Wachito Rico

It’s still a mystery how YouTube’s recommendations catapulted boy pablo into an overnight success with their brokenhearted track “Everytime” in 2017. But the algorithms got it right. With his full-length debut album, Chilean Norwegian frontman and main songwriter Nicolás Muñoz doubles down on his endearing bedroom pop with more doomed tales of unrequited love. Innocent laments like “rest up” and “i hope she loves me back” are simple and yearning, taking a nod from one of his inspirations, The Beatles. The lovable meet-cute of “hey girl” is breezy and compositionally sophisticated, Muñoz mixing a laidback Balearic groove with noodly, Mac DeMarco-like guitars. Wachito Rico is also musically adventurous—from slinky R&B (“honey”) to peppy Euro disco (“wachito rico”), Muñoz keeps the mood light as he allows himself to work through difficult emotions. But love isn’t the only thing that keeps him up at night, like on “mustache,” where he’s frustrated that he can’t grow any facial hair: “I dreamt I had a mustache/It was dope, I looked just like Tom Selleck/Was happy with myself/But sadly I woke up again.”