Scott Matthew - "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" & "The Wish"

In honor of PRIDE month this June I will spotlight only LGBTQIA+ Artists to show you one more way in which we should be grateful for to the Queer Community and how without it we would not have the world or nation that we love so much. We should be grateful and proud.

SCOTT MATTHEW is a singer/songwriter, born in Queensland (Australia), but has been living in New York for many years now. He has described himself as a ‘Quiet-Noise-Maker’ with a passion for ballads. In 2006 he has received a lot of attention from John Cameron Mitchell`s film SHORTBUS. Scott Matthew wrote the theme song ‘In The End’ in addition to five more songs performed in the film by himself and featured on the soundtrack.

Fans of the Japanese animation-serial GHOST IN THE SHELL had the chance to discover his haunting voice before. He provided vocals on seven songs for the soundtrack of the season ‘Stand Alone Complex’, all being composed by YOKO KANNO, including the Closing Theme Song ‘Lithium Flower’ . This animation-serial generated lot`s of exposure worldwide, when the show was aired also outside of Japan on Cartoon Network`s in the U.S. and on MTV Europe.

He has earned high respect among critics and fans alike since his self-titled debut in 2008. His previous five solo albums made him stand out from the crowd, especially as a songwriter with his highly emotional songs. Scott Matthew writes and sings of the longing and disappearing of love, like hardly anyone else.

For the recording of his Christmas-EP SILENT NIGHTS (2008) Scott Matthew invited his Australian friend and colleague SIA into the studio for a duet. He had also the privilege to open the concerts in England and Australia for today’s Superstar on her ‘Some People Have Real Problems’ Tour.

In 2013 Scott Matthew released A covers-album UNLEARNED. His personal hit-parade. In a wide varity of songs he discovered, felt and worked out the emotional core with so much respect, that it becomes obvious, that these cover versions are not foreign songs at all, but in a way his very own, original material. He makes them his own songs. For example what come of the originally quite trivial Pop smash ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ by Whitney Houston is a wonderful, piano-dominated ballad.

The album release in 2016 was the dreamlike beautiful masterpiece of sadness LIFE IS LONG, a collaboration with the Portuguese composer RODRIGO LEAO. Scott Matthew contributed the lyrics and his intense singing to the melancholic arrangements of the Madredeus founding member.

His sixth studio album is titled ODE TO OTHERS (2018). With this album there is a departure from the subject of romantic love and the disappointments that can come from such endeavors. Instead this collection of songs pays homage to love in a broader sense. Honors are bestowed to family, friends and the mistreated both alive and deceased. Actual places also play a part of some of the songs subjects. His Australian childhood or his adult home of New York.

His latest work entitled ‘ADORNED’  (out MAY 15th, 2020). The idea for making ‘ADORNED’ was to take some of Scott Matthew`s original songs and re-imagine them. To dress them up in finery and have them re-enter the world with a new found confidence and attitude. A make over of sound and intention. “They have been adorned” says Scott. In close collaboration with the Los Angeles based producer Jens Gad,  Scott Matthew worked out ten amazing new versions of his all time classics. They used the original vocal tracks, modified some guitars and other parts of the songs and added strings and beats. Scott says: “This album may not be what people are used to with me. I urge people to have fun with it while listening. Adorn yourself in a robe of silk and velvet. Have a dance, have a cry. Connect to the past while moon walking into the future. Looking back while moving forward. Just try not to fall over while doing it as i have done on occasion. Though that may have been the red wine…”

So today, with a little more love and a sprinkle of hope, I choose Scott Matthew’s "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" & "The Wish" as my, on your own journey, age like wine, love like fire, songs for a, breathe in hope, exhale loss, look to the stars, Wednesday.