Q&A with Matt Louis: "The conversations I have through my songs, I want to be about human experience"
The long, winding road of contemporary R&B’s rise in popularity might have started in the 1980s but arguably picks up steam in the 1990s during the breakout years of acts like Boyz II Men, Tevin Campbell, TLC, Dru Hill, Brownstone and more. Neo-soul acts like Erykah Badu, D’Angelo, Lauryn Hill, and Maxwell gained recognition later in the decade, offering a spellbinding meld of hip-hop, soul, and funk. This boom would soon lead to even more successful artists like Jodeci, Craig David, Usher, Genuwine, Alicia Keys, and Musiq Soulchild who would go on to dominate airwaves.
In Puerto Rico, where the historical connection between the archipelago and cities like New York begat a cultural and musical exchange that eventually gave rise to “underground” rap, no such trade surged with R&B/soul. That decade instead belonged to the steady growth of salsa romántica and pop-rock, along with reggaetón. The boy band craze inspired a few short-lived groups that threaded the line between pop and R&B, such as Jyve V, while other solo acts like Barrio Boyzz and later Jean made valiant but ultimately unsuccessful crossover efforts.
It took a new generation to finally bridge the gap between R&B/soul and Latine music. As young acts who grew up on that music became inspired by it, they found exciting ways to fuse it with their own contemporary urban styles. Artists like Los Rarxs, RaiNao, Gyanma, and others outside of Puerto Rico like Jesse Baez and Guadalajara native Carlos Unger, have latched onto the modern alt-R&B sound and used it as one more outlet for their art.
Matt Louis is another such artist, who finds himself experimenting with the intersection between music, photography, and fashion in a way that he hopes will heighten the experience of fans. With a bassy voice, alluring look, and heart on his sleeve, he's primed to be a breakout star and now counts Rimas-backed independent music label SONAR as fellow believers. Listening Party talked to him about his journey, his inspirations, creative drive, and career goals.
(The following quotes have been translated, edited, and condensed for clarity.)
What’s your name, and where are you from?
My name is Matthews Louis Charlotten Galarza, and I’m from Ponce born & raised. I’ve been living in Santurce for approximately six years.
When did you start to get interested in music, and what did you listen to growing up?
I’d say I started getting into music when I was around 8 to 10 years old. When I was little, I would sing and my parents would hear me and we’d treat it like something fun. “Sing something for us,” they’d tell me in the living room. But it was around that age that I started to take it more seriously and thought to myself “I’d like to develop [my voice] and learn more.” So I started taking my longboard to private classes and getting into groups. A few years after that I joined the chorus which helped with my voice, and then I enrolled in [Instituto de Música Juan Morel Campos] where we would explore a lot of different music. I remember we listened to Amy Winehouse, John Newman — a lot of the neo-soul and R&B scene in London.
When I finally got internet access, that opened me up to so much more music. I was a little obsessed with the music coming out of London between 2013 and 2016, and it helped me a lot to discover a new kind of way to express myself that I could identify with. Back then, in the Latine music scene there weren’t a lot of artists who looked like me or sang like me, so I gravitated towards classical music, jazz, R&B, and neo-soul because even though they were in a different language, they had my same timbre and had the “soul” that inspired me.
When did you start modeling, and what interested you first? Photography or modeling?
I became interested in photography before modeling. I “discovered” photography as a teenager, and just like how music was becoming a way for me to channel a lot of my emotions, photography became another avenue for me to do that too. Initially, I’d skate around and just take photos of what I did day-to-day. I remember my mom helped me finance a camera and I would pay her back every month, so I could keep growing that interest I had that was becoming important to me.
And all this comes from me discovering — and this speaks a lot towards how crucial the internet has been in the development of today’s artists, which I think people still underestimate how it changes a lot of your perceptions of art — Tumblr and these cool spaces where I said to myself “Look at this amazing visual world that’s out there,” and wondered “What if I united these visual stories with my music?” So, that’s what I started doing. Photography helped me to make music.
As for modeling, funny enough I’ve never considered myself a model. My older brother, Webster, is a model; he’s always pursued that career and worked hard at it for a long time. I think because of him I felt the inspiration to explore my body and self-image, but I did it differently because my approach was more artistic as opposed to “I want to look attractive.” But then people saw those photos and figured that meant I was open to [all types of] modeling, when the truth is I was just exploring myself with my camera. But, y’know how social media is with self-image… but that’s another conversation.
Modeling, now that I’m older, I can say has helped me become more confident and brought me some cool opportunities, but I still don’t consider myself a model. To me, it’s mostly helped me in my relationship with people who model for me when I do photoshoots because I can imagine myself in their shoes and I can understand how they can use their bodies in front of the lens.
Fashion has been, notably, something important in both your works and in your personal life. What interests you about fashion, and what do you think about when you’re styling yourself?
Fashion to me is another way to express myself. In my recent projects I haven’t really had it too present, as in “I have to look amazing and have the coolest wardrobe,” because I don’t really focus on ostentatious clothing. To me it’s a language, and my body being comfortable with what I’m using while still projecting what I’m feeling and trying to communicate. And it goes hand-in-hand with photography, of course, and editorializing. There’s artists like David LaChapelle, who inspired me a lot, and gave me a perspective on photography that went from very strong storytelling to fashion to a whole world of other references. We sometimes get stuck in one medium, but there’s so much to explore. Photography was one way to explore it, and fashion is another, and now I utilize both in my projects.
I know you participated in the competition show "La Banda" back in 2015, but there's a gap between then and last summer when you came out with "To' Los Días". Can you tell us about that time between your experience in "La Banda" and the release of that first single last year? What did you do in that time, and were you still involved in music?
“La Banda” was in 2015 and it was my first professional music experience, which was something big for someone who was only 18 back then — my 18th birthday was on the day of my audition; I skipped my high school graduation to go to that audition. Initially I wasn’t interested, but my friends and family urged me to do it, and I ended up being chosen. [Being there] helped with my confidence and taught me a lot about the industry but… I don’t feel these shows that revolve around being “chosen” incite self-discovery or creating an identity as an artist.
In 2016 I left college in Ponce and moved to San Juan to study Advertising at [Universidad del Sagrado Corazón] because I felt I’d be able to meet more people from all over and move better as an artist, and be more accessible in regards to my career. Back in high school, close to my senior year, I was already doing photoshoots with Álvaro Díaz, so when I moved to San Juan I’d go to [Más Audio Recording Studio] in Bayamón where he and Lara Project would record. They were the first producers who really heard me and sat down to create with me; they helped me explore [my sound], but then they had to leave and since I didn’t have other resources I had to go work for a few years. I kept studying, took art classes, studied music more, but it took me a few years to get back into a rhythm of “creating”. Around 2019 I ran into Álvaro again, and at that point I’d networked a bit, felt more developed and felt I had an identity, so I started helping him with one of his projects and he helped me back. It was a lot of work, but photography helped me with that as well. I was a photographer for a while, and made some money like that. I’d help Álvaro with his clothing lines, and campaigns with local and outside brands. I worked with Tainy, too. I did a lot of cool stuff. I kept challenging myself creatively, but I never strayed too far from music in that time.
My peak was working with JhayCo during his tour, which was amazing, but the whole time I was saving up to invest in my own music projects. But all those experiences helped sharpen my vision and how to carry it out and communicate it in a visual and sonic way. After the tour, that’s when I decided it was time to take all I learned and all my experiences and come out with my own work. That was basically my journey in that time.
I loved the acoustic version of “To’ Los Días”. What inspired you to do that? How did you recruit William Russell? Would you do acoustic versions of other songs?
That version of the song came out because I wanted to release music but the songs I was working on were still unfinished, so I asked William about doing a new “To’ Los Días” so people could stay connected with my output and they could experience the original version of that song which I sang slow and soulful, as opposed to the more trap-R&B one that came out. I met William in 2019 and we’d work on stuff, but never finished anything. Recently we’ve been working again and he’s a great musician who works on lots of film stuff as a composer, and that’s another reason we reconnected because we share a love for that medium too.
I don’t know if I’ll do more acoustic versions; maybe when I perform songs live I might do an acoustic take on an old song, but I think more likely in the future I’ll do original soulful songs to capture the same vibe as the acoustic versions.
What is your writing process like? Do you take your time?
It’s actually a bit disorganized! In the sense that I don’t really have a specific or methodic process. I take a long time [to write], for sure. I like to study what I’m doing — I jot something down, then I step away for a few hours and come back and work on it some more. Especially when I’m working alone, I take longer because I’m more relaxed and I like to disassociate myself from the song and then come back to it and see what it evokes in me and see how I can elevate it. I can take either months to write a song or three weeks, it all depends.
I've noticed that, so far at least, your lyrics are very gender neutral where most songs are more blatantly heteronormative. Is that a conscious creative decision you made, so that they can be appreciated by a wider audience?
I knew I would eventually get asked this question and that I’d have to explain it. The truth is, I’ve been trying to speak more towards human experiences, y’know? I feel there’s a lot of conversation out there about the concept of gender — binary, nonbinary — [and] there’s a strong collective movement talking about that these days. I feel like the message of my songs can reach people without establishing genders [in the lyrics].
It was something that I did subconsciously at first and then later kept doing on purpose. To me, the conversations I have with myself and with listeners through my songs, I want to be about human experience and things we all go through because relating with people and existing is difficult, so what started off as something I did without thinking I continued because I liked the idea.
Your music videos are always so interesting and made with a great eye for cinematography. They've been directed by Qruz so far, but since you're also a photographer I'm wondering: how involved are you in their conception? Do you pay close attention to the final cut?
Qruz has an awesome vision, and he’s very good at translating my music [into visuals]. Being a photographer has helped me a lot to have a clear idea of what the visual world of my music would be. There’s a concept, synesthesia, that I didn’t realize explained my creative language. I’m someone who hears images and sees sound, and from the moment I’m making a song I’m already visualizing where I want to hear it, how I want it to make me feel, what the lighting of that space is like, what I’m wearing, my actions… so, I’m very passionately involved with the visual side as well.
I help find the models, I make the mood boards, I give story ideas; basically I put forward a treatment and then Qruz creates a story out of that based on what the song is saying too, and together we slowly bring it together. I love editing as well — it’s one of my favorite parts of photography, so I pay a lot of attention to that part. I want the videos to be well-made, and for people to enjoy them and feel like they’re watching something made with intention. That’s how it feels like when I work with Qruz.
The video for "Lejos", in particular, is very curious because it lends itself to many interpretations. Is there symbolism you wanted to communicate, especially with the three almost-identical characters?
With “Lejos” I wanted to explore the idea of cohabitating with yourself and all the different versions of “you” that live inside ourselves. I wanted to make literal the idea of how all these different inner you’s are what help you navigate the changes in life. Sometimes one side of you takes the lead, sometimes the other, and sometimes it’s collaborative! That was the initial concept, and then we eventually also inserted some themes about masculine vulnerability; the visual of these macho lookin’ guys supporting each other, and the contrast with the song’s genre as well. The song is a bit neo-perreo mixed with pop and R&B, and it’s not a genre I think you’d normally associate with the visual story of three dudes spending time together. So, for me that contrast was necessary. That was the idea, and it ended up being a bit more ambitious, but I like that it inspired people to question what we were trying to say with it.
Now that you’re doing more live shows, what are you looking to offer? What would you say is your approach?
I start imagining how I’ll perform my songs live from the moment I’m writing them! In that moment I’m already seeing myself onstage in my mind. I think my approach is just to share with audiences my musical references, which are the “vintage” artists that sang big and would leave it all onstage. It’s very voice-centric; I want to explore what I can do with my voice. William is helping me with my live shows too, so on the tech side we work a lot on [incorporating] the guitars and synth effects. The visuals I work with Rodo Gautier, and together we create a story where each song is a chapter, and everything compliments the sonic side. I want each performance to be different; for Vivo Beach Club we did it one way, and then for Fifty Eight we literally produced “club” versions of the songs just for that.
What do you have coming up next? What are your goals, as an artist?
I have “SYYON” coming out, which is my newest song. I’m a big fan of it, and it’s a mix of EDM, afrohouse, afrobeats, and even some dembow. The concept for the music video is great, and I think it opens up a new chapter for my future work. There’s gonna be a new course for my upcoming projects and I think “SYYON” will help people see that vision and what kind of artist I am, and my ambition. I have a lot of goals, and not all in music, but I think music can help me with them too. One of them is collaborating with other artists; I’d like to work on other artist’s projects and help them [creatively] conceptualize. I’d actually also like to have a service where I can help with artist’s mental health and introduce them to alternative therapies.
Beyond that, fill up shows and have people know my music. To work with fashion brands would be amazing too; and it would be super groundbreaking, for me, to achieve that as a Black artist who works how I work and to enter those spaces. That would be a huge accomplishment for me.