When blackbear was 16-years-old, he was collecting iTunes checks and his pop-punk band Polaroid was signed to the now defunct Leakmob Records. When he was in his early twenties, he was one of just a few artists making money from SoundCloud, raking in over US$2,000 a week using the platform’s early monetisation offering.
It makes sense then that Matthew Musto, a self-made genre-defier with co-writes and collabs to rival Max Martin himself, held out from signing a label deal until just under two years ago.
Speaking over the phone, blackbear is working on his next EP with Andrew Goldstein – the storied co-writer behind his tracks like ‘hot girl bummer’, ‘do re mi’, and ‘anxiety’.
It might have only been five months since his last release in ANONYMOUS, but blackbear is anything if not prolific. In 2017 he delivered three releases, all while dealing with chronic pancreatitis – but more on that later.
Stream ANONYMOUS below:
blackbear is, currently, an outsider artist. He may have co-writing credits for Justin Bieber, G-Easy, Machine Gun Kelly and Linkin Park, and a deal with Live Nation which will see him tour Australia in January, but it’s hard to say whether blackbear is properly appreciated yet.
As a self-made millionaire, blackbear could have easily continued on the independent route. With no label backing he was able to remain on the margins of the music industry and still chart inside the Billboard Top 20. However, he had reached a point where his own marketing efforts had hit their acme, and Interscope Records offered him a deal he couldn’t refuse.
“I kind of couldn’t say no to it,” he says. “It was only about the music. Nothing about touring, merch or any of the other aspects in my career. It was really only to just distribute my music – and they just offered so much and I really, really love [Interscope President] John Janick.”
Watch blackbear’s ‘hot girl bummer’ video below:
To categorise blackbear is to rail against all that he is. His pop punk beginnings weave through tracks like ‘idfc’ and ‘anxiety’, but his close ties to pop, EDM and hip hop make him a music industry enigma.
Here’s an artist who regularly gets his nails done and indulges both his masculine and feminine energies (check out the cover for his collab with Mike Posner below), who also proffers lyrics like: “I’m a fool for these things with the big butts / take her home, bodies turn into a rich slut.”
“I think it’s a big part of my brand is just embracing all things that you like no matter if they’re feminine, masculine, whatever it is,” he says, wise beyond his years.
“[…] If blackbear was in high school it would be a best all-around [type] I feel like,” he says. “It would be a little bit of something for everyone.”
With tracks like ‘Wish You The Best’ (“2016 was catastrophic I deserved it”), ‘SWEAR TO GOD’, the entire Help EP and most of ANONYMOUS, blackbear sings about addiction and vindication; and all the things which take you from the former to the latter.
Stream blackbear’s Help EP below:
Now three years sober, with a baby boy on the way and currently touring the globe with the biggest concert promoter in the world, Live Nation, 2019 couldn’t be more polar opposite to 2016.
“2016 I got like pretty sick. Out of nowhere I got diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis and for somebody that’s only like 25-years-old it’s a little insane and unexpected. It was a bit of a wakeup call for me.
“You have to watch what you do and make more healthy choices or you will get sick,” he adds.
blackbear said his pancreatitis – an inflammation of the pancreas which can cause acute pain – isn’t just a result of the highs and hangovers of excessive drinking, it runs in the family:
“I think genetics played a big role too. I think there was appendix problems in my real father’s side of the family or something like that but just organ failure stuff,” he says.
“I think the good part about it is that I took it very seriously and I made a lot of changes and I think the album [ANONYMOUS] reflects that.”
blackbear has been open about his past struggles with alcoholism, and about the fact that life offstage and on the road is a knife-edge situation for many artists. When asked whether he believes addiction can be present across differing areas of someone’s life at the same time, he took a moment, and said:
“I believe that some people can be addicted to anything because if you are not facing whatever is in front of you then maybe you are not comfortable in your own skin.
“[…] Everyone has the ability to be addicted to something if their coping mechanism isn’t correct, you know.”
In an age where artists have never been more accessible, and behavioural data has never been more important, there’s never been a greater opportunity to exploit the artist to fan relationship. However, blackbear is only interested in strengthening his connection with his millions of followers. Heck, even his track ‘do re mi’ was born from a tweet he posted which received over 70,000 likes.
do re mi fa so fuckin done w/ u
— blackbear (@iamblackbear) April 10, 2017
“I see a lot of artists saying, ‘comment what city we should come to’, but half the time they just want to get a lot of comments,” he says. “In reality the artists don’t pick what cities they go to, the agent does and I’m not sure the agents are looking at that, but that’s the reality of all of this.
“You should really utilise the fans because those are the people that are investing in you,” he continues. “Without them I would have to learn a different trade.”
blackbear’s close knit support system will be out in full force this upcoming January when he returns to Australia for the first time in two years to play shows in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. And it looks like he’s planning something particularly bespoke for these local dates.
“I’m going to do a special concert for Australia so I wouldn’t expect it to be anything like Europe or anything like the United States,” he reveals. “[…] Expect a show. Expect the songs you want to hear and expect a good performance.”
BLACKBEAR
Dead 2 The World Tour
Australia 2020
For complete tour and ticket information, visit: beartrap.la & livenation.com.au
Tuesday, January 7th
The Tivoli, Brisbane
Wednesday, January 8
170 Russell, Melbourne
Thursday, January 9th
Metro Theatre, Sydney
