Pedro Pascal’s favourite pieces of music: “I was raised by HBO, Spielberg, and Prince”
Although Pedro Pascal has the kind of filmography any actor would die for, he also became an internet darling based on the one thing you can’t fake: not taking yourself too seriously.
In almost every interview with the actor, it doesn’t take long to recognise all the traits that qualify him to captivate the fandom-level fixation he was thrown into seemingly overnight. He’s funny, open-minded, in touch with internet discourse and trends, and loves to have a good laugh, often at himself.
When he was interviewed by Vanity Fair, these were the first things that came up (plus, obviously, why Bella Ramsey wasn’t best pleased with the label “daddy” in connection with their beloved co-star).
But beneath the memes and the unparalleled film and television credits is someone who has always had a heart for music, much like anyone who’d grown up in that industry, instead, who understands the emotionally expressive ability of music not only to inspire but to unite. After all, during his episode of Hot Ones, when Sean Evans asked him about the song ‘Purple Rain’, he went into all the reasons why he was drawn to it in the first place.
“It’s my favourite song,” he said, with a deep breath that was either his love for the song or the hot wings. “It’s the most moving song. I don’t know why, it always emerged even before I actively started implementing it into my spiritual routine, essentially. I didn’t go to church. I was raised by HBO, Spielberg, and Prince. And for me, ‘Purple Rain’ is like the most emotionally cathartic, the most musically sophisticated song that I can think of.”
He added, “If it’s casually or spontaneously playing somewhere, I don’t have emotional space to go there because it moves me so deeply.” An intellectual reflection despite the obvious hot wings-induced struggle.
This is a common theme with Pascal’s favourite pieces of music. One band he’s repeatedly slated as his favourite is The Cure, which, considering his affinity for songs that make him feel something, isn’t exactly all that hard to believe. After all, The Cure continues to be a favourite across the board, many regarding Robert Smith’s lyrical intricacy, melodic accessibility and ability to say a lot about every aspect of existence in the most poetic words you’ll ever come across as second to none.
Pascal is no different. During a BBC interview promoting The Fantastic Four: First Steps, the actor was asked about his love for the band and whether he’d be able to pick a favourite, to which he answered ‘Just Like Heaven’. While he also said he didn’t have time to be a goth when he was younger because he was a theatre nerd instead, The Cure made their way into his life through some seminal memories. “My first club that I went to was a goth club, it was like a 16 and over night, and I went with my friend, and we danced. We danced to The Cure,” he said.
This deep-seated connection to musical classics also makes some of his other choices easy to get behind, like Fleetwood Mac’s masterpiece ‘Dreams’, as well as The Supremes’ ‘Come See About Me’ and Sam Cooke’s ‘Bring It On Home To Me’. The first song he ever remembers falling in love with is also Billy Idol’s ‘White Wedding’, crossing over into his love for make-believe when he’d listen to it and pretend Idol was his older brother coming to break him out of the house.
He told NME he’d ask for the Footloose soundtrack and Thriller for his birthdays and walk to a record shop to pick up The Joshua Tree and Graceland. He’s always sported an eclectic music taste, enjoying whichever mood came to him the moment the needle dropped.
But perhaps where it all comes together is the one he can’t seem to get out of his bones – ‘Purple Rain’. So heavily attached to his love for Prince in a broader sense, the song gripped on tight, reminding him why he fell in love with music in the first place.
