Matt Maltese

One Liner: Low key indie pop with one massive hit about Trump making love and killing us all

Wikipedia Genre: indie rock, indie pop, alternative pop, chamber pop

Home: London

Poster Position: Level 5 (28) 
Weekend One Only.  

Sunday.

Thoughts:  Holy Hannah.  Bottom line of the entire poster, and this dude has a song with 304 million streams.  A bunch of legit artists out there don't have a song with that many spins!  There has to be a story behind it.  According to an interview, it is about the idea of then-UK Prime Minister Theresa May and then-U.S. President Donald Trump deciding to spend a night of romance together before triggering atomic warfare.  Which is a weird construct!  According to Wikipedia, it (OF COURSE) then became a TikTok thing and blew up in 2021, long after its initial release in 2017.  The TikTok love came after a cover by singer Sarah Cothran.  Please read this short article to understand how deeply stupid the world now is.  Anyway, it is kinda funny anyway.  "As the World Caves In."

A little bit campy showtune Morissey thing, a little bit "Imagine" piano-riff ripoff, but also cleverly written lyrics.  A YouTube comment said that the poster just got married and used this as their wedding song.  Some dark shit to introduce to your nascent marriage!

My guy is British-Canadian, born in Reading, England.  Lives in London now.  Hey, and this Vice article supports what I said, that he sounds kinda like Morissey!  I am always so very pleased when my thought is supported by someone who knows what they are talking about!  Maltese started writing when he was 14, but didn't really start to seriously make music until he was 19.  He has a surprisingly large catalog, with 2018's Bad Contestant, 2020's Krystal, 2021's Good Morning Its Now Tomorrow, and 2023's Driving Just to Drive.  I like those last two album names.  Seems like he really got busy with music during the pandemic!

After that massive hit, the top track has 31.4 million streams, and comes from the 2020 album.  In fact, the majority of his top tracks come from that album.  This is the oddly named "Intolewd."

Super low-key vibe.  Sounds like a pandemic creation made in his bedroom with a synth and drum machine.  Weird little tune - 1:20 long - barely feels like a real tune!

Anyway, sure!  Letting his catalog just run in the background of a workday is pretty nice - nothing terribly loud or invigorating, just a string of alt pop floating by on a chilled wave.  Not sure that I'll see it, since it will likely get the Friday at noon treatment, but not terrible!