Every person I know my age has mentioned at least once, “If only I had started that YouTube
channel when I was 14.” Pop punk artist Presence aka Jonathon Martinez is the embodiment of
that grassroots virality, turned into a musical career. At 15 years old, Martinez was filmed in a
car remixing XXXTentacion’s “Jocelyn Flores.” The video is 2018 gold. It has that classic
film-like filter over it–a little over-saturated and grainy, the kind of videos your friends would
show you at lunch, asking you if you’ve seen this kid yet. The 1-minute and 53-second video
now has over 8.5 million views. But even more impressive is Presence’s combined 57,943,591
million streams across his top 5 Spotify songs. All puns intended Martinez’s Presence is
displayed across all platforms, and his new pop punk single “RUNNING BACK 2 YOU!” is just
the beginning.
Martinez’s past discography leans to the vulnerable side with tracks like “Dear Depression” and
“I’m Okay I Swear.” Martinez explains, “My music always stems from something that's occurred
in my life. The lyrics tend to come first, and the sonics are built around that. The feeling I want
the listener to have about what I'm saying is decided by how I feel about the situation in the
moment I'm writing.” His past two singles (“SCARED OF THE FALL!” and “PAST LIFE!”) still
hold that emotion while twisting it into a pop-punk bow–holding nostalgia and feeling, while
simultaneously making songs that fit perfectly in a teenager/twenty-somethings car. Listening to
“RUNNING BACK 2 YOU!” reminded me of days when I would blast Khalid backing out of my
high school’s parking lot, hoping I wouldn’t back into my friend's boyfriend's car again (true
story).
The single and music video for “RUNNING BACK 2 YOU!” acts as a trilogy, working in tandem
with “SCARED OF THE FALL!” and “PAST LIFE!” Martinez says, “The music video is a
continuation of the story that's presented in "SCARED OF THE FALL!" and "PAST LIFE!"...This
is me running back to that person after all my own faults.” Most of all this single is bringing those
feelings of a young relationship back into my ears again. Puppy love, feeling like no one will
understand you like this again, and of course sabotaging it all. When I asked about the
inspiration behind the single Martinez responded, “This is a song about my longtime girlfriend
and I breaking up and making up. We were dumb high school kids when we first started dating
so we've practically grown up together. When I say ‘don't know how to be with no one else
cause you know me better than myself’ I really mean it.”
Martinez has a way of weaving pop and emotion together with hints of artists like The Kid
LAROI and ELIJAH MOON. “RUNNING BACK 2 YOU!” begins slower, Joji-esque synths, filling
my headphones. Presence speeds up and slows down, ticking up to his chorus–a swell of
instruments and fuzzy vocals with an incredibly addicting chorus. It really does make me want to
run down my hometown street as he does in the music video. Martinez’s 2024 attitude to his
music seems to be a “hyper storytelling” turn from his past, “For a long time I think I put myself
in a box because I saw what was working and figured that was what people wanted. I've come
to realize people tend to just appreciate when I'm honest in my music, and this is what feels
honest for me at the moment. It's been freeing to experiment with different genres.” This new
intersection of pop, punk, hyper pop is something to watch, and artists like Presence are in its
crosshairs.
Presence runs, digs, and vulnerably twists and turns through the past in his new single. Writing
this article I could not stop hearing “I just runnnn to you/I just keep running back to you.”
Presence’s track “RUNNING BACK 2 YOU!” is a certified windows down, driving through your
hometown, earworm.