Chicago’s rising artist Spectra delivers new single ‘Calling You’, a cinematic gothic-pop experience that feels both intimate and timeless. At Park Street Recording Studio with producer Tyler Ford, the artist revisited a song she wrote at the tender age of 16 with the lens of wisdom, life experience and adult perspective. This time-travelling approach elevates this single into an elegant and dramatic narrative. Opening with the nostalgic crackle of a rotary phone, ‘Calling You’ slips into a blurred piano line, orchestral violins, and a grounding acoustic guitar. This layered, purposeful arrangement is full of Hollywood glamour surrounding a treasured memory that you grip tightly onto in the corner of your mind.

Fitting into this subtly vintage production is a familiar tale of teenage heartbreak that chronicles Spectra’s experience of coming out as a lesbian. It’s a playfully self-aware ode to personal growth, exploring one’s vulnerability and all with a little cheeky wink to the listener. There’s a sense of self realisation in the final crescendo and as that receiver is finally put down on this musical phone call, we’re left in a suspended haze of bittersweet finality. For us, ‘Calling You’ is a powerful introduction to Spectra, who spins her deeply personal stories into stratified, genre-blending pop.

“I feel really happy to be able to revisit this song at such a later time in my life, with peace and almost like a closure!”

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