, continuing, “Don’t you know good judgment could keep it on your side / The rules are buried, emotions often decide.” Preach! Besides his ripe instrument, he is supported by invested background vocals, upping the ante. The call and response, and ‘response and call’ between Wycoff and the background vocalists is a winning formula.   The sections to beat are the chorus and refrain:

“What I’m believing got me looking up to you

What I’m receiving keeps me feeling like I do, oh yeah

…And so sweet, got me looking up, got me looking up to you.”

Despite being underrated to the nth degree, “Looking Up to You” is stellar. Besides lots of streams long after it arrived in the early 80s, it has been sampled many times.

Michael Wycoff // Love Conquers All // RCA // 1982

Michael Wycoff, Looking Up to You: Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 No. 179 (2024) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; RCA; OpenClipart-Vectors, Clker-Free-Vector-Images, Speedy McVroom from Pixabay]