The Rise of Boy Pablo

Nicolas Pablo Muñoz, professionally known as Boy Pablo, is a Norwegian multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter, and indie-pop artist, based in Los Angeles, California. 

Pablo was born on November 29, 1998. He grew up in Bergen, Norway. His Chilean parents immigrated to Norway in the 1980s. His family is very involved with music. Pablo got hold of his brother’s drum kit at around the age of five. In an interview with Remezcla, Pablo states, “That got me interested in making music, and then I started playing the guitar when I was a little bit older, and the bass.” 

He first started experimenting with Garageband and MacBooks at age ten. He began putting snippets of ideas together in his childhood bedroom early on. His father and brother were both multi-instrumentalists and taught him how to play guitar, drums, bass guitar, and piano.

Growing up, Pablo attended a private music boarding school in Os, Norway. He began the “Boy Pablo,” project in December 2015. He made his debut as Boy Pablo at age seventeen with the song, Flowers, in February 2016. His music first appeared on streaming sites in early 2016. 

Pablo first gained attention in 2016, receiving a Bergenfest scholarship. He gained widespread attention in 2017 for the music video of, “Everytime,” which was uploaded to YouTube in May 2017. Within a few weeks, the video had received millions of views, and he slowly started gaining a fanbase. After that, he consistently released many EPs and songs. 

Although Pablo records and produces all of his music mostly on his own, his live band includes his childhood friend, Gabriel Muñoz on lead guitar, and former school classmates: Henrik Åmdal on bass, Eric Tryland on keyboards and backing vocals, Sigmund Vestrheim on drums, and Pablo himself does vocals and rhythm guitar.

Boy Pablo played their first shows outside of Norway and toured Europe in March and April 2018. Their first shows in the United States and Canada were in late 2018 and all sold out. 

The band spent 2019 playing sold-out headline shows across the world and has performed at popular festivals like Coachella and Lollapalooza. They have also been nominated for six Norwegian Grammy Awards; they won two. As well as being nominated for three GAFFA Awards, and one P3 Gull award, they won, “Newcomer of the year” in 2018. They also won Spellemannprisen in 2018, which is equivalent to the Norwegian Grammy.  

Boy Pablo’s overall genre is Alternative and Indie, but can also be categorized as indie rock, bedroom pop, and jangle pop. Boy Pablo’s music is described as sugar-sweet indie-pop for all highs and lows of life, as well as being Harmonically rich and melodically and lyrically sweet.

Today, Pablo lives with his girlfriend Elisabeth Oakland in his home town Bergen, Norway. He continues to write and produce music for Boy Pablo. They toured in the United Kingdom, and North America earlier this year, and are also touring Europe in early 2022. Boy Pablo is set to perform at the Grape Festival in Piestany, Slovakia, in August 2022.