Pablo López: “I'm no happier now than when I played in a hotel”

“My house would have the square meters that this has and my grandfather, my mother, my brother and I lived there.

It was the smallest of my entire gang, but it was always full of people.

I have been able to fulfill dreams in my life, but like this one…”

Pablo López (Fuengirola, Málaga, 39 years old) appears overwhelmed while showing his new recording studio.

Separated by just 20 meters of garden from his recently inaugurated house, in a municipality west of Madrid brimming with the type of chalets that appear on the Instagram accounts of

top soccer players.

The space, with red walls and wooden floors, has a computer and microphone, several guitars and a drum kit.

And, of course, the indispensable piano thanks to which the artist has become one of the most consolidated figures in the Spanish music industry of the last decade.

“It is a privilege to come here without disturbing anyone and with everything prepared.

It is a niche of absolute creativity.

"Sometimes I'm even too lazy to cross to the house to get a glass of water," confirms the host.

The space has also served as a rehearsal room for the concerts of his new tour, which starts this weekend in Roquetas de Mar. An intimate show to pay tribute to the 10 years that have passed since the release of his first album and that will keep him busy for the rest of 2024, with the debut in European theaters as the autumn horizon.

Even though he deals with an allergy that has left him with a

savage

voice — “Nothing that can't be solved by sleeping a lot” — López, already in

tour mode

, counts the hours until he returns to his private ball park.

Her devotion to the Ella stage is demonstrated by the fact that it has only been a couple of months since the end of her previous De Ella

tour

.

“The last time I stopped, in 2022, the move didn't go well for me, neither personally nor psychologically,” he responds when asked about his reluctance to rest.

“I don't perform well without playing.

Obviously, you have to have a fallow, but the minimum.

“If I don’t play, I feel like something is dying around me.”

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In the face of such an eventful anniversary and such an exultant decade, looking back is almost obligatory.

The 18-year-old young man who was trying to find a place in the clubs of his native Fuengirola, who later achieved – only to drop again – glory in

Operación Triunfo

2008, “couldn't even dream” of what was to come.

“My luck is that everything has happened little by little.

I have never had a massive fan phenomenon or 200 people waiting for me at the door of my house.

Yes, there have been moments when I have felt more lost, perhaps because of the volume of the noise, but I have managed to maintain a balance.”

Has personal happiness accompanied his professional success?

The singer meditates, gathers himself in his characteristic frock coat—it prevents chafing when he writhes on the piano—and responds: “I can't say that I'm happier now than when I played in a hotel.

Nor less, of course.

But I can say that I am happy, which is not a small thing, right?”

"If I don't play, I feel like something is dying around me," says artist Pablo López. Álvaro García

Pablo López recognizes that his total dedication to the 88 black and white keys has not always been healthy.

“I refused to accept it.

"I have waited so long to have the opportunity to write songs for myself, or for others, that I couldn't understand why that was bothering me, but I surround myself with a critical mass that is not at all kind when it has to tell me things," he confirms. .

At the head of that mass is Lola, her mother, who struggled alone to raise the family when her father left home, when Pablo was barely a few months old.

“She is a dangerously mammalian aunt, she is only interested in health.

She doesn't care that she is playing the piano with Andrés Calamaro that she shows up at two in the morning and says: 'Aren't you going to go to bed once and for all?'

This 2024 will also mark 10 years since the death of his father, especially present in his memory: “I always say that now I get along with him like a motherfucking mother and, without being a believer, I have the feeling that he is with me in some way.” .

I feel like I am living these 10 years with him.”

The music industry has changed more in this decade than he himself.

This is what the Andalusian recognizes, knowing that he is a figure against the current in a panorama marked by streaming

and

the frenetic consumption of songs.

“There are two trends: release a song every two weeks and do it in collaboration with someone.

Well, I've been

featuring

myself for 10 years,” he says, smiling.

Perhaps his commitment to slow-cooked albums and his reluctance to follow trends are the key to successes like

El Patio

or

El Mundo

continuing to be part of the collective musical thread without a hint of expiration.

“Rozalén once told me that I already had classics and it seemed like something very nice because one, as a lover, believer and submissive of songs, aspires to have them.”

Pablo López recognizes that his total dedication to the 88 black and white keys has not always been healthy.

Alvaro Garcia

This validity is demonstrated, for example, in the versions of their songs that the very young contestants of the last edition of

OT

have performed in the contest.

As a finalist of the format and as a

coach

of other musical

talent

like

La Voz

, she knows well the challenge that aspiring media professionals have ahead of them.

“Making a niche depends 95% on them,” she says.

“Now you can see them touring all over Spain in large venues, but, when it's over, you have to have the fortitude to put on the brakes and come play in a small room.

In no program do they give false hope to anyone, and perhaps they won't want to row against the current for years to stop being 'the one from

OT

', but, if they are crazy about music, the industry will have to make room for whoever it is."

“The family that sees them now triumphing when three months ago they were singing at home is also dangerous,” adds the musician.

He himself, who had the patience and maturity to start from scratch, continues

to suffer

the effect of fame at every Christmas dinner.

“The children that are being born in my family, the children of cousins, nephews and such, call me Pablo López, they don't call me Pablo,” he confesses with a laugh.

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Before the man from Malaga can put an end to a long day of promotion, the stage forces him to ask about the health of his friendship with other national music stars.

The group that he forms together with Antonio Orozco, Luis Fonsi and Alejandro Sanz and the magnitude of his famous parties have made many headlines.

Aware of his hypertrophied reputation, he is torn between “continuing with the myth or telling the truth.”

“We are four hangers-on who rotate because many live abroad.

There has never been a party with waiters and trays, these are conversations that end up getting longer…”

Just in case, Pablo López has made sure to have well soundproofed a house from which, he assures, it is very difficult to leave.

“I often tell them that there is the refrigerator and there are the rooms and I go to sleep.

And let the sun rise over Antequera.”