Words can’t describe how I feel about Matt Watson’s new hip-hop/pop album SEE YOU THERE, but I sure can try to verbally barf it out somehow! 

   Matthew Watson is a content creator on the YouTube platform, being one half of the gaming/comedy duo, SuperMega, which had garnered over one million subscribers over the course of seven years. The duo consists of Matt and his buddy, Ryan Magee, who make gaming videos, live action comedy skits, and lay-low podcasts for their viewers’ entertainment. 

   Matt had always expressed his love of creating music on SuperMega, with it being a running gag to play his old joke songs from when he was a teenager as a means of his own embarrassment. He had actually posted a six song EP during the 2020 lockdown entitled Ouch! It’s a simple little bedroom pop record, with the standout tracks being “Come Over,” “Margie,” and “Nokia,” but I have to say I was very impressed with this man’s musical talent. I went into that album expecting it to either be horrible or just kinda funny in a way, but was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the tracks and his ability to write music in general. 

   Throughout the years, he would proceed to release singles here and there, like “Monopoly,” a more light-hearted/joke song, “Bored,” a song about his isolation and humility, and “Space Song,” a cover of Beach House’s original song. These weren’t anything entirely special if I’m being honest, with “Monopoly” and “Bored” only spanning about two minutes each, but I liked them a lot regardless. 

   Needless to say, I was very happy with the announcement that Matt would be releasing his first full-length album, SEE YOU THERE on November 7, 2022. I’ve had this album in my grubby mitts for over a month, and after approximately 342 full plays of the album, (according to my Spotify Wrapped) I would like to pick apart everything I love and hate about it. Yes, you did ask, in fact.

   First and foremost, I would like to appreciate the album cover. Matt, surrounded by children’s musical instruments while holding a beer and giving an ominous glare towards the camera, is a perfect example of his creativity and goofiness. Not to mention how well the colors pop out at you. In a weird way I couldn’t explain to save my life, it almost makes the songs better knowing this is the album cover. It just fits every single track. 

   Song-wise, Matt has done it again! I don’t think I dislike a single song here! My personal favorites are “Starstud,” “Ok Then,” “Wacky,” “Aquarium,” “Balance” and “Nebraska.” Everything else is amazing too. I am the biggest sucker for underwater synths, bloopy keyboards and weird guitar riffs, and this album has plenty of that. In terms of lyricism, I think everything lands in its own way. Songs like “Ring Pop” and “Stupid” have a couple eye rollers in there but it’s nothing to even really sneeze about. 

   I never really tend to deconstruct what a song means because I could honestly care less when it comes to songs I just want to enjoy, but I didn’t even really have to think about why or what Matt was talking about in some of these songs. A lot of Matt’s own struggle when making music comes from his inability to separate his goofy internet personality from his music persona, and henceforth, he sings about not feeling confident about some of his music because of it, singing lyrics like “Will my grandkids think that I was cool? Or would they just see a dude who made some videos and dropped out of school?” in “Ok Then” or, more blatantly, “What’s he doing making music, he makes stupid videos?” in his single, “Bored.” It’s honestly a fair thing to be worried about, because I had the same mindset when first diving into Ouch!: “This will be garbage because of who he is online.” If I could talk to him right now, I’d give him a crisp high five and a nice “attaboy” for exceeding my expectations with his music. 

   Every track on here just makes me feel so good and energetic, and got me through a pretty rough couple of weeks I had after its release. It’s definitely not for everyone, so I don’t know if I necessarily recommend it to ANYONE interested, but if you feel like this kind of thing is your style, go pull it up. It’s super fun and a nice distraction from our meaningless lives. Toodles!