The synths get stronger just as the drums are backing down. The bass isn’t going anywhere, but then again, neither is Victor PEDRO. The beats are swelling by the second, but there doesn’t seem to be any urgency in our singer’s delivery of the delicate verses adorning every rhythmic wave that we encounter in the new single “Call Me, I Miss Ya!.” In this carefully constructed chorus, PEDRO demonstrates a level of self-control in his instrumentation as well as a degree of contrition in his lyricism that, when combined together, elevate his songwriting to a place that few of his peers are capable of reaching. There’s no hesitance in his words, no achingly recycled elements in this sonic cocktail; Victor PEDRO is going hard in “Call Me, I Miss Ya!,” and making a strong case for followers of the mainstream and the underground to turn their attention towards his brand in 2019.

A super-physical groove is at the center of everything in this single, and even if it’s a lot more aggressive than what I would deem necessary for the framework created by the bassline, it manages to crush anything that gets in its path and leaves me begging for more muscularity of its sweet style in most every listening session that I afford it. I’ve never been the biggest fan of enormous beats like those that we find in abundance here, but with the enormity of PEDRO’s own vocal contributing to the grandiosity of the music even more than the drums are, they actually do a lot to foster the rhythmic pulse of the track (while inducing chills at the same time).

The bass isn’t as loud as I would expect it to be, but its minimalist-stylization makes for an interesting duality in this song’s cosmetic appeal. Where hip-hop fans are going to cling to these ridiculously rocking beats, students of the R&B new school are going to be all over this bassline, which never interferes with (or impedes) the commanding presence of the vocal, an element that serves as our velvet-soft linchpin for the entire single. Victor PEDRO has never had a hard time selling himself as a crossover artist before, and tracks like this one are the precise reason why. He knows how to attract listeners from across the spectrum, and if that doesn’t make him a transcendent entertainer, I don’t know what would.

Experimentation is the bread and butter of legends, and Victor PEDRO is embracing it fearlessly in his new single. If even half of his contemporaries in America and abroad had the enthusiasm that he does in regards to trying out new and exciting ideas, hip-hop would be in a lot more stable a place right now than it actually is, but that’s really the biggest reason why I think PEDRO is shining so brightly this spring. When there’s nothing to hold back an artist whose ambitions are already as big as the sky above us, really incredible things happen, and despite a couple of excusable flaws, “Call Me, I Miss Ya!” is a brilliantly designed sample of who PEDRO is as a songwriter, and more importantly, as a modern musical mastermind.

Zachary Rush