Rising German talent Pablo Brooks continues to impress us through the release of his new single, ‘Boys Don’t Cry’. If you’re in the mood for a catchy slice of indie-pop, then you won’t find a song as brilliant as this one today.
Taken from the artist’s upcoming ‘‘Pleaser’ EP (out on 7th July, pre-order here), the track serves as a ‘coming of age’ piece of music, and lyrically focuses on the concept relationships – with your friends, your lovers, and also yourselves. Explaining further, Pablo says:
“‘Boy Don’t Cry’ is a song about toxic relationships, as well as toxic masculinity. I wrote this one after getting out of a very toxic, manipulative relationship with someone. Basically this person was continually gaslighting me into thinking I was being ego-centric and I was very much falling for this. I think we get caught up really easily in attaching ourselves to people only because they temporarily fulfil some fantasy we put inside out head. This song really goes in depth about the co-dependency in toxic relationships, especially the one that I was in — knowing that the behaviour of the other person is having a negative impact on you, but not being able to leave, because the thrill of unstable love feels so intoxicating, almost like some crazy drug. I really liked playing with the concept of the whole ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ saying, because it’s obviously a really problematic statement in itself, forcing young boys to be scared of vulnerability and to bottle up their emotions. But thought it would be a funny thing to shout at someone who treated you like shit, because they were projecting all their insecurities onto you — kind of saying ‘You don’t get to play the victim here’. As a queer man, I try very hard to open myself up to other people and share my experiences authentically, but obviously I’m also someone who is influenced by the values that young boys are exposed to and I am obviously not exempt from toxic masculinity, which is something I struggle with a lot. So the ‘Boy Don’t Cry’ exclamation is also directed to myself in a way. It’s my subconscious telling me not to be vulnerable with someone and that emotions are a sign of weakness. Which is utter bullshit, but it’s very hard to fight this. There’s a line in the song (‘Save me from the things I want’), that made me let out a huge sigh of relief, when I wrote it. It felt like saying everything I’ve been wanting to say for a long time. The only person who can save me from the things I want is myself and that’s a freeing realisation, but it’s not an easy one.”
While still early in his career, Brooks has already performed all across Europe for his ever-growing fanbase. There’s no doubt in our minds that this kid will become Germany’s next pop export.