Salt Lake City’s Anthony Pena trades immediacy for intention on “H.T.S.,” his enchanting debut release under his full name that finds him ‘hiding the stars’ to focus on what really matters in our lives – offering a soulful and seductive meditation on self-trust, restraint, and the long road back to alignment.

Stream: “H.T.S.” – Anthony Pena

Clarity doesn’t arrive all at once. Sometimes it comes slowly – through distance, patience, and the decision to remove distractions long enough to see what’s actually there.

It asks for restraint in a world built on immediacy, for the courage to sit with uncertainty rather than reaching for the nearest light. It’s the moment you realize that not every version of salvation is meant to be accepted right away; that wanting something deeply doesn’t mean you’re ready to receive it, and that becoming who you are often requires turning away from who you’ve been performing as. What unfolds in that space isn’t spectacle, but alignment: An intimate inner reckoning shaped by intention, honesty, and the long, unglamorous work of self-trust. Warm and seductive on the surface, the feeling underneath is more searching – a meditation on purpose, self-worth, and the resolve it takes to stop chasing shine and start listening inward.

Anthony Pena knows that kind of clarity intimately – because he had to fight his way back to it. Returning home to Salt Lake City and stepping into a new chapter under his full name (after releasing music as Toto Peña), the singer/songwriter began rebuilding from the ground up: Committing to his craft, trusting time over instant gratification, and learning to stop reaching for the “pretty shiny distractions” long enough to see what’s real. “H.T.S.,” his debut release under the Anthony Pena name doesn’t chase pageantry or easy payoff; instead, it moves with patience and purpose, turning seduction into something steadier – a smoldering, soulful, beautifully tender exhale that carries the weight of self-trust earned.

H.T.S. - Anthony Pena — H.T.S. – Anthony Pena

Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering “H.T.S.,” an enchanting reintroduction to singer, songwriter, and producer Anthony Pena – and the lead single off his upcoming debut album, 4 (out April 4^th via 6149 Distribution). Longtime Atwood readers may recognize Pena’s voice from an earlier chapter of his career, when he released music under the name Toto Peña – work we previously praised for its warmth, emotional honesty, and genre-blurring spirit. Arriving 13 months after Toto Peña’s final release, “H.T.S.” marks Anthony Pena’s first official step forward under his full name – not as a break from the past, but as a clearer alignment with who he’s become. Dreamy, soft, and quietly seductive, “H.T.S.” unfolds like a late-night confession whispered just loud enough to be heard, carried by lilting grooves, soulful restraint, and an unforced emotional gravity. It’s intimate without feeling insular, light on its feet yet heavy with feeling – a debut that doesn’t announce itself with spectacle, but earns its impact through patience, warmth, and deeply felt intention.

As Pena explains, creating “H.T.S.” was an exercise in patience and self-reckoning – one that demanded he slow down in order to tell the truth. “Producing and releasing ‘H.T.S.’ was a lesson in good things taking time, especially in a world of instant gratification and my own proclivities to it,” he tells Atwood Magazine, quoting one of the song’s most striking lines: “‘You breathe in me salvation but I can’t take it, I reject it.’”

That resistance to immediacy shapes the song’s emotional architecture. Coated as a love song, “H.T.S.” is less about romance than clarity – about choosing intention over illusion, and learning when to withhold even the things you want most.

“I write about ‘hiding the stars,’ taking the pretty shiny distractions out of view to be able to ‘see the moon’ and focus on what really matters in our lives,” Pena says. You can hear that restraint in the way the track unfolds. Nothing rushes. The arrangement wraps gently around Pena’s voice, which moves with a soft, relaxed ease – confident, unguarded, and magnetic. His vocals don’t reach for drama; they linger instead, inviting the listener into a hazy, enveloping reverie where every groove feels intentional and every pause meaningful. It’s a sound rooted in listening rather than chasing, warmth rather than spectacle – music that trusts the emotional weight it’s carrying.

That trust didn’t come easily. When Pena first wrote “H.T.S.,” there was still a dissonance that left him feeling out of step with himself. “At the time in which I wrote this song, I was not aligned to my purpose of making music,” he explains. “It was not my main priority, and that incongruency gave the impression of someone I was not. ‘Oh ‘cause there’s maybe another that you see in me.’ To find alignment, it requires time and changes from the ground up.”

Those changes began in earnest in 2022, when Pena started building the body of work that would eventually become his debut album. A year later, he made the conscious decision to commit fully – even as the path forward remained uncertain.

“It took four years to finally release this music, and it’s the first time in twelve years since I’m releasing under my full government name. Not only did I have to learn how to mix music, but I had to do the soul work of learning to love myself.” That reckoning runs through the heart of “H.T.S.,” especially in the question it quietly poses: Will we ever return? For Pena, the answer isn’t about nostalgia – it’s about courage.

“I believe we are constantly given the opportunity in life to exercise courage and leave behind past versions ourselves in order to arrive at a more true state,” he says. “I had to shed many layers from years of people-pleasing, and I’m not looking back.” The last four years, he adds, have been beautiful, dark, and difficult – but in closing one chapter and walking into a new one, he’s now filled with gratitude and resolve.

And as the opening salvo of this new era, “H.T.S.” holds special weight within Pena’s journey.

He rediscovered the demo during a cross-country drive in the middle of the 2020 pandemic. “It was the life force that kept me pushing to see this record through,” he smiles. The track’s warmth is further amplified by the community behind it. Pena recorded drums with Vishal Nayak at Black Lodge Recording in Brooklyn, captured resonator guitar sessions with Danny Hakim on the fly, and folded in lap steel and harmonica sent from Austin by his lifelong friend Junerise – textures that give the song its subtly infectious, Off the Wall-era groove. Pena produced, engineered, performed, and mixed the track himself before sending it to Chris Gehringer at Sterling Sound for mastering, supported by a grant from the Utah Division of Arts & Museums.

The accompanying music video brings that inward reckoning into the real world. Shot in Salt Lake City by Andres Escobar and directed by Ndeye Maguette Doumbia, the visual centers on a quiet reunion between Pena and an old friend at a local dive – a setting that feels at once familiar and deeply personal. It’s a portrait of return, of two people meeting not to relive the past, but to acknowledge how time has changed them. In this context, the song’s lingering question – will we ever return? – finds a gentle answer. Growth doesn’t erase where you came from; it reframes it. By grounding the video in his hometown and placing himself back into its everyday rhythms, Pena underscores the clarity at the heart of “H.T.S.”: That becoming more fully yourself often means reconnecting with where you started, this time without performance or pretense.

When the song fades, what lingers is that earned steadiness – the sound of someone no longer reaching outward, but standing firmly where he is.

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:: stream/purchase H.T.S. here ::

:: connect with Anthony Pena here ::

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Stream: “H.T.S.” – Anthony Pena

A CONVERSATION WITH ANTHONY PENA

Atwood Magazine: Great to “re”meet you, Anthony! Before we talk about your new song, what inspired your name change from Toto Peña?

Anthony Pena: It’s great to re-meet you as well! Simply put, I grew up. Toto started the record and Anthony finished it. This record to me is the sound of growth. In 2022, which was the same year I started working on this record, I moved back to my hometown of Salt Lake City, and it forced me to get real about my outlook on life. I’ve stopped making wishes and looking for shooting stars. I changed my name to Anthony because I’m stepping back into myself.

How do you envision Anthony Pena's project, compared to that of Toto Peña – is it a continuation, a reinvention, or something in-between?

Pena: Releasing as Anthony Pena I feel I can express all the sources of inspiration that want to flow out of me. As Toto, I was more concerned with what kind of effect I could curate. I would say it’s none of the three. It just is. It’s giving me the permission to be me.

So for those who are just discovering you today through this writeup – and in a way, that’s everybody! – what do you want them to know about you and your music?

Pena: I want people to know that I write, produce, perform, engineer, and mix the music all myself. I grew up as a child to immigrant parents in West Valley City, UT, and creating music has been my compass to the greater world. I want people to know that my music has served as a roadmap to the growth in my life and I hope that it can serve others all the same.

Who are some of your musical north stars, and what are you most excited about the songs you're making today?

Pena: Most importantly above all, Prince. My other pillars include Sade, Lenny Kravitz, Sly Stone, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, D’Angelo, and Michael and Janet Jackson. I’m really excited about the color my newest material is producing. As I’ve stepped further into myself, I feel I have accessed a spiritual place in my soul where my songwriting flows.

What's the story behind “H.T.S.”?

Pena: I wrote it in 2019 and found the voice memo of it on a road trip during the pandemic. Listening to it on the drive, the first inklings of this record started coming to me. This song was the throughline for the following 6 years I would go on to live. The song itself speaks to hiding away distractions and focusing on what really matters ahead.

As far as introductions are concerned, “H.T.S.” is a truly beautiful debut. Why break the ice with this song in particular? What makes it special, for you?

Pena: Thank you. I’m glad you think so. This song is special to me because of how true it is. I remember this song being a real vulnerable moment for me. It was one of the first times I was not concerned with what people would think of me. I wanted to show the dirt I had dragged into the room. It also comes from a time when I was dating someone very special.

One of the most striking lyrics in this song is, “You breathe in me salvation but I can’t take it, I reject it.” Can you share more about that line, and what this means to you?

Pena: Ya, that lyric is about instant gratification. Hide those stars, man. Maybe sometimes we’re not ready for salvation. Maybe we have to work towards it. Maybe the work is the salvation. I was not living an honest life to myself and to others, yet I wanted to live the life of my dreams. I didn’t want to accept any recognition for my music until I felt I had truly deserved it.

Why cover up “hiding the stars” as an acronym?

Pena: I wrote the title as an acronym to encourage others to look deeper. You’re picking up on this brilliantly with your previous question. No instant gratification. Hiding the title. It’s an opportunity for everyone to find a reward.

I love how… lush, how soft and smooth this song feels. There’s so much going on if you step back and listen, yet it doesn’t feel crowded or busy; everything fits in this hypnotizing, hazy reverie. What was your vision going into it, and do you feel like you achieved that vision here?

Pena: Oh man, thank you. I’m feeling really seen with your thoughtful questions. I do feel I achieved the vision because I let the process take all the time it needed. This was a first for me. I had a general vision, like working with Vishal Nayak as the drummer on this song, but like any art work you must meet it in the middle. Letting art take its time allows for everything to fall into place like Danny Hakim playing a resonator guitar just because it was in the studio. I agree with you, everything fits because nothing was forced.

We're premiering this song alongside a music video, directed by Ndeye Maguette Doumbia and featuring cinematography by Andres Escobar. In it, we see you catching up with an old friend at a local dive. How does this visual enhance the song’s experience, for you?

Pena: The visual of catching up with an old friend, like we’re doing in this interview today, can be a display of growth. The visual enhances the song by answering the question it poses which is, “Will we ever return?” As well, I’m interested in including the context of my hometown as it’s the context to my songs and I think Andres and Ndeye captured exactly what my mind sees when I hear my music.

What do you hope listeners take away from “H.T.S.,” and what have you taken away from creating it and now putting it out?

Pena: I hope listeners can take away a greater sense of courage in believing their own truth. From applying this myself, I took away the lesson that good things take time. Now that I’m putting it out, I feel I am harvesting the fruits of my labor unlike ever before.

In the spirit of paying it forward, who else out of Salt Lake are you listening to these days that you’d recommend to our readers?

Pena: Brevin Perkins has a project called brev. and I’ve gotten to see him slowly piece together his debut LP during the last 2 years of knowing him. Brevin is an example of honesty that is unmatched in this town. His record drops Friday, February 13^th!

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