Hey girls!

Up-and-coming artist Mateo stopped by the TWIST offices to say hello last week! We talked to this cutie crooner about his rise to fame, his music and his band geek days.

TWIST: Hey Mateo! We hear you originally worked in finance. How did you end up as a musician?
Mateo: After I graduated college I got a job as a consultant in New York. I worked in consulting very briefly because I told myself when I got there, "This is not for me." I had always been fighting a dream of whether I should go into music or not, and one day I just decided I don't want to be here for 20 years and have all these doubts. Now I'm signed to MySpace Records.

TWIST: Was that choice hard for you?
M: Yeah it was difficult but it wasn't really as hard as I thought it was going to be. When I knew I wanted to do music, I was all for it and I have no regrets about it at all.

TWIST: What's your advice for TWIST girls who want to become singers?
M: First thing is just master whatever you're doing, master the craft, practice like crazy. Just devote yourself to really getting to know the business. I think it's really cool now that the Internet is taking over and you can record something and put it out there, try to market it and try to add people as friends and try to get responses to it. That's the first way to do it. Honestly, it's all about the work ethic behind it. Everyone has dreams you just have to work really hard. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't do it. You have to actually believe it and go for it. If I would have stopped at the first couple of songs when someone said, "Oh that's not really a good song," I wouldn't have gotten to the point where I am now. So you just gotta keep going. It's all about the persistence.

TWIST: How would you describe your music?
M: It's piano-based. It's about love. It's a mixture of Coldplay and actually some of the Honor Society stuff, it has some of that '80s vibe to it, which is really kind of cool. And then some soul music -- Alicia Keys or something like that. I write all my own songs. I think that's what artists are, they observe the world and reinterpret what they see in music. Whatever I see, I write about.

TWIST: So what's your favorite high school memory?
M: I miss the marching band. I miss going to the football games and playing, just being there and kicking it with my friends. I loved those moments, but I wasn't a fan of the uniforms.

TWIST: Were they embarrassing?
M: Very geeky. They had ruffles, and mine of course did not fit right, it was too short in the arms. The colors weren't bad, it was blue and white, but the ruffles were kind of embarrassing!

Tell TWIST: What do you think of Mateo? Next big thing? Comment now!

<3
Intern Jyll