Artist x Artist:
Canadian Pop Stars Mathew V & Cory Stewart Go Behind the Queer Music Scene.
In a new series we're calling "Artists x Artists" we have music artists interviewing each other and chatting about their experiences in life and in the music industry. And what better way to start than with two rising Canadian stars: Mathew V and Cory Stewart. From growing up in a household filled with Celine Dion and Shania Twain, to strategic release strategies, and experiencing the harshest of negativity being a queer pop artist, Cory Stewart hosts a unique and candid conversation and uncovers the journey and challenges of Mathew V to his current success as a charting and touring Canadian pop artist with an ever growing fan base.
Get ready to peek behind the curtain and let the artist on artist chat begin!
CS: Thank you for doing this, I'm super pumped to talk to you. I'm a fan - a “rat", as you might say.
MV: AH! (laughs)
CS: So I guess my first question is: did you grow up in Vancouver?
MV: I was born in Vancouver, then I grew up in Richmond, which is kind of on the outskirts and then I went to school by Surrey. I don't know if you're familiar with Surrey, but it's the rough and tumble part of Greater Vancouver which is why I'm such a tough guy now.
CS: (laughs) Yeah, I could tell. So, I'm wondering, growing up what was your first touchpoint with music? The thing that made you fall in love or decide this is what you want to do?
MV: So I grew up listening in my household to Celine Dion and Shania Twain. I listened to it my entire childhood. Then, from the age of 2 onward to 8, the only song that I sang (I didn't even sing, I lip sync'd) around the house (with a pom pom wig on my head) was 'Man I Feel Like A Woman' by Shania Twain. Every home video that I have is me turning my shirt into a belly shirt and wearing a pom pom wig, lip synching that song. So I guess I learned the entertainment side [of music] before I picked up the actual singing side. Honestly, I was prepping for a drag race WELL before drag race was even a thing.
CS: That is a beautiful thing and I have to ask you right away, what the hell is a pom pom wig? (laughs)
MV: You know the cheerleader's pom poms? I would just plop that on my head. Very shake and go!
CS: Love it! I suppose Shania's debut album was a stand out for you, was there a particular Celine one you loved?
MV: The Celine Dion album my family played all the time (and I remember because I was able to flip through the booklet in the back of the car and that made me fall in love with album artwork) was 'A Decade of Song'. I'm showing my age here, but I grew up with her greatest hits album (the one that had 'That's the Way It Is', the song she did with Max Martin), I was spoiled because I only got the good stuff. I'm less familiar with her others, but I got the hit after hit after hit after hit album.
CS: There is a remix of 'That's the Way It Is' that I put on whenever I want to gay out to the max, it's life changing, I'll tweet it to you later!
MV: (laughs) Yes please!
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CS: So you studied opera for 10 years, is that right?
MV: So when I was seven years old, it was kind of the age where my parents wanted an hour a week where they didn't have kids in the house, so they put all of us into extracurriculars. I tried sports for a little bit, I played baseball for a while but, [my parents said] well Mat, you sing around the house why don't we put you in singing lessons. So, they looked up vocal teachers in the area and the one that I went to was a musical theatre and an opera coach. And, when she tested on my falsetto, she realized that I was a boy soprano and she was just like, "oh we should run down this realm". I ended up training in opera with her for ten years, but it was funny because I would train in opera and sing in Italian, French and Spanish and then all ride home I'd be listening to Mariah Carey and Celine Dion and Britney Spears. So I was getting classical training but the music that I loved personally was bubblegum pop.
CS: I can so relate to you here, because I also trained my whole youth. In terms of training, I hated it so much - like I absolutely hated classical training. But I'm so thankful and I'm sure you can relate. It taught me how to keep my voice in check and not blow it out.
MV: It's tough. It taught me how to sing through a cold, it taught me how to sing properly, taught me how to warm up - and honestly I agree, it was kind of miserable because as a creative person I found that I was just being an instrument and reading what was on the page. I didn't have any freedom. But looking back on it now, it built up my vocal strength, stamina and agility and all of that stuff, so I'm so grateful that I had that training. Everything you said however makes total sense to me.
CS: So explain to me, after you've gone through the training you decide: "Listen I'm actually going to move to London at 17 and learn how to write pop music". What's the transition there? How did you get to that place?
MV: So it was a bit like I was trying to con the system in the sense that I did really well in high school - I was teacher's pet, book smart. And I grew up with the mindset that if you did well in school you went to university. But I also wanted to do music and I wanted to travel. So, I thought how do I twist this? I was like, "Oh well I can go to music school abroad, then I can do music, go to university and travel!"
CS: Right!
MV: So I got into music school in Los Angeles and I got into one [school] in London, England. I connected to like a U.K. pop sound, I've always found it a bit more soulful. I always wanted to do runs when I was singing so, I decided to go pick up and go to the U.K., kind of naively. I was 17 and I thought that I was untouchable and that I knew everything - then I picked up and went overseas and I was like "oh my gosh, I'm alone in one of the biggest cities in the world" and I grew up instantly. Those were really formative years for me being over there and I kind of learned how to be an adult. If the crap hit the fan, I had to clean up my own messes. So that helped a lot. And also, I was there surrounded by music that I was passionate about. I really kind of learned what my own sound and style was.
CS: From listening to your music, some of it is very UK inspired, some of your melodies remind me of Brit-pop. That might be why I love it so much.
MV: Amazing, thank you so much!
CS: Did you find when you started recording that you had to unlearn training or change the way that you sang? Tell me about that.
MV: Hundred percent. A lot of my pop singing involved de-training. It was realizing that I didn't need to place my vowels at all times. I would have to go against my training to place certain vowels in a thoughtful way. I could have a breathy 'h' in front of my vowels. That's a stylistic approach, but it almost felt like I was doing something wrong. I was looking both ways thinking, "am I allowed to do this? Oh I guess so". So yes, there was a lot of de-training involved. But again, I would rather like start from the top down and de-train rather than having to build from the bottom up. People ask me: "are you a trained singer?" and I tell them I was trained in opera. They always say, "oh yeah, I can hear that". I think Lady Gaga gets a bit of this too because she has a thick vibrato and there's a bit of a theatrical vocal performance that we both can give. I think that people can kind of pin it a bit.
CS: It's easier to sometimes have your producer tell you to pull back than it is to be asked for more.
MV: Yeah, exactly!
MV: So when I was seven years old, it was kind of the age where my parents wanted an hour a week where they didn't have kids in the house, so they put all of us into extracurriculars. I tried sports for a little bit, I played baseball for a while but, [my parents said] well Mat, you sing around the house why don't we put you in singing lessons. So, they looked up vocal teachers in the area and the one that I went to was a musical theatre and an opera coach. And, when she tested on my falsetto, she realized that I was a boy soprano and she was just like, "oh we should run down this realm". I ended up training in opera with her for ten years, but it was funny because I would train in opera and sing in Italian, French and Spanish and then all ride home I'd be listening to Mariah Carey and Celine Dion and Britney Spears. So I was getting classical training but the music that I loved personally was bubblegum pop.
CS: I can so relate to you here, because I also trained my whole youth. In terms of training, I hated it so much - like I absolutely hated classical training. But I'm so thankful and I'm sure you can relate. It taught me how to keep my voice in check and not blow it out.
MV: It's tough. It taught me how to sing through a cold, it taught me how to sing properly, taught me how to warm up - and honestly I agree, it was kind of miserable because as a creative person I found that I was just being an instrument and reading what was on the page. I didn't have any freedom. But looking back on it now, it built up my vocal strength, stamina and agility and all of that stuff, so I'm so grateful that I had that training. Everything you said however makes total sense to me.
CS: So explain to me, after you've gone through the training you decide: "Listen I'm actually going to move to London at 17 and learn how to write pop music". What's the transition there? How did you get to that place?
MV: So it was a bit like I was trying to con the system in the sense that I did really well in high school - I was teacher's pet, book smart. And I grew up with the mindset that if you did well in school you went to university. But I also wanted to do music and I wanted to travel. So, I thought how do I twist this? I was like, "Oh well I can go to music school abroad, then I can do music, go to university and travel!"
CS: Right!
MV: So I got into music school in Los Angeles and I got into one [school] in London, England. I connected to like a U.K. pop sound, I've always found it a bit more soulful. I always wanted to do runs when I was singing so, I decided to go pick up and go to the U.K., kind of naively. I was 17 and I thought that I was untouchable and that I knew everything - then I picked up and went overseas and I was like "oh my gosh, I'm alone in one of the biggest cities in the world" and I grew up instantly. Those were really formative years for me being over there and I kind of learned how to be an adult. If the crap hit the fan, I had to clean up my own messes. So that helped a lot. And also, I was there surrounded by music that I was passionate about. I really kind of learned what my own sound and style was.
CS: From listening to your music, some of it is very UK inspired, some of your melodies remind me of Brit-pop. That might be why I love it so much.
MV: Amazing, thank you so much!
CS: Did you find when you started recording that you had to unlearn training or change the way that you sang? Tell me about that.
MV: Hundred percent. A lot of my pop singing involved de-training. It was realizing that I didn't need to place my vowels at all times. I would have to go against my training to place certain vowels in a thoughtful way. I could have a breathy 'h' in front of my vowels. That's a stylistic approach, but it almost felt like I was doing something wrong. I was looking both ways thinking, "am I allowed to do this? Oh I guess so". So yes, there was a lot of de-training involved. But again, I would rather like start from the top down and de-train rather than having to build from the bottom up. People ask me: "are you a trained singer?" and I tell them I was trained in opera. They always say, "oh yeah, I can hear that". I think Lady Gaga gets a bit of this too because she has a thick vibrato and there's a bit of a theatrical vocal performance that we both can give. I think that people can kind of pin it a bit.
CS: It's easier to sometimes have your producer tell you to pull back than it is to be asked for more.
MV: Yeah, exactly!
CS: So then you signed with 604 Records. How did that come about? What's your origin story?
MV: So I came home from the U.K. after my first year with every intention of going back. I was playing a gig in the basement of the Biltmore, which is a venue in Vancouver, and there were probably like 10 people there. It was my first gig ever really as Mathew V the pop artist. Just me and my buddy on guitar. There was no arc in the show, and I was like let me just stand there and sing covers the whole time (maybe one or two original songs). I sang, and then as I was heading out of the venue this gentleman walks up to me and says "hey you know, I just started working at 604, I think Jonathan Simpkin would be interested in this - you should come by and have a meeting." That gentleman is now my day to day manager and his name's Joseph. But, then I went to 604 and had a meeting and played them some of the music that I had been working on. I actually had an EP that came out just before that meeting that I put out on my own and it was getting some decent streaming online. We ended up entering into a six-month trial management period, where I proved myself to them, jumped through some hoops and they proved themselves to me - [showing] what resources they could provide me. It turned into a really beautiful relationship and then I signed my record deal after that.
CS: That's amazing! It's like one thing after another sort of landed in the right place at the right time.
MV: Yeah it was great! It was funny because at that point I was emailing every record label that I could find. I emailed 604 and never heard anything back, then when I was in the meeting Jonathan was like "why do you look familiar to me?" and I said "I probably sent you a handful of emails" to which he said "oh that's right, I did get your email". It's funny that he got them and never got back, but they ended up signing me through word of mouth after that.
CS: So I guess the takeaway for artists is that if you continue to send these emails, at least they don't fall on deaf ears. People do read them and there is a chance that when they see you there is a familiarity there. So don't give up if you're doing this!
MV: Oh definitely! With cold emails, I always tell artists the worst first thing that happens if you send 20 e-mails a day is you lost five minutes. The only possibility or opportunity there is that you might make a connection, network, or you know, the smaller percentage that it actually lands - but you really have nothing to lose other than a little bit of your time.
CS: Totally. I mean, it's worth the effort. Who knows what will come from it. Can you tell me your favourite moment so far in this journey that you've been on?
MV: I feel like on a different day I would have a bit of a different answer for you. But I think that opening up for Betty Who, who for me was really cool because for someone who's just authentically a big fan of Betty's music and [knowing she's] a queer icon, to be able to be seen as a suitable option to be associated to her as an artist was a really cool moment for me. And, it was a bit earlier on in my career and I felt like it was a big test for me -- and I was just really flattered that that opportunity presented itself to me.
CS: I think one of the great things about this industry is that, on your rise, you get to meet people that you admire, right?
MV: Absolutely.
CS: And you basically become a sponge when you're around them because they have so many gifts of knowledge to give you.
MV: 100%
MV: So I came home from the U.K. after my first year with every intention of going back. I was playing a gig in the basement of the Biltmore, which is a venue in Vancouver, and there were probably like 10 people there. It was my first gig ever really as Mathew V the pop artist. Just me and my buddy on guitar. There was no arc in the show, and I was like let me just stand there and sing covers the whole time (maybe one or two original songs). I sang, and then as I was heading out of the venue this gentleman walks up to me and says "hey you know, I just started working at 604, I think Jonathan Simpkin would be interested in this - you should come by and have a meeting." That gentleman is now my day to day manager and his name's Joseph. But, then I went to 604 and had a meeting and played them some of the music that I had been working on. I actually had an EP that came out just before that meeting that I put out on my own and it was getting some decent streaming online. We ended up entering into a six-month trial management period, where I proved myself to them, jumped through some hoops and they proved themselves to me - [showing] what resources they could provide me. It turned into a really beautiful relationship and then I signed my record deal after that.
CS: That's amazing! It's like one thing after another sort of landed in the right place at the right time.
MV: Yeah it was great! It was funny because at that point I was emailing every record label that I could find. I emailed 604 and never heard anything back, then when I was in the meeting Jonathan was like "why do you look familiar to me?" and I said "I probably sent you a handful of emails" to which he said "oh that's right, I did get your email". It's funny that he got them and never got back, but they ended up signing me through word of mouth after that.
CS: So I guess the takeaway for artists is that if you continue to send these emails, at least they don't fall on deaf ears. People do read them and there is a chance that when they see you there is a familiarity there. So don't give up if you're doing this!
MV: Oh definitely! With cold emails, I always tell artists the worst first thing that happens if you send 20 e-mails a day is you lost five minutes. The only possibility or opportunity there is that you might make a connection, network, or you know, the smaller percentage that it actually lands - but you really have nothing to lose other than a little bit of your time.
CS: Totally. I mean, it's worth the effort. Who knows what will come from it. Can you tell me your favourite moment so far in this journey that you've been on?
MV: I feel like on a different day I would have a bit of a different answer for you. But I think that opening up for Betty Who, who for me was really cool because for someone who's just authentically a big fan of Betty's music and [knowing she's] a queer icon, to be able to be seen as a suitable option to be associated to her as an artist was a really cool moment for me. And, it was a bit earlier on in my career and I felt like it was a big test for me -- and I was just really flattered that that opportunity presented itself to me.
CS: I think one of the great things about this industry is that, on your rise, you get to meet people that you admire, right?
MV: Absolutely.
CS: And you basically become a sponge when you're around them because they have so many gifts of knowledge to give you.
MV: 100%
CS: So, a bit of a left turn: how has being queer impacted your music and your career in general? Have you seen any pros or cons and is there anything that you can share on that subject?
MV: Absolutely. For me, some of the cons that I've faced, as all queer people can likely relate, are around general homophobia. I remember Spotify did a Pride campaign and they posted a video of me celebrating, saying "This is Mathew V celebrating Pride with Spotify" on their Facebook. Their Facebook has like 20 million likes, so it's every American who listens to pure country on their phone, and who likes Spotify that is going to see that.
CS: Oh god.
MV: So there were death threats.
CS: Oh jesus.
MV: Really really disgusting comments. The 2-3% percent that really hated it were very vocal about it. So I kind of took the brunt force of that through their campaign, which they were really great about taking everything down and being super polished about it.
It was the first time that I was receiving death threats - and lots of them - because I had a pride flag behind my Spotify campaign, so there's stuff like that. And I think for me as an artist, there is a lot of internal queer shame from childhood, that tells me in the back of my head that I need to reel things in. I can't be as visibly Queer as I might like to be, or you know people on the radio aren't going to listen to me if I use a male pronoun in a love song. So I think there's a little bit of that internal battle; of wondering if queer music, in general, is marketable to the masses.
But with all that being said, I think that there are a lot of pros because there is a queer youth and just queer audience in general that I think can connect to me as an artist in a bit of an easier way than just cis gender people connecting to each other. Because, I think queer people have a special bond in terms of overcoming adversity. I think that there's a bit of a common bond there that bridges me with listeners in a bit of a different way. I also think that there are lots of brands and companies now that are waking up to inclusivity and [help] get exposure for queer talent.
So, I've had the opportunity to partner with different companies and brands through Pride campaigns. I think that the tides are shifting slowly. It's easy to think that the fight is over. I can imagine my generation has a very different experience than past generations but there's still a long way to go in this battle. There are waves of ups and downs in being a queer artist. Sorry, that was a really long answer.
CS: No no, it's all good! I mean, I agree with you. I think the thing that's great for this generation right now is they're able to go on Spotify and find Queer artists that are using the pronouns that relate to their experience. Like you, I didn't have that luxury and I feel like it's getting better and better. I mean there's a bit of a controversy right now with the Out Now Spotify playlist -- I don't know if you've seen on Twitter -- but basically, they're updating it with homophobic artists and transphobic artists and it hasn't been really switched around in weeks. It used to be something that was an outlet for indie artists and established Queer artists. So there's kind of an uproar. I mean things like that still happen and it's up to us to speak our minds and fight.
MV: I think that that's partially what happens when cis-gendered straight people, and I'm only making assumptions here, are tasked with speaking for and representing the queer community.
CS: Amen.
MV: And they just associate "oh in the club they play Lady Gaga and Madonna" - and they're not conscious. They don't live the experience every day so they don't know the artists that are you know, opposed to us as human beings. We know it because in our communities we speak about it and we live it every day. We're aware of who's a friend and who's a foe. But I personally don't like when a playlist that [is made] to champion the queer community has allies involved. And that's because the allies are artists [like Gaga and Betty Who] who are really established and making coin already.
CS: Completely agree.
MV: And quite often, it's because of course they're talented and they make unbelievable music, but they are cis-gendered straight people that haven't had to overcome the internal obstacles or the external obstacles of: is queer music accepted and marketable? And there are lots of up and coming queer artists that don't have breaks, and because of that reason, don’t have a spot on that playlist. Because it's taken up by someone who's like, very wealthy already. So I think that that's what happens when cis-gendered straight people try to make a successful [queer] playlist. There's an oversight when you try to label it as queer-inclusive or speak for the queer community when you're not [queer].
CS: And I will add this isn't exclusive to just Spotify, it's the whole gamut of streaming services where this sort of thing happens. And it sucks, we have to change it.
MV: 100%, 100%.
MV: Absolutely. For me, some of the cons that I've faced, as all queer people can likely relate, are around general homophobia. I remember Spotify did a Pride campaign and they posted a video of me celebrating, saying "This is Mathew V celebrating Pride with Spotify" on their Facebook. Their Facebook has like 20 million likes, so it's every American who listens to pure country on their phone, and who likes Spotify that is going to see that.
CS: Oh god.
MV: So there were death threats.
CS: Oh jesus.
MV: Really really disgusting comments. The 2-3% percent that really hated it were very vocal about it. So I kind of took the brunt force of that through their campaign, which they were really great about taking everything down and being super polished about it.
It was the first time that I was receiving death threats - and lots of them - because I had a pride flag behind my Spotify campaign, so there's stuff like that. And I think for me as an artist, there is a lot of internal queer shame from childhood, that tells me in the back of my head that I need to reel things in. I can't be as visibly Queer as I might like to be, or you know people on the radio aren't going to listen to me if I use a male pronoun in a love song. So I think there's a little bit of that internal battle; of wondering if queer music, in general, is marketable to the masses.
But with all that being said, I think that there are a lot of pros because there is a queer youth and just queer audience in general that I think can connect to me as an artist in a bit of an easier way than just cis gender people connecting to each other. Because, I think queer people have a special bond in terms of overcoming adversity. I think that there's a bit of a common bond there that bridges me with listeners in a bit of a different way. I also think that there are lots of brands and companies now that are waking up to inclusivity and [help] get exposure for queer talent.
So, I've had the opportunity to partner with different companies and brands through Pride campaigns. I think that the tides are shifting slowly. It's easy to think that the fight is over. I can imagine my generation has a very different experience than past generations but there's still a long way to go in this battle. There are waves of ups and downs in being a queer artist. Sorry, that was a really long answer.
CS: No no, it's all good! I mean, I agree with you. I think the thing that's great for this generation right now is they're able to go on Spotify and find Queer artists that are using the pronouns that relate to their experience. Like you, I didn't have that luxury and I feel like it's getting better and better. I mean there's a bit of a controversy right now with the Out Now Spotify playlist -- I don't know if you've seen on Twitter -- but basically, they're updating it with homophobic artists and transphobic artists and it hasn't been really switched around in weeks. It used to be something that was an outlet for indie artists and established Queer artists. So there's kind of an uproar. I mean things like that still happen and it's up to us to speak our minds and fight.
MV: I think that that's partially what happens when cis-gendered straight people, and I'm only making assumptions here, are tasked with speaking for and representing the queer community.
CS: Amen.
MV: And they just associate "oh in the club they play Lady Gaga and Madonna" - and they're not conscious. They don't live the experience every day so they don't know the artists that are you know, opposed to us as human beings. We know it because in our communities we speak about it and we live it every day. We're aware of who's a friend and who's a foe. But I personally don't like when a playlist that [is made] to champion the queer community has allies involved. And that's because the allies are artists [like Gaga and Betty Who] who are really established and making coin already.
CS: Completely agree.
MV: And quite often, it's because of course they're talented and they make unbelievable music, but they are cis-gendered straight people that haven't had to overcome the internal obstacles or the external obstacles of: is queer music accepted and marketable? And there are lots of up and coming queer artists that don't have breaks, and because of that reason, don’t have a spot on that playlist. Because it's taken up by someone who's like, very wealthy already. So I think that that's what happens when cis-gendered straight people try to make a successful [queer] playlist. There's an oversight when you try to label it as queer-inclusive or speak for the queer community when you're not [queer].
CS: And I will add this isn't exclusive to just Spotify, it's the whole gamut of streaming services where this sort of thing happens. And it sucks, we have to change it.
MV: 100%, 100%.
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CS: So back to your music in terms of songwriting. Do you have a particular process when you're making music; do you come up with the arrangement first or is it something where you start with an idea? Fill me in!
MV: Well typically whenever I sit down, and I'm like “oh I'm going to write a song for the album today” -- it's a miserable process. And then when I am heading to the grocery store on the busiest day of my week, I'll have eight hundred ideas that come about. I need to get into my jacket [motions as if saying an idea into a headphone mic] and people look at me very strange. But for me typically it starts with melody, I'm melody-based writer. And quite often I'm just humming gibberish. And quite often these the vowels that are in that gibberish end up becoming the words that I use for the song. For me the emotion of the song comes from how the person is singing it and less from the poetry of the words. So, for example, I can hear Celine Dion sing the phone book on the worst day of her life, and I would get the emotion from how she was singing it, regardless of what words she was singing. The power comes from how it's sung and my instincts are on where I placed those vowels. Then I apply the words to them and make sure that there's a bit of a story that ties together. Quite often, I'll go for a walk to clear my brain, come home and pace back and forth in my bathroom (because the acoustics are good) -- then I just hum into voice notes for about 10 minutes. And then when I feel like there's good nuggets I'll just play them over and over my head, until I get a loop, and build the arc of the song.
CS: Do you generally put together your music in your apartment, or is it something where you go to a producer with ideas and then create it together?
MV: So typically I will write the top line. I will voice note it, along with record the chord progression on the piano. Then I'll take the finished chorus (I don't take anything in typically fully finished anymore, I used to, but now there's power of collaboration) or a verse-chorus idea, just on piano and vocals, and then I'll have production references. But I think that there's so much beauty in collaboration in terms of putting people in a certain direction of where I think it should go and then I let them meet me in the middle. Or [we] take it a different direction where they're going and then the collaboration really starts. But I'm really melodically picky. And also I don't like wasting time, so I like showing up in the studio with something that I know I already like. Mainly, so we don't have to start from scratch. I come up with something that I think already is in my realm of possibility and then we build it from there.
CS: You've touched on collaborators a little bit and I guess this question is more for the people who are starting out and trying to get their grounding as an artist. What would you look for in a producer or a collaborator that would make sure that you're achieving what you want to within your first few releases?
MV: For me, I always look at their discography -- and that doesn't mean big names -- you just have to look at someone for the quality of what they're doing. There's so many talented people that have not worked with Beyonce and have not worked with big names that are doing good stuff. So I think that the important thing is looking at what they've done in the past and make sure that even if it's in a different genre, it feels like professional sound quality. Then you can take in your creative juices, your talent, your product and place it into the hands of someone that you feel like you can collaborate with, to land on something that sounds professional.
I think the other important aspect of it for me is working with someone that's open to change and collaboration. I think for me there were so many moments where my songs were sounding professional, but they weren't on the right track for what I was hoping for. It was through patience (which, I'm bad at patience) and collaboration that we were able to get it to where I wanted it to be. So just [find] someone that that's adaptable, that is open-minded to change and that you feel creates products that sound professional whether they work with big names or not. Just listen to what they do in your mind, as a listener and as a consumer: does it sound professional to you? I think there's a lot of people that rush in to work with people that have an assistant or engineering credits on a big record, but production isn't necessarily their thing and then they end up with a product that does sound competitive in the market. So I would lean less towards the names of the people that they work with and more with the sound of the products that they produce.
CS: I agree completely -- I think it's important also to get a good vibe with the person. Like, spend some time with them -- because when you're making a song it can take weeks to get to a final product, depending on the production. I remember when I recorded my first song, I fucking hated it. And then you know, after some pushing from a producer I trusted, they were able to guide me through and we ended up finishing it -- and it ended up being a great song. It's easy to get frustrated and you kind of want it to happen in two seconds, but know you have to give it time and you have to work at it. I completely appreciate what you're saying.
MV: Absolutely, for sure.
CS: In terms of new music, I've been seeing online that you're teasing something. Can you share more? What's the vibe?
MV: So in January, and I'll give you the exclusive -- here we go. We are releasing a cover! I released 'Always Be My Baby' almost two years ago now and it ended up being my most-streamed song. So, we're doing another cover, totally different than the original version of this song, but it is by a Queer ally.
I think that most of the gays will probably know the song but we're doing it in a completely different way. And then honestly every month until this summer we're releasing a new single. We have a really exciting collaboration with an amazing larger Canadian artist, which I'm really stoked about. And we just have a lot more music. There's some killer bops and some really nice moments. 2020 feels like the year that we have all our ducks in a row. So I'm excited to get a lot of this music out there. It's, I'm quite proud of it.
CS: I love that. So I just came up with another question while you answering that. What are your thoughts in terms of releasing singles versus an album? Are you just going on a single only strategy now or will an album be encompassing everything by the end of the year?
MV: So there will be an album. For me how that works though, is by the time the album is out, there will only be one or two new songs on it. Those will act almost like a single or a double single. With the way the industry is now, I wanted each of my songs to be their own revenue stream. I wanted each song to have its own opportunity for playlisting. Honestly there's so much music out there, if I dropped a 15 song album tomorrow, people are probably only going to listen to two or three songs (I'm not Beyonce) and move on with their day.
CS: Right.
MV: But, if I release one song a month, people take the time to listen to that song. You know? I wanted to highlight as many individual songs as possible. Everything will on an album, but it will almost act as a collection of singles, tied together with the new artwork. So that's kind of the game plan as of right now. That's what made sense for me business-wise this year and it gives us more opportunity and more time. If I could give artists a piece of advice, you need time to gain familiarity with the audience. If you drop a five song E.P. in one month, you only have one real impression to make an impact on the listener. Whereas, if you drop a song every month or every two months, there's a year of opportunity for you to appear to people and for people to get familiar with you or your name or your sound.
So just give yourself as many noodles to throw at the wall and you'll have more opportunity for things to stick, rather than just throwing one large wad of noodles at the wall. That's a really bad [metaphor].
CS: (laughs) That's just it. It's true though, with Spotify in particular when you submit a release, if you put a cluster of songs together, they only allow one song to be considered for playlisting. It's important to realize that; and also make a smart decision when you're releasing your music. I'm doing the same format as you. I'm sure that a lot of artists are realizing this is the way to go, because it's the way that you're going to get the most bang for your buck. And by the way, producing music is not cheap.
MV: That's the thing. I want each song to have its opportunity to make the money back. I don't want one song to make its money back and then the other four just be listened to by the fans. It's the music business, and we're in it to make our money back as much as we want to do it just for the sake of art. I think that artists and queer artists have the right to make a living with their talent.
CS: Exactly. We all just want to be able to pay our bills and also do what we love. Which isn't too much to ask, I don't think.
Q Review would like to thank Cory Stewart and Mathew V for taking time out of their schedules and being part of the Q Review Artist x Artist series. Let us know if you want to be part of the Artists x Artists experience!
MV: Well typically whenever I sit down, and I'm like “oh I'm going to write a song for the album today” -- it's a miserable process. And then when I am heading to the grocery store on the busiest day of my week, I'll have eight hundred ideas that come about. I need to get into my jacket [motions as if saying an idea into a headphone mic] and people look at me very strange. But for me typically it starts with melody, I'm melody-based writer. And quite often I'm just humming gibberish. And quite often these the vowels that are in that gibberish end up becoming the words that I use for the song. For me the emotion of the song comes from how the person is singing it and less from the poetry of the words. So, for example, I can hear Celine Dion sing the phone book on the worst day of her life, and I would get the emotion from how she was singing it, regardless of what words she was singing. The power comes from how it's sung and my instincts are on where I placed those vowels. Then I apply the words to them and make sure that there's a bit of a story that ties together. Quite often, I'll go for a walk to clear my brain, come home and pace back and forth in my bathroom (because the acoustics are good) -- then I just hum into voice notes for about 10 minutes. And then when I feel like there's good nuggets I'll just play them over and over my head, until I get a loop, and build the arc of the song.
CS: Do you generally put together your music in your apartment, or is it something where you go to a producer with ideas and then create it together?
MV: So typically I will write the top line. I will voice note it, along with record the chord progression on the piano. Then I'll take the finished chorus (I don't take anything in typically fully finished anymore, I used to, but now there's power of collaboration) or a verse-chorus idea, just on piano and vocals, and then I'll have production references. But I think that there's so much beauty in collaboration in terms of putting people in a certain direction of where I think it should go and then I let them meet me in the middle. Or [we] take it a different direction where they're going and then the collaboration really starts. But I'm really melodically picky. And also I don't like wasting time, so I like showing up in the studio with something that I know I already like. Mainly, so we don't have to start from scratch. I come up with something that I think already is in my realm of possibility and then we build it from there.
CS: You've touched on collaborators a little bit and I guess this question is more for the people who are starting out and trying to get their grounding as an artist. What would you look for in a producer or a collaborator that would make sure that you're achieving what you want to within your first few releases?
MV: For me, I always look at their discography -- and that doesn't mean big names -- you just have to look at someone for the quality of what they're doing. There's so many talented people that have not worked with Beyonce and have not worked with big names that are doing good stuff. So I think that the important thing is looking at what they've done in the past and make sure that even if it's in a different genre, it feels like professional sound quality. Then you can take in your creative juices, your talent, your product and place it into the hands of someone that you feel like you can collaborate with, to land on something that sounds professional.
I think the other important aspect of it for me is working with someone that's open to change and collaboration. I think for me there were so many moments where my songs were sounding professional, but they weren't on the right track for what I was hoping for. It was through patience (which, I'm bad at patience) and collaboration that we were able to get it to where I wanted it to be. So just [find] someone that that's adaptable, that is open-minded to change and that you feel creates products that sound professional whether they work with big names or not. Just listen to what they do in your mind, as a listener and as a consumer: does it sound professional to you? I think there's a lot of people that rush in to work with people that have an assistant or engineering credits on a big record, but production isn't necessarily their thing and then they end up with a product that does sound competitive in the market. So I would lean less towards the names of the people that they work with and more with the sound of the products that they produce.
CS: I agree completely -- I think it's important also to get a good vibe with the person. Like, spend some time with them -- because when you're making a song it can take weeks to get to a final product, depending on the production. I remember when I recorded my first song, I fucking hated it. And then you know, after some pushing from a producer I trusted, they were able to guide me through and we ended up finishing it -- and it ended up being a great song. It's easy to get frustrated and you kind of want it to happen in two seconds, but know you have to give it time and you have to work at it. I completely appreciate what you're saying.
MV: Absolutely, for sure.
CS: In terms of new music, I've been seeing online that you're teasing something. Can you share more? What's the vibe?
MV: So in January, and I'll give you the exclusive -- here we go. We are releasing a cover! I released 'Always Be My Baby' almost two years ago now and it ended up being my most-streamed song. So, we're doing another cover, totally different than the original version of this song, but it is by a Queer ally.
I think that most of the gays will probably know the song but we're doing it in a completely different way. And then honestly every month until this summer we're releasing a new single. We have a really exciting collaboration with an amazing larger Canadian artist, which I'm really stoked about. And we just have a lot more music. There's some killer bops and some really nice moments. 2020 feels like the year that we have all our ducks in a row. So I'm excited to get a lot of this music out there. It's, I'm quite proud of it.
CS: I love that. So I just came up with another question while you answering that. What are your thoughts in terms of releasing singles versus an album? Are you just going on a single only strategy now or will an album be encompassing everything by the end of the year?
MV: So there will be an album. For me how that works though, is by the time the album is out, there will only be one or two new songs on it. Those will act almost like a single or a double single. With the way the industry is now, I wanted each of my songs to be their own revenue stream. I wanted each song to have its own opportunity for playlisting. Honestly there's so much music out there, if I dropped a 15 song album tomorrow, people are probably only going to listen to two or three songs (I'm not Beyonce) and move on with their day.
CS: Right.
MV: But, if I release one song a month, people take the time to listen to that song. You know? I wanted to highlight as many individual songs as possible. Everything will on an album, but it will almost act as a collection of singles, tied together with the new artwork. So that's kind of the game plan as of right now. That's what made sense for me business-wise this year and it gives us more opportunity and more time. If I could give artists a piece of advice, you need time to gain familiarity with the audience. If you drop a five song E.P. in one month, you only have one real impression to make an impact on the listener. Whereas, if you drop a song every month or every two months, there's a year of opportunity for you to appear to people and for people to get familiar with you or your name or your sound.
So just give yourself as many noodles to throw at the wall and you'll have more opportunity for things to stick, rather than just throwing one large wad of noodles at the wall. That's a really bad [metaphor].
CS: (laughs) That's just it. It's true though, with Spotify in particular when you submit a release, if you put a cluster of songs together, they only allow one song to be considered for playlisting. It's important to realize that; and also make a smart decision when you're releasing your music. I'm doing the same format as you. I'm sure that a lot of artists are realizing this is the way to go, because it's the way that you're going to get the most bang for your buck. And by the way, producing music is not cheap.
MV: That's the thing. I want each song to have its opportunity to make the money back. I don't want one song to make its money back and then the other four just be listened to by the fans. It's the music business, and we're in it to make our money back as much as we want to do it just for the sake of art. I think that artists and queer artists have the right to make a living with their talent.
CS: Exactly. We all just want to be able to pay our bills and also do what we love. Which isn't too much to ask, I don't think.
Q Review would like to thank Cory Stewart and Mathew V for taking time out of their schedules and being part of the Q Review Artist x Artist series. Let us know if you want to be part of the Artists x Artists experience!
Follow MATHEW V on Social Media
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Follow CORY STEWART on Social Media
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Instagram / Facebook / Twitter
Follow CORY STEWART on Social Media
Instagram / Facebook / Twitter
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