Welcome to Re-Upped, Audiomack’s new editorial series dedicated to spotlighting the best and hottest new songs across genres and across the globe. For a playlist of all Re-Upped selections, click here. Enjoy the vibes.

Cheque — “Call Me Baby”

Afro-fusion’s rising sun, Cheque, has that ephemeral something, be it his emo-trap breakout, “Zoom,” or his debut project Razor. The Nigerian artist combines candor and rhythm, following in the footsteps of Wizkid and Davido. “I came up in a hard manner,” Cheque told Audiomack in early December 2020. “There’ve been times when I felt bad about myself, so, coming up, I promised myself I was going to be at this point where everyone would recognize my message.”

“Call Me Baby” is the latest installment in Cheque’s melancholic loverboy oeuvre. Produced by Andyr and Lay Z, Cheque touches on R&B with an Afro-pop twist. His vocals are crisp and evocative as ever, and the slight trilling on the bridge is a nice touch. It wouldn’t be difficult to imagine this one ringing off at every basement hang—the ones where you spark up and spill your deepest romantic desires.

“It’s definitely a modern-day ‘asking out’ song,” Cheque tells Audiomack World. “An approval of, you know, interest. That’s what the song means to me. If I see a girl I like, I just ask, ‘Can I call you baby?’ It’s all the song is about: young love, discovery of love.”

Listen to Cheque’s “Call Me Baby”: Re-Upped

Superboy Cheque Is Afro-Fusion’s Rising Sun