HE’S had euphoric highs and brutal lows since shooting to fame on the X Factor in 2016.
Now eight years on from beating Saara Aalto to the ITV show’s crown, Matt Terry, 30, has released new single Ghost of Me and is finally being his authentic self.
3
3
The journey to complete creative autonomy has been long and complex.
Record label RCA dropped Matt by email after debut album Trouble peaked at 29 in the charts.
Determined to succeed, he bounced back and achieved huge hit singles as a writer for K-pop act Seventeen and a collaboration with David Guetta, Galantis and Little Mix on number three track Heartbreak Anthem.
He’s also graced the stage in big productions of Madagascar and How The Grinch Stole Christmas.
In an exclusive interview with The Sun, Matt reflected on his relationship with his former label and admitted he’s still confused why things ended the way they did.
Speaking from a hotel in Tenerife, he says: “I have spoken to RCA, but I’ve never really asked sort of what happened, because I don’t know if I want to know. I think it’s sort of like I believe that I’m where I meant to be, you know. I trust my path, you know, like I believe that where I’m at right now, in this very moment, is where I’m supposed to be.
“I do question… ‘Hold on. I’ve got hundreds of millions of streams. I generated millions of pounds. I have collaborations with Enrique Iglesias, Sean Paul, Red One; I have hits that I’ve written for other people and artists over the world, and yet they still didn’t want to do a second album, so I don’t know. Will I ever understand that? No.
“I know the the president of RCA that was there at the time isn’t there anymore. But who knows? Maybe one day I’ll ask the question. But for now I don’t need to know. I’m okay with where I am.”
Matt kick-started his music career with an original Christmas track written by Ed Sheeran that debuted at number three in the UK charts.
A top 10 collaboration with pop superstars Enrique Iglesias and Sean Paul on Sύbeme La Radio followed before he released Sucker For You from his first album.
The track didn’t have the same impact on the charts but became a sleeper hit racking up 134 million streams on Spotify.
It’s still a popular fixture on social media platform TikTok, providing the soundtrack to all manner of videos.
Matt believes his major label fortunes might have been different if he’d emerged in today’s digital focused music world.
“I’ll tell the truth, I took it really, really badly,” he says. “‘Cause I wasn’t expecting it. I think in my head everyone around me told me how great I was doing. My debut single was rocketing towards 100 million streams. But it was still in the at a time where Spotify wasn’t quite at the forefront. I think I got lost in the transition of records sales and Spotify streams.
“If it had been like in these years, then it would have just been seen as such a huge success. But I think all the only focus was, ‘yeah, okay, he’s got hundreds of millions and streams’ And ‘yeah, okay, he has platinum records and blah blah blah, but he didn’t get to number one’, you know.”
The setbacks have only strengthened Matt’s resolve and helped him to him evolve into the artist he is today.
New record Ghost of Me sees Matt lay his vulnerabilities on the table as he reflects on a past love who left him when he needed them the most only to reappear in his life years later expecting to pick up where they left off.
I’ve got the music. I have the team, who I love, and throughout this year I will just be showing whoever’s listening who I am with my music
Matt Terry
He says: “It kind of touches on the subject that most of us, I think, have been through. Once we’ve been in love with somebody, and then things don’t quite work out and we go our separate ways.
“But then that person comes back and they kind of expect you to be right where they left you, but you’ve already moved on.
“I did a lot of soul-searching and growing up. For them to come back in and just be like, ‘Hey, you know I’m here’. I was like, ‘Okay, cool. But you know I can’t. You can’t lead on me anymore. I can’t be that person because I’ve moved on, and I’ve done way too much work on myself.”
Matt hasn’t stopped writing since Trouble’s release in 2017 and has an album of material ready to go.
His new grown-up sound has much in common with contemporaries like Zayn and Justin Bieber, and, ultimately, Matt just wants it to find an audience that connects with it.
“This, for me, is like the year of consistency,” he says. “I’ve got the music. I have the team, who I love, and throughout this year I will just be showing whoever’s listening who I am with my music and hopefully they connect, which is all I can ask for. All an artist ever wants is to be heard.”
3
