Stephen Sanchez grabbed the attention of many young listeners when he went viral on TikTok for his song, “Until I Found You”, in 2022. He finally gave the song a home on his first full length album, “Angel Face.”

The 20-year-old started his music career in 2020 with his song, “Lady by the Sea,” and has since blown up. Like other popular artists, before he comes out with albums, he releases singles. He prefaced this album with four singles, with “Until I Found You” being the first and most popular. The former single stands at 791,785, 601 streams on Spotify, higher than any other song produced by Sanchez. This hit was followed by “Evangeline”, “Only Girl”, and “Be More.”

Sanchez prides himself on two things that separate him from most of the artists today: his style and his storytelling. Sanchez’s music takes heavy inspiration from 1950 and 1960s musicians such as Elvis and Roy Orbison. He refers to himself as a “troubadour,” a word describing a medieval composer focused on love songs. He captures a “hopeless romantic” feeling that many of his fans admire. He provides a niche that many young listeners crave.  In “Angel Face,” Sanchez tells an entire 1960s love story, following himself and a girl he hopes to court. 

One of the most attention-grabbing tracks is titled, “Be More,” a delightful addition to the album. Sanchez breaks the status quo by singing untraditionally high notes. His vocals are angelic, and accompanying these vocals are his beautiful contemporary lyrics such as, “if words could just hold you/ tell me you feel me.” He articulates his feelings wonderfully, resulting in an overall enchanting song. 

Another gorgeous composition from this album is “No One Knows” featuring growing-artist Laufey, a song highlighting how relationships are not meant to be perfect. The song goes back and forth describing their imperfect relationship, ending in how they still belong together. Laufey is another popular artist with a similar following to Sanchez. Together, their song was a flawless addition to the album. The rest of “Angel Face” leads listeners to believe that love is a perfect, pining notion – and this song breaks that pattern. It brings realism into this album, giving the audience something to relate to. 

Contrastingly, a song that took a while to grow on me is “Shake.” It is heavily influenced by 1950s rock and roll. This song has stolen the hearts of many fans with its upbeat nature. It encourages listeners to dance while simultaneously sounding almost exactly like Elvis. The song stands out a lot from the rest of the album, being the only one not explicitly related to love. Slowly, this song has become one of my favorites, and with it’s catchy tune, it can’t help but stick with the listener. 

This album fascinates listeners of our generation for several reasons. Love is something that can seem so unattainable. Despite the intense want for romantic gestures, there is an utter lack of them. These songs bring back hope – proof that people can still fall in love as intensely as before despite the technology in the way. Our world has changed for the better in most ways, but sometimes it’s fun to revel in traditional love. Albums like “Angel Face” challenge our views on love and the standard set for it. I truly admire this quality of his music.