Words by James Youarn

Sometimes, seeing can really be believing. With Bentley Robles’ new single, he reminds you that all you need is one look and that full body sensation of desire can overtake you.

Bentley Robles has been striking New York with his red hot hyper-pop sound. It harks back to late 2000s bubble gum pop that captured everyone’s ears during the era of the recession. But now, the production has a fullness to it, with a gelatinous bass line that fills the pallet paired with sweet and sour synthesizers.

A lot of this is nostalgia, that unavoidable feeling that permeates our culture. Bentleys expression of it isn’t the passive “I wish I was born in a different generation” kind though. He is distinctly a product of Gen z, proudly queer and celebrating rather than bemoaning the para-sociality that marks Gen z’s initial experiences of romantic desire.

The song is about such relationships, with Bentley exclaiming his desire for a figure that only appears to him through a screen. There are no dimensions to such a figure, just a definition. That kind of crush, who exists as a celebrity or as a character on a show, is almost so common its banal. Bentley brings it back from this banality.

He does more than singing, he is almost basking in the force of his yearning for this person. The song starts off with his vocals front and centre, with the instrumentation beginning as a subdued beat that matches the marching growth of his want. It blooms into a full and forceful chorus, where the bass and synthesizers mix into a sound that makes you jump.

Sex is never far away from the lips and the mind of Bentley in this single, but so is the idea that his lover is made of pixels. In some ways, it almost feels like something that should stay within an incognito window. Bentley is definitely not ashamed, and the soaring synths want to you share in the desire.

Maybe we don’t even need to see, we can just head it and believe it.

Socials: @bentleyrobles