Singer Mateo is ready to single-handedly bring R&B back!
Coming from a music background, where music is actually ingrained in his DNA, Mateo pulls inspiration from artists like
Erykah Badu,
Alicia Keys, and newcomer
Frank Ocean.
Taking a leap of faith, Mateo quit his corporate job to peruse music, and now it's finally paying off.
GlobalGrind caught up with Mateo to chit-chat with him about his new
project, the state of R&B music, and his hand in Alicia Keys' new
forthcoming album.
Check out our exclusive interview below!
GlobalGrind: What’s the inspiration behind “Doubt”?
Mateo: One day I was in my room, and I was playing
around on the piano, and I had been listening to a lot of 808s &
Heartbreaks. Jeff Bhasker produced a lot of that album, and I was just
really into that zone and started playing through the choir sound. It
started coming to me, just the idea of it, and just some of the
melodies. It just kind of came organically. It’s kind of interesting: A
lot of times when I start writing a song, the chords kind of tell me
what the song’s about or what I’m feeling. And at that time, I was
really feeling like no matter what anybody says about you, you’re still
my girl. You’re still the person that I love, and I’ll stand behind you
no matter what. There’s no doubt about you and me, in my mind. You know
what I mean?
So that was a real life situation?
Yeah, most of it is. Everybody got that experience where their
friends or somebody’s like ‘yo, you shouldn’t be messing with her.’
You’ve had that talk when people say certain things — you just kind of
look past it.
What motivates you to look past it?
Basically, I just trusted in what I felt. And, you know, sometimes it
can be dangerous. Sometimes everybody’s telling you the truth, and you
don’t want to see it. But then sometimes you can tell there is an
energy around when people say certain things. You can tell if it’s from a
spiteful place or if it’s from something kind of authentic and real,
and you’re just lying to yourself.
Has there ever been a time when you’ve been wronged?
(Laughs) The funny thing is I am a pretty good judge of character
when it comes to that. So I haven’t really had that much problems with
it. There was one time that I was dating this girl, and I did not
realize that she had a little bit of a reputation. Then I started going
to my mom: “That was a little bit easy!”
What kind of girl does Mateo like?
I like a girl that is exciting, that can rile me up and can ruffle my
feathers. I’ve never been into a girl that can just sit back and be
super quiet or say ‘yes’ every time. I’ve always liked the challenge in a
girl that’s really funny or really smart. Beyond the first attraction
thing, there’s got to be something else to keep it going. I’m into the
kind of girl that is definitely very ambitious and knows what they want
and knows how they want to be treated. That’s sexier than a girl being a
push over because there’s no fun in that.
You come from a musical background. Your grandfather was a
jazz player and it’s kind of been in your blood. How was it like growing
up around such classical music and all these people who play amazing
music?
I think it gives you a great appreciation of true music. It’s one
thing to follow what’s trendy and hot right no. But I feel like those
genres – jazz, blues, even the old school soul music — there was a depth
to it that I feel is really important. It definitely helped me instruct
my type of music. If I approach a piano piece, a lot of times it has a
classical influence from how the piano is being played. Even if it’s an
up tempo song, you still can have depth to it. You can still have some
lyricism there. I do feel like we’ve lost the time period where you
could take some lyrics from a song and put them on paper and just read
them. I think that’s important. It’s not all about what the beat is.
It’s also what you’re saying, and if you’re saying it in a way that no
on has heard before. All those influences have definitely helped me.
In your opinion, what’s the current state of R&B music?
There’s good and bad. The good part about R&B music, and urban
music in general, is that people are not restricted to a box like they
used to be. They used to be like: ‘oh, that’s not what black people
listen too.’ Or ‘you can’t push it there.’ I think that is changing a
lot. Because of the Internet, I think people are listening to different
types of things. If I talk to my cousins back in Ohio, they are
listening to all types of stuff. To me, that means that I can be more
experimental and do a lot of different types of things with the sound I
am creating for R&B, which is great. I think it should evolve. On
the flipside, I do think there are some people that have stagnated the
genre and have made it into songs just about sex. We love sex, but what
about love? That was a topic that we owned. That was our thing to talk
about, and the fact that we’ve given it up to cheapen it to a certain
extent, I don’t get.
Who are R&B artists that you are looking to in general?
Dawn Richards. I think Miguel is dope, really pushing the envelope. I
am a huge Frank Ocean fan, too. I think that it’s really funny because
they kind of think that you can have one male R&B singer or whatever
you want to call him. I think these new guys are bringing something
really dope to the table. I’m inspired by it.
What do you plan on bringing to music that’s different?
Mateo is bringing things that Mateo loves. It’s that big stereo music
that we don’t really have in urban music. It’s those big drums. If
you’re able to infuse some Coldplay into something that’s urban, what
would that be? That’s really the stuff that I love. There’s a little
bit of alternative rock in it, but it also has some soulfulness in it.
It has a lot of different styles in it. I think that’s the difference.
Sonically it’s different. It’s love songs. It’s what I do best. Young,
foolish and in love — that’s the sentiment of it all.
You’ve shared the stage with Erykah Badu, J. Holiday, Mario
and all these really amazing people. When was the first time you
realized that you were achieving your dreams?
It happened recently, actually. It was when I was able to play with
Alicia Keys. When I was able to go to her studio a few weeks ago and go
in her environment and try to be apart of the writing process for her
album. That was something amazing to me because she is such an amazing
artist and an amazing person. To be that close was one of the bigger
things that has happened.
Will we be hearing you on Alicia’s new album or will you be getting any song writing credits?
I’m hoping so! We did some really good stuff. But of course she’s
done a lot of great songs, so hopefully we can make it on. That would be
a dream come true.
You went to Morehouse, and you graduated and entered into the
corporate world. You eventually quit your job. When did you wake up and
realize that you wanted to follow your dreams?
I didn’t last very long, which was the funny part. I think it was a
day when I had been working an 18-hour day, and I had worked the entire
month. Every day. I remember thinking: ‘This is not me. I’m getting a
pay check every two weeks, but I don’t even care.’ I decided that very
moment that I wanted to try to do music. I didn’t know how I was going
to do it. I put it in my head that music was going to happen. I didn’t
know how it’s going to happen, but it was going to happen. All of a
sudden my roommate was like, ‘yo, can my cousin stay for a few days?’
The dude ended up being a rapper. He stayed, and that few days turned
into three months. The dude was taking me to the studio, and I started
being able to meet people doing music and putting together these really
horrible demos in a basement in Brooklyn. That’s what literally lead me
to think that I could do this.
If I sent you to a deserted island and you could only have three albums, what three albums would they be?
It would be Coldplay, A Rush of Blood to the Head, the Donny Hathaway album that has “A Song for you” on it and Kanye West’s “Graduation.”
What’s your most embarrassing moment while on stage?
One time I was performing in front of a bunch of execs. I was playing
keyboard, and right at the climax of the song, I hit the keyboard and
the keyboard totally collapses. It was so horrible! I just leaned down
and continued playing. It was hilarious because there was nothing else I
could do. You could hear people gasp. It was funny as hell.
When can we expect an EP or mixtape from you?
Yes, we’re putting a single out and a project before the album. I
don’t know what we’re calling it yet, but we are putting that out in the
next few weeks. It’s dope, too. I am really excited about it.
Johnson says ASPiRE is focused on uplifting the
image of African-Americans and celebrating the success of those in the
Black community. The network will include a mix of short films, music,
comedy, documentaries, and other inspirational programs. ASPiRE will also partner with GMC, a regional cable channel that also offers positive programs.
