Pablo Alborán Shares How a Loved One’s Illness Informed New Album, Acting Debut: ‘You Come Back Changed’

Pablo Alborán is ready to share with his fans KM0, a deeply heartfelt and personal album he wrote after being “changed” by facing the pain and uncertainty caused by a loved one’s illness.

“There’s someone in my family who went through a bone marrow transplant, chemotherapy, immunosuppression, and suddenly, when that happens and we get the news, the feeling at home was like paralysis,” the Spanish singer tells Billboard Español in the new “24 Hours with Pablo Alborán in New York” video published Thursday (Oct. 16).

Fortunately, his relative recovered, but the trying experience deeply shook the artist, who felt the need to show the kinder side of the process after feeling the support of friends, doctors and nurses.

“You come back changed. And I needed to show this because we are always told about the dark side of things; hope is rarely talked about. When I got home and started writing again, I wrote from a different perspective, from another place, from a much more powerful, much purer feeling. And without thinking too much about the algorithm or the style or what others might think or feel,” he continues. “I needed to write this album from a much more impulsive and spontaneous place. And that’s why I decided to call it KM0, not as in going back or retreating, but as singing as if it were the first time, feeling this profession as if it were the first time.”

The LP, which will be released on Nov. 7 under Warner Music Spain, includes the singles “Clickbait,” “KM0,” “Vámonos de Aquí” alongside Indiara Sfair, and “Qué Tal Te Va” with Luan Santana. It also features collaborations with Ana Belén, Vicente Amigo and Japanese artist Lilas Ikuta, Alborán reveals with excitement. “It’s an album filled with life. It’s a tribute to life and a tribute to love, and it’s key so that, in the future, when I have a bad day again, I can remind myself that good things also happen.”

The experience also informed his upcoming role in the second season of the Netflix series Breathless (Respira), which premieres Oct. 31, where he plays Dr. Jon Balanzetegui, a plastic surgeon at the Joaquín Sorolla Hospital in Valencia, Spain.

Strolling in New York City on a sunny autumn day — between Times Square, Central Park and the Brooklyn Bridge — Alborán revealed details about his acting debut and about his upcoming participation in Billboard Latin Music Week, where he will star alongside producer Julio Reyes Copello in the panel “Creating the Hit LIVE.” (For a full schedule and tickets, visit billboardlatinmusicweek.com).

Watch the full interview above.