Preston Pablo is the Canadian R&B crooner on everyone’s Spotify playlist

(Photograph by William Ukoh, styling by Chad Burton/Cadre Artists; grooming by Kristjan Hayden/Cadre Artists.)
Preston Pablo has achieved a staggering level of early-career success, unheard of even among Canada’s biggest musical mega-stars. See: 51 million streams of “Flowers Need Rain,” his debut single; a spring Juno win for breakthrough artist of the year; and a slew of sold-out headlining gigs. His origin story sounds a bit more familiar. Pablo grew up in Timmins, Ontario,