Admit it, you miss me. María Isabel Severino is certain of that on her new post-relationship glow-up EP, Miss Me Much? As an aspiring star at a performing arts high school, she taped Alicia Keys posters in her locker and studied the sepia-toned R&B you might’ve once owned on CD. In 2021, she released two tender and subdued EPs, Stuck in the Sky and i hope you’re very unhappy without me. Now, she’s linked up with El Guincho, known for his career-making work with Rosalía, to produce her third. On a 20-minute tessellation of Latin pop flecked with dembow, reggaeton, Jersey club, and hip-hop, María Isabel aims to graduate from ingénue to icon.
It’s an unexpected appearance from the Spanish producer, a key player in the globalization of reggaeton who’s logged firestarting collaborations with alt-pop divas like Bjӧrk, Charli xcx, FKA twigs, and Amaarae, as well as executive-producing Camila Cabello’s hotly debated C,XOXO. With a flair for coaxing singers out of their comfort zones, his work teeters between brilliance and blasphemy, overproduced yet outré, in spite of its popular appeal. As a rising artist, María Isabel represents a fresh Caribeña canvas, with a delicate vocal tone that requires a light touch.
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Rather than go to extremes, on Miss Me Much? María Isabel embraces classic textures and references, penning brisk melodies from the piano bench and situating island attitude against concrete romanticism. A minimal bassline fades into the noir gloaming of Auto-Tuned opener “Sunset Tower,” which invokes the historic Hollywood building. Capturing a relationship near its end, the song shares DNA with “Nikes” and a touch of “No More Parties in LA”: Not even dinner at Carbone or a glass of Moët can mask these feelings. Even more dramatic is “1-800,” as vaporous as heat off pavement. Co-written with Amaarae collaborator Mason “Maesu” Tanner, it’s the EP’s only English-language song, a spotlight for her pristine vocal technique. The hook, “834-8965/I wanna catch on one of these vibes,” accentuated by synthetic chimes and bumping, blunted drums, makes me want to crawl on the floor. Even in its simplicity, this song has contours.
When the tempo picks up, the production doesn’t veer too far afield. The popularity of Jersey club can make it feel like an experimental shortcut (especially by artists who aren’t from the East Coast) but “Bien Bien” pulls it off like designer. María Isabel’s crystalline voice feels laid-back and glamorous against the muted percussion. “Suiza” (“Switzerland”) is an unorthodox dembow-merengue concept, the riddim taking on an acoustic quality that’s rare to Dominican urbano but works with the softness of her performance. This time she’s dripped out in Aimé Leon Dore, counting her lucky stars: “Menos mal que no me casé” (“Thank goodness I didn’t get married”).
Most mesmerizing is “La Baby Cambió,” a body-rolling reggaeton cut that talks its shit; I want to hear it at summer parades. “Habla de mí a todas hora’/Espiándome, me busca en otra/Switcheo el cell, cambié de costa/Le cae a mi spot y le llora a toda’,” she complains (“Talks about me all the time/Spying on me, looking for me in another girl/Switched up my number, changed coasts/They hit my spot and cry to everyone”). She goes “Gossip Folks” on them and the first beat drop is a sucker punch. Later on the second chorus, the frequency gets pinned back for a moment, allowing the clouded bass to float back between taunts.
By the standards of El Guicho’s pop productions, Miss Me Much? is tame: no experimental surprises or beat switchups, no vocal contortion or sudden detours into dembow. Instead, the EP relies on the smoothness of María Isabel’s vocals, delivering the kind of R&B performance that quickly demonstrates the challenge of sounding effortless. And with its retro sounds and imagery—boom-bap built for train rides, camcorder-style music videos—Miss Me Much? lends itself to an appreciation of a timeless New York Dominican aesthetic. Skylines, corner stores and classic cars, the mosquito-net canopy bed at your wuela’s house, feeling prettier en la isla: These are not new concepts, but María Isabel’s execution is precise and unforced.
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
