Stephen Sanchez came to flirt at Fine Line
by Macie Rasmussen and Sara Fish
February 27, 2023
In a recent interview with Billboard, ascending star Stephen Sanchez made a case for artists putting out flirtatious material. “Your audience at a show is essentially someone that you’re trying to win over,” he said. “They’re the muse, and you’re flirting with them for an hour, trying to convince them to go out on a date with you.”
On Sunday night, the Fine Line audience members were all about being his muse. The venue was alive even before Sanchez ran on stage. In the front of the room, teens squeezed between each other to score the closest place possible. By the wall, a mother flipped over a trash can to give her young child a better view. In the middle of the crowd, friends took their BeReals and asked each other, “Are you going to cry?” And by the merch table, a father played with a few children — one as young as five years old.
Sanchez rose to mainstream attention when “Lady by the Sea” went viral on TikTok in 2020, and Republic Records quickly signed him. The single “Until I Found You” released in September of 2021 and has since gained over half a billion streams on Spotify alone. This prompts the question, “Can an artist with TikTok origins extrapolate a few viral hits into an hour-length show?” The answer depends on whom you’re asking.
Currently on his first tour, the 20-year-old has already mastered a swanky persona for teens (and accompanying parents) to indulge in. When not thrusting hips or rapidly spinning with his guitar, the singer gripped the mic stand with fingers covered in tattoos and rings. He made eye contact with those on the balcony and even maintained optimistic spirits after falling off of the drumset he climbed on. Exaggerated facial expressions and movements were proportional to those of an artist playing at the Xcel Energy Center.
He moved with the confidence of someone acutely aware of his conventional attractiveness. The way he slyly licked his lips and mischievously grinned while staring at those in the front row showed seductive intentions. “Are you all right?” he asked. “Well you look all right” he said in an excessively flirtatious tone; a tone that almost overstated the act he was putting on.
His vocal talent was undeniable. On songs like “Until I Found You” it was hard to not mentally sway to his smooth and soothing vibrato; his extensive vocal range slid cleanly up and down. The flawless baritone on blues-y tunes was highly respectable, but lyrically, things are rarely more than skin deep.
Sanchez is the epitome of a hopeless romantic, and his subject matter never advances far beyond grasping for someone who is “easy on the eyes.”
Women’s eyes are a central theme in Sanchez’s writing. Although he skipped the album Easy on My Eyes’ title track, he still sang the words "You are easy on my eyes" on “Mountain Peaks.” The song “Kayla” begins with the line “Eyes of brown / Beautiful and she’s so warm to just be around,” and the breakout song itself, “Lady by the Sea,” begins with “Dame with eyes of green.” (There are too many examples to list.)
Sonically, the singer cemented himself in a 1950s and ‘60s style and sometimes succumbed to pastiche — not just inspiration. Before he stepped onstage, tracks from Bobby Darin, Engelbert Humperdinck, and The Isley Brothers played overhead. He often seemed to be paying tribute to those before him rather than crafting something truly unique.
Sanchez served a few sneak peeks of unreleased songs throughout the evening and closed with the peppier track, “Amy & Mary.” On TikTok, he dedicated the song “to all the girls who have girl problems too.” Maybe attempting to relate queer women’s experiences to his own was a sincere attempt to acknowledge a community he’s not a part of. And maybe one day, when the song is released, someone will inform him that the sentiment isn’t necessary.
In the Billboard interview, Sanchez continued, “I think that it’s easy to jump on TikTok and sing a song for 30 seconds. But where’s the flirting? That’s a one-night stand. Where’s the meat of it?”
At 20, Sanchez will have some time to develop the “meat” of nuance within his creative vision. But if Sanchez was simply searching for a rock star character to play on Sunday, he achieved his goal.
Earlier in the evening, the London-based opener Kings Elliot said, “I hope I’m not bringing the mood down with my depressing lyrics.” She explained how deeply therapeutic and healing songwriting is and why she refers to herself as a “sick puppy:” A person who “struggles with mental health but keeps going every day.” The singer then asked the crowd to raise phone flashlights and scream “sick puppy” as she took a video for her TikTok.
Setlist
Hey Girl
Hold Her While You Can
Kayla
Lady by the Sea
Please Don’t Go Home Yet
Mountain Peaks
See The Light
I Want You
The Pool
Evangeline
Only Girl (Unreleased)
Stay (Unreleased)
Unchained Melody (Cover)
Bohemian Rhapsody (Interlude)
Until I Found You
Amy & Mary (Unreleased)