Viral TikTok sensation, Stephen Sanchez has dominated the internet over the last few months. His breakout 2021 single, “Until I Found You” is a song you can neither deny, nor hide from. Fast forward to now, Stephen seems to be working towards his first full length LP since his 2022 release, Easy On My Eyes. For this upcoming album, titled Angel Face (a title shared by a 1953 American noir film), Stephen has built a time machine for his listeners. Under the guise of an early 1960’s Pop Rock album, Stephen is telling a story of two fictional characters, ‘The Troubadour Sanchez’ and Evangeline. Based on the singles, cover art, and marketing, Stephen is borrowing the aesthetics from one of the greatest eras of music. That era being, late 50’s and early 60’s Pop Rock, be it Elvis Presely or The Beatles. The album art depicts the story’s two main characters. The framing, colors, even down to the text fonts used, reflect all the traits of a classic black-and-white romance film, or a dusty record you might find in your grandmother’s old vinyl collection in the attic. This past week, Stephen Sanchez released the third single for this upcoming time capsule of an album, “Be More”. 

Described by Sanchez as a “dialogue between lovers,” this song explores the unexplained qualities of love. The love that is displayed in this song is more complex than one just being swept off their feet, rather, this song expresses the need for more. The need for love’s tender beauty, brutal ugliness, painful desire, and everything in between. Akin to the rest of the album’s aesthetics, “Be More” capitalizes greatly on the 60’s branding. It’s pure 60’s in its instrumentation, vocal performance, and song-writing. The balladry is heart-gushing and the timbre of Sanchez’s voice is romantic. The shape of his melodies are sweet and simple (in a good way), and his syllabic delivery is hypnotic. Though not exclusive to the contemporary, Stephen knows his audience, given his persistent use of vibrato to really add punctuation and emphasis to every line. The song offers a worthy and justified payoff in its buildup that leads to the cathartic crescendo in the song’s final minute. At the end of the second verse, Stephen goes into his upper register as he slips in and out of liberating belting into seamless falsettos, as the instrumentation follows suit. 

Produced by Ian Fitchuk and Konrad Snyder, “Be More” is among the best of contemporary ballads released this year. The track is pure ear-candy with its romantic strings, passionate keys, heavy reverb vocals, and intimate lyrical content. Stephen is no stranger to crafting a goosebump inducing experience. “Be More” gets more and more gorgeous everytime you hear it. One of the greatest victories of this album’s singles, is proving to anyone who was worried about Stephen Sanchez being a one hit wonder was sorely, deeply mistaken. Angel Face  is expected to release September 22nd.

Author: Jordan

Jordan Wisniewski is a passionate writer and Hip-Hop artist from North Carolina, US.