The singer
As an account manager at TÜV USA, Francisco Paseyro ensures that audits run smoothly; as a singer he raises his audiences’ pulse rates: His most popular song, “Esos Días”, has been streamed almost half a million times on Spotify.
Francisco Paseyro can still vividly remember his first appearance as a singer: “It was in high school; I was 17. I sang one of my own songs – and completely messed it up,” says the 26-year-old. “Luckily, my audience was made up of friends, family and, well, the whole school.” At the time, he felt paralysed. Today, around 100 live performances later, he enjoys singing and telling stories on stage.
Francisco Paseyro lives in San Isidro, a suburb of the Argentine capital Buenos Aires. He has been organising the audits at TÜV USA for three years and accompanies the entire process through to completion. In doing so, he works closely with the project managers in Germany. Alongside his everyday life, work and musical activities, he is also studying marketing.
Because I could hardly move for almost a whole year, it was a golden opportunity to learn guitar. Music helped me to overcome the injury, to take a breath and put my thoughts into words, to transform them into songs and create a deeper connection with myself.
Francisco Paseyro began playing drums at the age of ten, but sport was more important to him at first. He was playing rugby by the age of six, and by 14 he was training up to four times a week; but then came a cruciate ligament and meniscus tear. It took this serious injury to really get him involved in music. “Because I could hardly move for almost a whole year, it was a golden opportunity to learn guitar,” he says. “Music helped me to overcome the injury, to take a breath and put my thoughts into words, to transform them into songs and create a deeper connection with myself.” By the time he was 18, he had composed his first three songs. Family and friends from school and the rugby club cheered him on, and he became bolder. Today he plays guitar, piano and drums and sings at concerts in front of hundreds of spectators at private parties, music clubs and festivals.
Francisco Paseyro sees his music as a personal journal. He remembers a conversation with his father, to whom he explained why he wanted to go into a studio to record songs: “I want my future self to understand my 17-year-old self, to know what I thought and felt back then.” His father helped pay for studio time, which would otherwise have been out of the question for a 17-year-old. “My parents have always encouraged me – not only by advocating for me with my teachers but also by giving me the confidence to pursue any project I had in mind. They have always told me that I can achieve anything I set my mind to, as long as I put in the effort, am disciplined and, above all, have a goal in mind.” So, he began to write his life story step by step in songs. At home, the family had wide-ranging musical tastes: the Beatles, Pink Floyd, the Red-Hot Chili Peppers – and the Argentine greats Charly García, Luis Alberto Spinetta and Gustavo Cerati. One artist in particular had a formative influence on him: the Argentine actor and Latin pop singer Diego Torres. “I knew all his songs by heart. Later I also understood why: his lyrics and music contain a lot of what I myself am looking for and trying to express today as an artist.”
I want my future self to understand my 17-year-old self, to know what I thought and felt back then.
His main audiences are in Argentina, Uruguay and Spain. Francisco Paseyro knows this because the streaming services show statistics like these. “According to my Spotify for Artists metrics, my music is listened to in more than 50 countries, including the United States and Germany.” On his favourite platform, Spotify, he has about 15,000 monthly listeners. His most popular song, “Esos Días”, has been streamed almost half a million times there. His live highlight so far has been a performance in front of more than 500 spectators at the “Niceto”, one of the premier venues for independent musicians in Buenos Aires, where he got the audience singing along. It’s in moments like these that he gets to feel he is living his dream. Music has never been more than a hobby for him, albeit one that he pursues as professionally as possible. “I write and compose my songs myself from start to finish, paying attention to every detail. I work with my own producer and can bring in different musicians if a project requires skills that I don’t have.” His musical goals are clear: to release at least one new song every year and play live once per semester.
But how does he manage to work and study while also building a singing career, all without neglecting personal relationships? “Honestly, I don’t know,” says Francisco Paseyro and laughs. He has been happily in a relationship for nine years and has had the same circle of friends since he was four. “I’m always trying to reconcile all the different parts of my life.” The skills he uses every day as a project manager at TÜV USA may also be helping him here. However, it is the balance between the four pillars of his life that matters most to him: “My family, my relationships, my profession and God.”
