R.I.Pablo might be a new name to some, but he is definitely not new to music. As a member of The Six, a writing collective from Manchester, England, he is known worldwide for developing some of the catchiest pop melodies. Pablo holds an impressive pen game with his biggest solo breakthrough being co-writing half of Bebe Rexha’s second album Better Mistakes. He’s also contributed to various Billboard charting songs including Marshmello’s “Leave Before You Love Me”, which landed in Billboard’s top 20 in the US, Alan Walker x Noah Cyrus “All Falls Down”, Marshmello + Anne Marie “FRIENDS”, and “Baby I’m Jealous” from Bebe Rexha x Doja Cat to name a few. With The Six’s songs amassing over 1 billion streams on Spotify collectively, Pablo decided that it was time to start his own project and release music under his own name. Today, Pablo releases his second single “Sunday Morning Boy”.
“I hope this song can be the warm hug to your lonely Sunday morning” – R.I.Pablo
Multi-instrumentalist, producer, and writer R.I.Pablo’s latest single is something familiar yet original. For someone who has been a part of writing so many hit songs, I love that instead of trying to imitate the hits he’s already written, Pablo decided to develop his own voice and style with his latest release.
“Sunday Morning Boy” starts with an electric guitar holding splashy chords underneath Pablo’s vocals. There’s a hint of a Bieber-esque tone in Pablo’s vocal delivery but the quality and overall tone of his voice is very much his own. I love that he mixes his pop sensibilities with what feels like a nod back to the popular music of the 50s and 60s, using minor chords underneath his vocal melody to change the feel of the chorus and signal a transition into a new part of the song. I also thought the heavy reverb effect on his voice was a cool way to signal that the song was about to change going into verse 1. It added suspense and anticipation for what was to come without changing the arrangement.
The first verse starts with a simple rhythm pattern and it took me a couple of seconds before I realized the electric guitar had gone away. R.I.Pablo’s vocals maintain a sense of melody and musicality even though there are no other instruments playing chords to strengthen that melodic structure. I could tell that R.I.Pablo is very comfortable in his role as writer and producer especially at this point in the song. I could hear the other instruments without them actually being there, feel the melody of the song without needing it to be present elsewhere, that’s how strong his melody structure and production sense is.
Pablo also does a fantastic job of building each section of the song so that there is always something new to grab the listener’s ear, pulling us further into the song, and ultimately bringing us deeper into the world he’s creating with his music. He also does an amazing job of linking sections of the song to each other without repeating himself or repeating production. Pablo adds a harmony line in the second part of the first verse that mimics the slightly minor/dissonant guitar track that signalled the initial shift in the song from intro to verse. It’s a very subtle element to the song that brilliantly ties the whole piece together.
Finally, the 2nd time we hear the chorus, that vocal harmony melds its way into the main vocal track giving us listeners the chorus melody in a higher octave than the initial chorus at the top of the song. The song immediately feels bigger, brighter, more celebratory, and the instrumentation around the vocal only contributes to those feelings without overpowering the vocal.
Overall, I think it’s clear that Pablo knows his way around a melody and has a great ear for production. I would highly recommend listening to “Sunday Morning Boy”, and I have a feeling that Pablo’s best is yet to come.
Find R.I.Pablo and his music online on YouTube, Apple Music, Instagram, and Spotify.
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