Tag: Matt Zarley

Matt Zarley has been an openly gay singer/songwriter for over a decade now and his brand of straight up pop music has gotten rave reviews from critics all over the music spectrum.  While he may be an indie artist, this is high-quality, well-produced material.

Chuck Taylor at Billboard Magazine: “Stunning tenor range, crafty harmonic layers and spine-tingling money notes… Tweens have plenty of idols to swoon over. Hereʼs a crush for grown-ups, whose earthy machismo is quite the complement to his musical muscle!”

The Advocate: “Lead dance single “WTF” (currently on the Billboard Dance Chart) anchors a sexy collection of swoon-worthy songs about falling in love and healing from heartbreak. The standout title track benefits from backup vocals by Broadway Inspirational Voices.”

Change Begins With Me by mattzarley

My personal favorite tracks on the new album are “Apology” – stripped down arrangement and vocals lets the song and voice do it’s thing, and “Change Begins With Me” – great build and who doesn’t love big vocals with a gospel choir?

Apology by mattzarley

Matt’s campy, funny video for “WTF” has gone viral with over 100,000 views on youtube and vimeo since it was released. Gossip and music sites like DListed.com have picked up on the ‘over the top’ sense of humor (and the hunky men) displayed in the music video.

Matt Zarley’s new album “Change Begins With Me” is available today at all digital download retailers. See links below.

“Change Begins With Me” Album download on iTunes

“Change Begins With Me” Album download on Amazon

Matt Zarley gives a very open and honest interview to guyspy.com – online today.

“WTF,” the first single off Zarley’s upcoming album, “Change Begins with Me,” is about one of those gorgeous guys who seduces you, romances you, claims to love you, then disappears. It’s also a true story. More puzzling to Zarley is that the guy didn’t acknowledge the situation. “He could said, ‘Look, I don’t want to do a long-distance thing,’” he says. “He could have closed the chapter.”

The guy didn’t turn the page, but Zarley did. “I got the song out of it,”

With honesty comes opinions, and Zarley, he has a few. He thinks “The Book of Mormon” is the best Broadway show since “Les Miserable,” but has a little more trouble with TV’s “Glee.”

“I wish the singing wasn’t so Auto-Tuned,” he says, while acknowledging the almost impossible workload of the performers. “It’s the same as using Photoshop. It takes away the uniqueness of the voice. It doesn’t sound like anyone.”

Zarley’s a huge fan of India.Arie and grew up on Whitney Houston (“she was untouchable; the best artist ever”). He also thinks Lady GaGa is amazing, if over-publicized. “She gets shoved down our throats,” he says. “There are four artists that are successful at a time and that’s it. The gay community act like she and Britney are it.”

As for Spears, Zarley is a bit bewildered by her current events. “She’s got wonderful star quality and she’s always had the “It” factor,” he says. “When she performs now there’s a vacancy there. I understand that you can’t go full out and be singing all the time, but she should be better than ever. I’m not sure if we should just be saying ‘this is okay,’ when there might be cause for concern.”

As a counterpoint, Zarley points to Janet Jackson, an artist who’s also known for singing along to the tune. The difference, he says, it that 45-year-old Miss Jackson can still ace the routine. “She may not be singing live all the time but she still knocks the choreography out of the park.”

Read more at guyspy.com