pablopablo is the artistic moniker of Pablo Drexler, a Madrid-born singer, songwriter, and producer. The son of two accomplished musicians—Uruguayan singer-songwriter Jorge Drexler and Spanish-American artist Ana Laan—Pablo was immersed in a rich, multilingual musical world from the start.
He grew up outside of Madrid in a small mountain town, living what his mother once called “a humdrum life.” And yet, his cultural landscape was anything but humdrum. His father is the son of German-Jewish immigrants; his mother was born in Spain, raised in Sweden, and has American and Dutch roots. Pablo’s identity has always been layered—he’s both a small-town boy and a global citizen, equally at home in multiple languages and accents.
At 27, he’s is a multi-instrumentalist, producer, and writer whose work has already earned multiple Latin Grammys—including two in 2022 for his role on “Tocarte,” a collaboration between Jorge Drexler and C. Tangana, and another in 2024 for co-writing “Aprender A Amar” with Nathy Peluso and Alberto Escámez López.
His debut full-length album, Canciones en mi, is out this week. And this is no casual first release—it’s the result of years of searching, refining, resisting, embracing, and ultimately learning to trust himself.
We sat down together in Madrid last month to talk about that journey. We covered a lot: identity, language, legacy, and the emotional geography of growing up between cultures. We talked about why he chose not to release music under the name Drexler—on the advice of his father—and how that opened the door for the creation of pablopablo, a persona that is both close to the chest and intentionally distinct.
Canciones en mi—songs in E major, and songs from within—is a fitting title. The album is lush, melodic, and understated. It blends folk, pop, electronic textures, and classic songwriting, but with an effortless touch. It’s intimate without being confessional, smart without being clever. It sounds like someone who has found their voice and has something to say.
We spoke about the power of language, the freedom of constraint, the challenge of writing honest lyrics, and what it means to sing from your chest—literally and metaphorically. We also talked about the strange clarity that comes from pressure. As Pablo put it, sometimes the more pressure you’re under, the more you create from your most instinctive, unfiltered place.
