This past year has been a whirlwind for singer Mateo.
After going on a national tour with Keyshia Cole, who was also joined by the lovely Chrisette Michele, he’s finished up some new music for his EP We’ve Met Before.
With a falsetto that makes the ladies scream, and nearly faint, at concerts around the country, this man can’t be stopped!
Working extremely hard during the past few years to make a name for himself in the R&B market, Mateo is finally coming into his own, spreading a message through his vocals. He’s even gotten his buzz up on the internet after releasing the music video for his single “How Good Is Your Life,” which started his summer off with a bang.
His newest EP We’ve Met Before was released on August 13th, and it’s full of music on love and life…just the way Mateo sees it. We got a chance to chat with Mateo where he told us all about his new EP, the work he’s putting into his album, and even shared a great story from going on tour with Keyshia and Chrisette.
Check out the interview below!
GlobalGrind: So tell us about this new EP that just came out called We’ve Met Before.
Mateo: It’s the shit! I’m excited. It’s kind of like music that’s a pre-taste of what the album is going to be like. It came out on August 13th, which happened to be my birthday, which is a good present. It includes the new single “How Good Is Your Love” along with 4 other songs. It’s a great body of work. It shows the stuff that we’ve been working on with Krucial over the past year. I’m so excited about it!
How does this project differ from some of your previous work?
Well, we’ve never really released an EP before. A lot of the old stuff is just mixtapes except for the live EP I put out on My Face records. This is all new music, so it’s all original. I think it gives a better view into the stuff I want to talk about with the vibe and sound I want to create. It’s a new era for me. I’ve been doing this for a little while. That’s why I called it We’ve Met Before because a lot of people have heard my stuff before, but this stuff is beyond anything I’ve ever done.
You’re ending the summer with a bang with this EP, but you also welcomed the season in pretty big with the music video for your single “How Good Is Your Love,” where you dabble in some acting. How did you come up with the concept for the video?
Before I did music, I had a real job. I was working in a cubicle, I hated life, and so I just used to sit there and daydream. I would usually just daydream about me doing music, so I would kind of play off of that. While I was working, I used to go down to Philly and try to record, so it’s kind of a play on a guy who’s in his office at this job he hates, even though he’s trying to do music on the side. Then we did an office love/crush interest in there. It was fun yo! It was a really good time. The comedian who was kind of ripping on me actually pissed me off. People thought it was acting but I was actually getting mad because he was going in on me! So it kind of wasn’t even acting! But it was fun. Overall it was just a good time and I think anyone who’s in his office will see it and love to do all of the things in there and turn the whole office upside down.
Do you think you’re going to go into acting anymore or put more of it in your videos?
Yeah, maybe if people don’t mind me talking over singing. That definitely sounds like something that could happen in the future.
You were all over the place this year, including touring with Keyshia Cole. What was that like?
Keyshia Cole was fun! That was my first national tour. It was fun to see her fans and see how excited they were and go around the country to see different types of people. Chrisette Michele was hilarious, and she’s so talented. She was great to get to know, and we just had a good time overall. It’s great to get out of the main market sometimes and get to the other cities and see how excited people are. It kind of reenergizes you.
Do you have a good story or memory from the tour?
I don’t know if this is a good story or not, but for the NYC show, a moment comes to mind. People don’t realize that I had a hole in my jeans in like the crotch section. It was hilarious! The whole time I was performing I was thinking “wow, I’ve got a hole in my jeans” and I believed that everyone was seeing what I was working with right then. I guess no one saw it because it was kind of dark right there. So when I jumped off the stage, I was singing to some girls in the audience, and when I got back on stage I just heard this rip. I was like, damn!
Have you talked with Keyshia or Chrisette about working with them in the future?
Not really Keyshia, but Chrisette for sure. I’ve kept in contact with Chrisette and I would love to do something with her. I just think she’s really, really talented. Nothing is in the works right now yet though.
This year you were also part of the 2013 BET Experience, doing the Music Matters concert. What was that like?
Yeah, that was amazing! Just being a part of BET’s Music Matters has been a really great experience, and to be able to be on that stage and on that carpet, legitimately was awesome because I’ve been sneaking into joints like that for years! Getting my credentials and knowing I’m supposed to be here was really great. It was great sharing a stage with Marsha Ambrosius and Ravaughn. There were some really great artists up there.
You’ve become sort of a master at making love songs for women everywhere, where do you find some of your inspiration when you hit the studio?
A lot of the songs I write are from personal experience and stuff that I’ve gone through. It’s funny where a song comes from. I could be going through something with a girl, a friend of mine, or even just witnessing a friend going through something with their girl. You just never know where that inspiration is going to come from. Sometimes it will come to me like “I wish someone would write a song about…” and then I write it. At first I was trying to make the best love songs, but now I’m just trying to make the best life songs about what people are going through. I think that this EP speaks to that as well as the album.
Do you have a particular recipe for success when you’re in the studio? A lot of artists want a certain type of vibe, so what helps you work the best?
A lot of people want mad people in the studio, but I can’t do that. With my single “How Good Is Your Love,” I recorded that myself without even an engineer. So sometimes I’ve got to have some solitude. That’s usually how I work. Or I’ll have my Krucial Noize team, which is like family to me. That’s how I feel comfortable, since recording is like a vulnerable state. You’re just wide open. That’s why it’s kind of weird when you have a random person around. It kills the vibe.
One thing that sets you apart from many singers is your falsetto. When did you learn you could do that?
That’s a really good question, because I was just thinking about that. Before, I couldn’t sing falsetto. That was one of the things that I just could not do. Growing up in church I was thinking how I just couldn’t sing falsetto. The first time I ever remember being able to do it was while singing Musiq Soulchild’s “Love” for a cover. I was at a mall or something like that trying to perform it. I just hit that high note in there, and ever since then it’s been a wrap. So thank you, Musiq!
Photo credit: Meeno, courtesy of Interscope Records
