This article originally appeared on i-D UK.
If Boy Pablo’s music was a meal, it would be a “sloppy double cheeseburger with a side of spicy potato fries that bite back.” But, when the Norway-based wunderkid born to Chilean parents sings in Spanish, “my music is a Choripán”. A Choripán is a traditional Argentinian street food dish that’s essentially a grilled chorizo sandwich. It looks delicious.
19-year-old Pablo got a taste for music-making by way of his older brothers. “They used to let me use their MacBook to make covers of songs that I listened to on my mp3 player when I was 10 years old.” After toiling away with music in his parents’ basement ever since, he hit the heady heights of internet virality last year, when his DIY video for “Everytime” blew up on Reddit. Some sort of cyberspace sorcery ensued, it got sucked into a cycle of YouTube’s recommended algorithms, and has since amassed 5,992,735 views at time of writing. Not bad for a bunch of mates filming themselves whacking some instruments on the waterfront of their hometown in Bergen, Norway. With the likes of pop prodigy Sigrid and label Vibbefanger also hailing from the little city, it’s becoming quite the greenhouse for young music talent. “Having Bergen as my playground for music-making and songwriting feels great,” he explains. Pros and cons? “The best part about it is that it’s the most beautiful place on earth when it’s sunny and doesn’t rain. The worst part about it is that it’s barely ever sunny and it always rains.”
That’s ok though, because his warm, lazy, guitar-led tunes mitigate the drizzle. They make you feel like you’re sprawled across a patch of grass in front of a 3pm summer festival slot, clutching a Corona, instead of listening through tinny headphones in a cold office. He has hints of Mac DeMarco, both musically and in his on-screen lovability — you want to listen to his tunes, but also talk shit and make memes with him.
For now, the high schooler is still independent, though he’s being helped out by Norwegian collective 777. When you Google them you just get a bunch of Boeing planes, so it’s best to head to their YouTube channel, where you can find one of the best interviews with Tyler, the Creator we’ve seen — they jumped a fence at a festival to shoot the breeze and viral video with him. Tyler also happens to be amongst Pablo’s dream list of collaborators, alongside Sondre Lerche, MGMT, SZA and Thundercat. “I love the work of multidisciplinary artists and people who make music that isn’t necessarily easy to pinpoint to one single genre.”
Today we’re premiering the video for his latest track, “Losing You.” It’s paradoxically upbeat for a song that would soundtrack a breakup really well, but apparently the worst thing Pablo has ever lost is a game of FIFA against his brothers, so that’s probably why. Help him get in YouTube’s good algorithms again and hit play on the Internet-friendly video. It looks as tasty as a Choripán.