CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso Talk ‘PAPOTA,’ Touring The World And The Importance Of Friendship

It's hard to imagine any other artist impacted by a Tiny Desk appearance as much as CA7RIEL and Paco Amoroso.

During their 17-minute set at the NPR mainstay last year, the duo transformed tracks from 2024’s BAÑO MARIA and two from earlier solo projects, swapping synthesized elements with live instrumentation. Replacing bouncy electronic drum beats for soft percussion, songs like "DUMBAI" took on a sunny bossa nova feel, while "BABY GANGSTA" shed its drum-and-bass edge to bloom into a brassy Latin funk track.

The set went viral, propelling them to heights neither had experienced or anticipated.

"The fame of Tiny Desk has taken us to very strange places doing very odd things," says CA7RIEL with a knowing grin. "Sometimes, we look at each other in the eyes just to check what is happening is real."

After years of grinding — both as solo artists and collaborators across various musical ventures — the duo quickly became industry It Boys. Every concert, track, interview or step they made was blurred in a haze of hype.

This surreal experience is the subject of their new EP, PAPOTA. Argentine slang for someone on steroids, the word that comically captures the overblown nature of their new reality. PAPOTA includes the live Tiny Desk versions, alongside four new tracks that navigate their post-viral fame journey. The EP's narrative begins when a producer called Gymbaland approaches the newly-famous duo, and instructs them to hit the gym and sing songs written by ChadGPT — with the ultimate goal of winning the coveted Latin Chaddy.

Like Baño Maria, PAPOTA is built on a convergence of styles, from trap beats to '90s pop, with more instrumentation and funk than their previous work. The pair have just embarked upon what will be a dizzying year ahead — dozens of tour dates in the U.S., UK, Europe, Latin America, and a stop at Coachella. \
\
CA7RIEL (Catriel Guerreiro) and Paco Amoroso (Ulises Guerriero) spoke to GRAMMY.com (not Chaddy.com) about the ups and downs of success, and how friendship is vital to staying grounded through it all.

Your new EP, PAPOTA, takes aim at the music industry — from AI-generated pop music to the Latin "Chaddys." Are you wary of music awards?

Paco Amoroso: It’s a parody of this Miami world where the music producer promises to make you successful and ensures that you win awards. Sometimes it feels like this matters more than the music. We poke fun at the industry that we too are a part of. It’s a humorous approach to the reality we live in.

So, it’s not criticizing the awards themselves, but the priorities of the industry.

Paco Amoroso: Exactly!\
\
The new single "#TETAS" is about making commercially successful music; pasting a viral hashtag onto a catchy chorus. It starts as a funk track and twists into a '90s pop song. What if people don’t understand the parody, and assume you’ve sold out?

Paco Amoroso: I think that’s fine — that Backstreet Boys style chorus is good! There's something in liking something you think you shouldn’t; in the end, pop always wins you over.

CA7RIEL: Like with any work, some get it and others don't, right? And those who get it will laugh. For us, it’s a temon (a banger); a great song.

PAPOTA’s opening track is called "IMPOSTER," which is about experiencing imposter syndrome in the wake of the Tiny Desk success. Do you regret doing that series?

Paco Amoroso: No, not at all. We approached this new pressure we felt after the Tiny Desk with humor. It’s a nice pressure to have — that people admire us and think we are great musicians. In Argentina, we have a term [that translates to] "we added tax"; it’s to say we inflated everything a bit. It’s what we felt, it’s more fun than fear.

CA7RIEL: All these feelings are real, but they are on steroids. That’s why our album is called PAPOTA.

I imagine many artists must feel imposter syndrome, but very few talk about it.

Paco Amoroso: One hundred percent. Often, in this industry, songs are composed by several people and produced as if they were made in a factory. Some of these songs are great, others are horrible. Even your favourite artists can make terrible songs, and that's funny too. One day you feel on top of the world, and the next, you feel like crap. When everything starts going well, it tastes a little less sweet too. It's talking about all the emotions that come with success.

Are friendship and humor an important part of getting through those feelings?

Both: Yes!\
\
Paco Amoroso: We laugh with friends. We’re simple people. We got lucky with our music, but we spent many years making music, rolling up our sleeves, so we fought for it. We’re taking in all of this [success] with humor and gratitude.

As you say, you didn’t get successful overnight, you’ve both spent years working in music; both together and as solo artists. With the Tiny Desk fame, some may assume you came out of nowhere. Does that bother you?

Paco Amoroso: Not at all. Nobody owes you anything. It’s good we took advantage of the opportunity to do Tiny Desk. Thanks to that, people from all over the world stop us in the street, those who saw it and loved it. Our career has exploded thanks to it. Now, we're on an endless tour, playing all around the world. We’re happy.

How did you prepare for the Tiny Desk session?

CA7RIEL: As urban artists, we use a lot of beats and sounds from computers. So we had to "kill" the computer and put in the heart. It was complicated. Even though we’ve been playing with friends, for a long time, switching from one format to another was difficult. We put in a lot of effort.

Paco Amoroso: It’s also interesting to see how some songs don’t work on a guitar, for example. A song isn’t always easily transferable from an electronic, beat-driven format to one without auto-rune, effects, or backing tracks. So, we also had to find the right songs that worked best for this format. It was quite a process.

Did the preparation for Tiny Desk influence the arrangements we hear on PAPOTA?\
\
Paco Amoroso: One hundred percent. We feel like the hard work is already done, because now all that’s left is to play and play and play. But last year, honestly, there was a lot of rehearsing and a lot of experimenting.

Speaking of the tour, new fans know you because of Tiny Desk, which is all about live performance. Does that put pressure on you going onstage, that you have such high expectations to live up to?

CA7RIEL: It’s the opposite. Tiny Desk was just a window into what we know how to do. We feel more comfortable playing live, with friends, defending our music with real instruments.

You’re playing Coachella soon. What can we expect from that set?

Paco Amoroso: Honestly, it’s going to be one of the most important events of our musical lives. We’ve prepared as much as possible and we’re to bring all our party favors and all our paraphernalia to the stage, so that people go crazy watching us.

The schedule ahead is pretty wild, with over 30 dates in over a dozen countries. How do you plan to look after yourselves on the road?

CA7RIEL: I don’t know if we’ll come out of it safe and sound — I just hope we do. I think we will because we have fun and we do what we love. The reality is that sometimes we push our bodies a little beyond what they can handle, but we’re good. We’re young. We still have collagen in our faces.

Hopefully, you won’t need any "papotas."

Paco Amoroso: Ha! Ask us in a few months.