Philly R&B up-and-comer Mars Parker takes us on vacation in his new video for “Cloud 9”

Mars Parker, who laid down an impressive Studio Session for the Key in February, is back with a serene new track “Cloud 9” produced by Esquire. Mars has been active in the SoundCloud realm for the past couple of years, but he has surprisingly inactive of late until he dropped this catchy, melodic new single.

Along with the song comes a video set in a beautiful paradise island setting. It opens with Parker and his significant other just in complete bliss with the song’s heavy bass line, infectious keyboard, and hushed acoustic strumming in the background. The rhythm of “Cloud 9” is slightly out of the ordinary, with lyrical phrases sliced up to fit the off-beat bass and keyboard accompaniment. Parker’s voice is soothing and melodic in the vein of other contemporary R&B artists like Steve Lacy and PARTYNEXTDOOR.

As visually pleasing as the video is and as calming as “Cloud 9” is sonically, the track could be stronger. The vocal mixing is skewed to the point where the actual lyrics are non-recognizable, and Parker himself sounds much too quiet at times. I would have liked to some weirder instrumental arrangements and more distorted voice effects to really take the listener on an exotic adventure.

Mars definitely has potential as a vocalist so stay on the lookout for more work from the young R&B prospect.