By: Savaun Brown
Rising Philadelphia group, 4vr, was featured twice on the Mezz Music Monday playlist with “FRZN (LUV IS RAGE)” and “GUILTY.” The group’s persona is heavily defined by their emphasis on airy and euphoric melodies, crediting a lot of their influences to their parents’ tastes. Cesar, one half of 4vr, explains, “growing up in a house where my parents played everything from R&B, Hip-Hop to Pop, Rock, Jazz, and Indie helped me find my sound. The more I tapped into different genres the more inspired I became.” On a more specific and contemporary level, Cesar looks up to “T-Pain, Ty Dolla $ign, and Travis Scott.” Ren, the other half of the Philly duo, claims to have “grown up on Hard Rock, Grunge, and Metal,” crediting Guitar Hero for “[shaping her] into the artist [she is] today. She continues, “the feeling I got when watching the characters on stage and playing songs I wasn’t capable of in real life really drove me to want to be a performing artist and get my voice out there. Some of my direct influences are Blackbear, Flyleaf, Paramore, and The Weeknd.” While these influences are evident throughout the duo’s discography, they take immense pride in what makes them unique.
As for the formation “GUILTY,” the Philly-based duo explains its formation as an extremely natural occurrence. “The process of creating Guilty started as a lot of our songs do, with me (Ren) sitting down to produce whatever mood I’m in and seeing what comes out. I wanted to make something that sounded fun, something relatable that poked at my flaws in a relationship I was in because I know myself and like to laugh at my mistakes. I immediately found a melody and started recording before I even finished the beat, sent the reference to Cesar and he rode the wave I was on and it ended up matching up perfectly. We tend to be very in sync to the point of our accidents becoming solid ideas for a full-out project. Usually, we write together, but when we can’t, or if I suddenly come up with something, we send demos back and forth.”
4vr plans to shoot for the moon when it comes to taking on the music industry. When asked about their goals and aspirations for the near future, the duo voiced their confidence without hesitation. They have firm plans to make something shake upon their upcoming album, TRON. “Three years in the making, [after] getting held up by the pandemic and changes in life, it is finally coming late November or early December. We are still tweaking a mix. So far 4 singles are out from the album, and they don’t even scrape the surface of what’s to come. TRON is inspired by Disney’s Tron Legacy which we were watching with the sound off when creating the title track.”
Keep an eye out for TRON, coming within the next few months, but in the meantime, continue to stream “FRZN (LUV IS RAGE)” and “GUILTY” by 4vr! Also be sure to check out the Mezz Monday playlist on SoundCloud, Youtube, and Spotify!