Hey Paulo, thanks for taking the time to talk to us today. Could you tell us a little known fact about yourself?

Hi, thanks so much for having me. Not many people outside of friends and family know that I broke my back when I was 18. It was the summer after I graduated from high school and I went up to Massachusetts to play junior hockey where I got the injury.

Your new track ‘Summer Rain’ feels like a smooth, genre-bending ride with R&B, hip-hop, funk, and even a little rock. How did the idea for this track first come about?

It started with the idea to make the album. I wanted to make something that leaned a bit harder into a more raw, funky, old school R&B sound. I came up with the title of the album “Stupid Sexy Paulo” and I wanted it to be full of slow jams. Every song on the album was written with that in mind, and Summer Rain is no different. I think the main difference with Summer Rain is that from a harmonic perspective, this song is a lot more simple than the rest of the album. Because of that, I felt we had a lot of room to make the guitars really shine through and give it a little more of a rock vibe.

What was it like collaborating with Mekfly on this song?

Mekfly and I have both been signed to Fogwood Records for a long time, and I love working with him. He’s such an incredibly talented artist, but one of the most humble I’ve had the pleasure of working with. He is on three songs total on this album. We’ve actually got a project we’re wrapping up now that’s a full album together, but that’s for a later date.

As a multi-instrumentalist and producer, how do you balance the technical with the emotional in your songwriting and production?

That’s a great question. I’d say I get that balance just through taking it step by step. I always lead with emotions. I’ll sit down at my piano or with a guitar and write a song. That’s all emotional. It’s getting the harmony, melody, and groove to just feel right. Once I have something I’m happy with I’ll record the demo, and in that process is where I’ll get a little more technical with it and analyze everything. I’ll put my music theory hat on and see if there are any tweaks to make. Once the demo’s done, we go to the studio with it and that’s when my job is to be completely technical. After that I let it go. I used to also mix the songs, but at this point I’m way too close to the song. I found an amazing mix engineer named Eric Von, and I give him a lot of freedom. I think it really helps to have someone with fresh ears come in and get a good mix. When I mix my songs I always just want everything front and center, and the song suffers for that.

Do you think that growing up in New Jersey has had an impact on your musical identity?

Absolutely, I think it was one of the biggest things that shaped me as a musician. There was just so much music everywhere. Any day and at any time you can find live music. Whether it’s a local bar or venue, something going on down the shore, or going into the city (New York). Everyone there has incredible taste in music, and I lived in a very diverse neighborhood. That helped me get exposed to everything from classic rock, jazz, gospel, Motown and Stax, hip hop, and latin music.

‘Summer Rain’ is the second single off your upcoming album, Stupid Sexy Paulo, so how does it reflect the overall tone or direction of the record?

I think it’s a good reflection of the album. This album really has a cohesive feel to it. I have a lot of influences and I think each song may pull a little harder on a different one, but overall the vibe is consistent.

What’s next for Paulo and the Problems?

Obviously the album on July 11th is our main focus. We’ll have one more single in mid June, but then we’ll be focused on supporting the album. We’ll be heading to a lot of Record Stores to do signing events around the east coast, and doing a ton of giveaways this summer. We really want to use this album to build a stronger connection with our fans, so if you like this song and want the vinyl tune into our label’s YouTube and Instagram. We’ll be trying to connect with all the winners too, and if you’d rather buy the album we have pre-orders on our bandcamp now. This album is the first step in a very busy couple years!

Follow Paulo and the Problems on Instagram.