Saab and Jim’s 7-Year-Old Son Vito Recorded His Debut Album

Some kids want a superhero party for their birthdays. Others want to travel, ask for their favorite toy, spend the day at a play place, or have a big birthday cake.

Vito Bacarro asked for an album launch for his seventh birthday.

The son of musicians and podcasters Jim Bacarro and Saab Magalona recorded his debut album, Going Near the Flame, earlier this year. In an Instagram post, Jim shared that Vito didn’t just sing the songs. He “made all the parts, played all the instruments and wrote all the lyrics."

Then came Vito’s 7th birthday wish: to have an album launch with a live band playing his songs. The videos Jim shared showed rehearsals for the launch, with Vito joined by his ninongs Manny Tanglao and Enzo Hermosa.

Vito has always been interested in music. In a 2023 Smart Parenting story featuring Saab’s Instagram posts on Vito and his brother, Pancho, both boys seemed to have inherited their parents’ musicality and showmanship. At the time, Vito, who was only three years old, was described as a “little drummer” who would pretend to play drums whenever he heard music.

A year earlier, when Vito was 2, Saab also shared that he successfully identified 13 songs Jim played on his guitar. Among them were ‘Don’t Let Me Down,’ ‘I’ve Got a Feeling,’ and ‘Yesterday’ by The Beatles, as well as ‘Stop This Train’ by John Mayer.

Four years later, Vito has grown into a budding musician—writing his own songs, playing instruments, singing, and performing with a band.

Kids can go through a hundred hobbies and interests as they grow up. It could be art one week, the solar system the next, and dancing a month later. As parents, we might not know which interests will stick, but maybe the secret is that we don’t have to.

Sometimes our job is simply to notice what lights them up—the things they are naturally interested in and drawn to. Give them room to explore, and when they’re ready, show them that the things they create matter.

For Vito, that meant more than recording songs on his own. When he asked for an album launch, the adults in his life—his parents Jim and Saab, and his godparents—helped make it real.

Vito may only be seven, so there’s plenty of time to find out where his love and passion for music will take him. But for now, he’s already done something many aspiring musicians dream of doing: writing an album, recording it, putting a band together, and playing his own songs live.

And judging from Jim’s video clips, the family was more than happy to let the birthday boy run the show.

Here's how Saab supported Vito's solar system obsession.