María Isabel laments a relationship turned sour on the avant-garde R&B of “Baby...”

The past few years have seen a continual increase in the popularity and domination of the Latinx music industry. Raised in Queens, New York, María Isabel is one embodiment of this cultural melting pot, with her Dominican-American heritage serving as the foundation for her artistic duality. With musical influences of dembow and reggaeton, Isabel has carved out her own lane in the R&B space with a quiet elegance.

Recent single “No Soy Para Ti” is a reggaeton-infused ballad that finds her singing bilingually over an infectious instrumental. Her poetic storytelling transcends any language barrier whilst singing of self-love after learning from a failed relationship.

Serenading listeners with a slow-simmering melody, the new release “Baby...” sees María Isabel taking a calculated departure from her previous singles. Elements of dark-pop meet with simple acoustic riffs whilst her soft-spoken vocal elevates the whimsical track.

A noticeable change of pace for María, she expresses her raw emotions in paralleling anecdotes of bittersweet love. “And whenever they try to come for you / I look demons in the face for you / and if I try to pull away from you / you pull me back into you” she initially sings before later being defeated in saying “And whenever they try to come for me / you won’t look the demon in the face for me / couldn’t shed a tear for me / couldn’t give a damn for me.”

Speaking on the track, she tells Best Fit "'Baby...' is a song about the frustration and desperation that comes from having to come to terms with the end of a relationship. It's also about the start of that, where you're bouncing around between different feelings and you're not sure how you're feeling - emotions are just coming at you at the speed of light."

"'Baby...' is kind of a new sound for me," she continues. "I think I was ready to try something new and push myself out of my comfort zone. The lyrics are pretty frustrated and desperate about a relationship ending and somebody leaving and I wanted the sonics of the song to represent that while matching that emotion. Overall, I wanted it to be darker and more powerful. I used to be more comfortable just relying on my words to get that across, but I wanted to try something new."