In conversation with .. 5!

That’s the main thing, let the hate and the bad energy out of your life and keep up with
the good stuff and the good people. Hold on to what you love, stay close to the ones
you love and take care of your body the way you are comfortable doing.
Could you give us an insider’s perspective on how your journey started from a little
kid to becoming the “World’s Most Popular Drag Queen”?
I spent a lot of time working on not thinking that I am not good enough. That took time
but I never gave up. And talking about “world’s most popular drag queen”, I really don’t
think I am, that’s RuPaul and it always will be!
How did your family react when young Pabllo decided “I AM A DRAG QUEEN”?
My mom is the most open-minded person I’ve ever met! She said, “Ok, you can use my
make up to practice then!” [Laughs].
What kind of advice would you give to your younger self when you look back at your
life story?
Take a deep breath, calm down and keep doing your thing!
Let’s talk about your music. What would you say is the message behind your album,
111?
111 is my birth date (November 1st) and that was my inspiration about it! If you go to
Pabllo’s birthday, what would be playing? 111! [laughs]. So it starts with “Parabéns”
that means “happy birthday” in Portuguese and starts to grow with a lot of different
rhythms and it ends with “Rajadão”!
What is your favourite track of the album? And why?
I can’t say that! It’s like asking a parent what would be their favourite child, you know?
They are my babies and they will always be!
What inspired you to incorporate English and Spanish lyrics along with Portuguese
that your fans are used to?
My fans, for sure. I did a tour in Europe, North and Latin America last year and I was
amazed by my local fans trying to learn Portuguese so they can sing at the shows and
so that we could speak to each other! After that, I decided that it was time to make that
effort myself. I am still learning and I think it will take some time to reeeeally speak
English and Spanish, but I can sing and I am now able to have conversations with my
fans.
Along with bringing in multiple different languages, this album dabbles a lot of
different musical styles and genres. How do you look at the importance of “genre”?
Genres are important but it’s also important to mix them, to try new things and I love
to do that. I love Latin music, I love global pop music but I also love regional rhythms
of Brazil, so I’m always trying to mix them all up and create something “new”.
You’ve had some outstanding successes in your career. What’s one of your favourite
moments so far?
OMG! I think it was performing at the 2019 EMA’s. That was a dream coming true for
me! And in the end, I went to Spain, performed and won an award for Best Brazilian
Act. I was the first Brazilian to ever perform and the first drag queen to get an award.
That was one of the happiest days of my life!
What do you think your success says about the music industry as a whole, in terms
of mainstream acceptance of queer artists?
That it is starting to change but we still have a long walk ahead of us.
How do you feel about representing your country in the Latin music scene? I
mean you made history in 2018 as the first drag queen to be nominated for a Latin
Grammy. How did that make you feel when you found out the news?
When I got that news I couldn’t stop screaming at my manager’s face! [Laughs]. He
was the one telling me that! And you know, I feel blessed to be the first [drag queen]
nominated but I hope that we will have a lot of LGBT+ artists nominated and winning
the Grammys. There are a lot of super amazing talented LGBT+ artist all over the
world.
47