Blackbear: The Man Behind Bieber’s “Boyfriend”
Pay No Attention To The Man Behind Bieber’s “Boyfriend”. OK, NOW Pay Attention.
By Damian White
Follow @damiandazz
Meet Blackbear. The artist formerly known as Mat Musto. You may not have heard of either one however, his repertoire precedes him. Before he co-wrote with “Cooler Than Me’s” Mike Posner on Justin Bieber’s “Believe,” Mat was already writing major hits for other famous peeps like Pharrell Williams, Childish Gambino, and even Ne-Yo just to name a few. Now as with most songwriters, his intentions were not to just be the man behind the music industry curtain, penning songs without any of the glory! With a sexy look and an even sexier sound AND vocals, Blackbear has just released his latest EP Foreplay, the first installment of a 4-part EP series.
His sound combines the electronic orchestration of The Knife but with Frank Ocean’s R&B reflections. Mix in Bright Eyes’ folktronica period and The Postal Service’s whispy whimsical vocals but with a heaping dash of The Good Life and notes of G. Love & The Special Sauce and you have Blackbear.
The production value alone will make you question why this guy hasn’t made it out on his own already. You will walk away questioning whether you just listened to pop, R&B, or electro-folktronica, but one thing is for sure, you will be coming back for more and looking forward to what Blackbear puts out next. At least I know I am! ;)