Milo and Julian Sposato, 17 year-old twin brothers and leaders of the band SpoBro, have been working and performing at a dizzying pace for the past six months, all while juggling the demands of high school—they just competed on “American Idol,” performed in 10 episodes of a new DreamworksTV series, and are finishing up their first SpoBro album.
The brothers earned a quick “ticket to Hollywood” on “American Idol”last month, meaning they got the green light to compete on the show after a joint audition—a jazzy take on Bruno Mars’ “Runaway Baby.” The audition video, available on ABC’s website, was such a hit that it was trending as the third most popular video on YouTube.
The Sposatos were invited to audition for the show’s executive producers after a casting agent saw an Instagram posting by Milo and contacted them.
Even though the brothers auditioned together, they had to be judged separately, which meant they competed with one another. The first week of competition, Milo performed Labrinth’s “Jealous” and Julian sang Stevie Wonder’s “Love’s In Need of Love Today” for judges Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie.
In a heartbreaking moment, only Milo was voted through to the next round and made the “Top 50” contestants. He was then voted off the following week.
“I got kicked out, but it gave us a ton of exposure,” Milo said in an interview with The Malibu Times. “Now I can explore the opportunities we want to do together and get back to my school and the band.”
The twins already had plenty of other irons in the fire.
Last fall, SpoBro auditioned as the house band for a new DreamWorksTV show, won the spot and performed in 10 half-hour episodes of “Life Hacks for Kids: On the Road.” The show started airing on March 3, and is on every Saturday at 5:30 p.m. PST on Universal Kids! As a former YouTube show, it averaged more than one million views per week.
“We wrote songs on the spot, and that’s what made it fun for us,” Milo said. “The whole thing was dope, with a full studio and a full set.”
“It was a drama-free environment, and the banter was really funny,” Julian added. “Dreamworks was super.”
Julian described how, because of their appearances on “American Idol” and the current running of the DreamworksTV show, they’re now recognized by people on the street, and also receive things from fans online. People now ask him what it’s like to be a star.
“You begin to realize that people perceive you differently than you perceive yourself,” he said. “I still take the metro to school every day. I don’t have any of the benefits of being a star,” he laughed.
“I never paid that much attention to social media before,” Milo said, “but now we have to.” SpoBro now maintains an Instagram account where they “post sneak peeks and announce gigs.”
The SpoBro band, which was formed nearly five years ago, currently consists of Milo on sax, piano and vocals; Julian on trumpet, piano and vocals; Oriana Cognata of Agoura Hills on guitar and vocals; David Kohn on drums; Sean Levine on bass; and Ben Babylon on keyboards. Cognata, the most long-term member of the band, first met the twins through Roc Nation. She and the twins are the group’s composers.
Whenever the brothers got into a discussion with each other, Cognata would laugh and explain, “They’re doing a twin thing right now.”
SpoBro is currently recording their first album in their father’s home studio. Although eight out of 12 songs are finished recording, the album remains untitled. They hope to have it finished by this summer. One of the tracks they played during the interview, “I am the Sun,” seems like a sure hit. They describe their style of music as jazz/pop/funk fusion.
The talented twins have lived in Malibu with their parents most of their lives and are well known around town. The boys showed avid interest in singing and playing musical instruments from a very early age, started playing in public by age 10 and have since won numerous contests and awards. They attended Malibu schools through eighth grade, then auditioned for the LA County High School for the Arts, where they are now juniors. “It’s really disciplined,” the brothers said. The family keeps an apartment in town during school.
SpoBro plans on being in Malibu this summer, most likely playing at Ollie’s Duck & Dive and the Vintage Grocers concert series.
