A Decade in the Making: An Interview with Matt Thompson

I had the pleasure of interviewing Matt Thompson on his 28th birthday. In the middle of our Zoom call, he mentioned the event off-handedly, and I couldn’t help but realize the monumental significance this birthday had for Matt— his tenth year in the music industry. During the interview, we charted his progress throughout the last decade. His first album, No Shame, has frozen his younger years in time, documenting the growing pains of his early-to-mid twenties. 

Matt Thompson is a 28-year-old singer-songwriter based in D.C. He began his career at 18, writing and developing tracks for other producers and labels, then branched off to create his own music with the release of his first album, No Shame. The album includes fan favorites such as Wish You the Best (Wish You the Worst), which has generated over 1.5 million streams. On April 16th, his newest single Mean to Me comes out, a song which Matt hopes will bridge the gap between his first and second album.

[UNPUBLISHED]: Tell us about yourself. What started your journey into the world of music?

[MATT]: Yeah, definitely. So, I’m from Washington D.C. originally. I was born there, grew up in Maryland. I started writing songs when I was about 11. Throughout middle school and high school I just kind of dabbled in that as a hobby. Then, when I was 23, I became like, fully a songwriter. I was writing for other projects, people, and labels. In 2019 is when I made the transition from writer to artist. 

[UNPUBLISHED]: How did you first come about making connections in the songwriting industry?

[MATT]: Oh, how did that begin? I started recording in the Virginia area, and I was just sort of dabbling [in it]. Then, I took a trip to Miami to record. From there, I got my first consultant, and he sort of was my connection to a lot of things. He was how I was able to build up a network. 

[UNPUBLISHED]: I was really curious about this, knowing that you’re both a singer and a songwriter. Is your creative process for writing other people’s songs different than the process for writing your own songs?

[MATT]: A trillion percent, a trillion percent. In a weird way, I feel a little less pressure writing for other people. A lot of times, when I write for other people, it’ll be like, track work or producers and their teams will send me tracks, and then I feel out the vibe and the energy of that. It almost feels like putting on a costume and being someone else for a little bit, feeling so immersed in that world and just… less pressure, I guess. [Writing] for myself, it’s like, “what’s going on in my world? How do I say this as perfectly as possible?” I think it’s somewhat easier for me to write for other people than myself.

[UNPUBLISHED]: I imagine it is. I believe you recorded your first demos at the age of 18?

[MATT]: Yeah, 18. And they were terrible, horrible. But, I mean, it was also my first time in a studio or in a booth, singing into the mics. It’s really navigating a different territory with all that, because I also went in not really preparing to record these songs correctly. I wrote the track for both of them and I was just like, “oh, I don’t need to practice singing them, it’ll just come out and it’ll be fine.” That’s definitely not the case. I still listen to a couple of them today… it keeps you humble. It’s a humbling thing to listen to. 

[UNPUBLISHED]: What’s changed about your music style from then ‘til now?

[MATT]: Everything. I mean, I was 18 then, I just turned 28 today—

[UNPUBLISHED]: —Happy Birthday!

[MATT]: Thank you! That’s a whole decade’s worth of difference! It’s ten years of life experience you have under you. It’s ten years that you have to really hone in on the craft. I’m a better songwriter. I’m a better vocalist by a lot, too. You get better, you just fine-tune everything. I’m a different person, altogether, so everything’s different. 

[UNPUBLISHED]: If you could go back and give your younger self some advice about the music industry, what would it be?

[MATT]: Trust the right people. Yeah, ‘cause it’s an industry where it’s easy to be taken advantage of. It’s a money grab at the end of the day. People just want to make money, they want to make money off of you. Really, you just have to make sure you feel out what is best for you.

[UNPUBLISHED]: Your first album, No Shame, is super cohesive in terms of genre. What draws you to upbeat dance-pop songs?

[MATT]: I’m really excited to hear that because I kind of felt like it was a little sonically patchwork-y when I was putting it together, but like, strategically. From start to finish, I wanted to make the album go from light to dark, and really have the energy of this bright innocence in the beginning, and then this dark, but a little more settled-in, maturity towards the end of it. 

[UNPUBLISHED]: Would you say that somewhat illustrates your journey through the music industry?

[MATT]: I think it more so illustrates my journey through adulthood and just, growing up. The first songs on the album were kind of, like, liberation— Wish You the Best (Wish You the Worst), Silver Medal— I was young when I wrote those songs, well, younger than I am now. I was like 22 or 23 when I wrote those, and the last tracks— like If I Had It My Way— I wrote and recorded when I was 26. At that age, a lot changes, between 22 and 26. So, I would say it was more that my life changed in my early 20s.

[UNPUBLISHED]: That’s so cool that you have this documentation of growing into your 20s. What would be your ideal setting for your music to be played? Are you thinking clubs, coffee shops? What’s the vibe?

[MATT]: There are different songs that could fit different situations and scenarios. I think Silver Medal is a perfect coffee house, kind of live, intimate-setting performance. And then I think of the three new tracks that I have— including the new one that’s coming out in a couple weeks— I think those will be killer songs for a festival kind of setting when it’s safe to have those again. On that first album, it could’ve gone either way. I could’ve gone [with] small, medium, or large venues. But I definitely think that the music I’m making now is stadium-esque, almost. 

[UNPUBLISHED]: Speaking of your upcoming single, what was your inspiration behind Mean to Me?

[MATT]: It was about me falling in love with one of my best friends, which is already it’s own tricky territory. Me and him, we talked everyday for a really long time. And then around last summer, our communication really pulled off, and he was pushing me away a little bit. And, you know, things were already complicated in the world, at that point, anyways. People were just going through it, which is easy to understand. Then I reconnected with him on his birthday. We ended up, like, hanging out together. It kind of felt like it was picking up right where we left off, which felt nice. But afterward, it felt like it was just getting strained and weird all over again. So, I wrote this song after a situation happened and I was just like, “I’m willing to put work into this, our friendship and whatever else comes along the way, I don’t know.” That’s where it gets tricky with falling in love with a friend. This song is kind of my plea to just do something, because I’m willing to do something if you are.

[UNPUBLISHED]: I’ve always wondered, for singers and songwriters— especially people who do both— is it hard to write about people who might hear your song one day?

[MATT]: It’s tricky with this particular song because this is someone who's currently in my life. I’ve done it before, where I’ve written about people in my life, like Silver Medal. My first album was written about one very specific person. But by the time that these songs came out and the album came out, we were kind of done, so it didn’t really matter. I wasn’t trying to like, protect anyone’s feelings, or whatever, so I didn’t care. Mean to Me also isn’t a bad song. I’m not trashing anyone, it’s not that kind of song. Yeah, it is still tricky. And yeah, he sort of doesn’t know that it’s been written and is coming out in two weeks. 

[UNPUBLISHED]: I imagine that has to be super vulnerable, though, with someone who’s still in your life. 

[MATT]: It’s interesting, yeah. It’s definitely interesting. I think if it was a song where I was like, bashing, more of a heads up would be in place, but we also probably wouldn’t be friends, either. So, that’s definitely one of those bridges I will have to cross when I get there. 

[UNPUBLISHED]: Your most popular track is called Wish You the Best (Wish You the Worst) and has accumulated more than 1.5 million streams, and your first album, No Shame, has accrued more than 3 million streams. Is there anything that you would attribute to its popularity? 

[MATT]: As an independent artist, first and foremost, there has to be the promotional push behind it. In today’s world, a lot of people have really great songs, but it’s about who has the best promotion. I think that album had the right push behind it. But at the same time, you can put it into people’s playlists and into people’s algorithms, but the songs have to hold. They have to have the right message and they have to connect. A lot of people can hear a song for thirty seconds and then be done with it forever. The idea is to get the songs into people’s ears and have them coming back for more and feel like they’re connecting to it. That’s what I’m kind of hoping did happen, after all of that.

[UNPUBLISHED]: If you could only perform one song for the rest of your life— yours or others— what song would it be?

[MATT]: Well, I mean, if it had to be forever, and it had to be only one song, it probably should be one of mine. I’m going to say Accelerate ‘cause I love that song. I loved writing it, I love singing it, I love the energy behind it, the production. I really love how Ryan [Binhammer] put it together, so, probably that one. 

[UNPUBLISHED]: Where do you see yourself in five years?

[MATT]: Five years from now, I would hope to be signed to a label. That’s one of my big goals. I would love to have, by then, my first Grammy. That would be epic. 

[UNPUBLISHED]: I can say I interviewed you back in the day!

[MATT]: You can, absolutely! I pray to God that does happen, though. I would just like to be at the top. I really want to be at the top of my game. I want to be everywhere. I want to take over the world. But I also want to take over the world with songs that means something. I don’t want to go in with fluff that makes hits in the moment, but no one’s going to think about down the line. The idea is to be timeless and to have that kind of craft behind you, so [people think of you] ten, twenty years down the line. People are like, “yeah, this still is it.”

[UNPUBLISHED]: What do you incorporate into your songs and your songwriting process to keep that genuine aspect in your music?

[MATT]: I say this a lot— I forget where I read it from, though— that authenticity is the ghost [writer] on the track. I remember reading that and I was like, “yeah, that’s really it.” A song can have the most off, center-left topic and theme about it, but if it comes from a real place, then that has a way of connecting to people. You can have the most specific thing that you think no one else really goes through, but you’ll be surprised about how universal it rings. 

[UNPUBLISHED]: Totally. I am obviously not a singer or a songwriter, but I did have a professor that told me something similar, which is, “the more specific you make something, the more relatable it is.” I think that really shows in your music.

[MATT]: Thank you, I appreciate that. 

[UNPUBLISHED]: Of course.

[MATT]: And I mean, it is a hard thing. It's scary to be that vulnerable and that specific, sometimes. It’s hard to put yourself all out there. It’s so easy to coat things in a lot of metaphors and really pretty words, but then, does the message maybe not hit as sharply? Maybe, sometimes. 

[UNPUBLISHED]: We know that your new single, Mean to Me, is coming out soon. Is there anything else we can look forward to seeing from you?

[MATT]: Definitely a second album will be out at some point this year. I’m putting that together as we speak. 

[UNPUBLISHED]: Do you want your second album to have a similar vibe to the first, or do you want it to be something completely different?

[MATT]: I want it to be something totally different. I feel like Accelerate was a good transition song out of the first album. It has familiar vibes to it, but also bridges something different. I think Mean to Me is also different [from the first album]. I’m in a different place in my life than I was when I was writing that album. I was 22-26, and I’m 28 now. I just have a lot of different things to say. Sonically, I want it to be really different. I want to make a more upbeat project this time around. I feel like that’s the kind of thing the world needs right at this particular moment. The first album was really sad because that’s just where I was [at the time], and I’m not really in that same place. I want all my albums to be that way, though, moving forward. Like, I want every era to have its own specific thing and feel. I want it to have its own color. 

[UNPUBLISHED]: I love that some of your songs were sad lyrically, but still upbeat and fun, like a happy breakup song. 

[MATT]: Oh yeah, absolutely, that’s perfect. Like, the dancing-with-tears-in-your-eyes thing. That’s kind of what the magic was with Wish You the Best (Wish You the Worst). The demo track I wrote it to was a super sad and melancholy track. And then I gave it to Jake Vicious— one of my producers— and he gave it this really bright, anthemic production. I do think that contrast is what made the song really magical. 

It seems that Matt’s visions for the future are coming to fruition. He was recently nominated for four Washington Area Music Awards (WAMMIES), and his first album has received upwards of 3 million streams. The authenticity Matt strives for is clearly working for him, projecting him to new heights. After tracking the last ten years of Matt’s career, I can only imagine what the next decade will bring.