Matisyahu Talks His Upcoming Song ‘Ascent’ That Speaks Out Against Antisemitism & More | Billboard News

Matisyahu opens up about his new EP ‘Hold The Fire,’ what inspired him to write his upcoming song “Ascent” that speaks out against rising antisemitism, becoming an independent artist, why his trip to Israel following the October 7th attacks made him hopeful for the future, his two concerts that were canceled in Arizona and more.

Matisyahu
I was feeling really hopeless about what the future is going to look like for all of us and went to Israel and it renewed my faith in humanity.

Matisyahu
What’s up, this is Matisyahu and you’re watching Billboard News.

Rania Aniftos
Hey, everybody, it’s Rania Aniftos with Billboard News and we’re sitting here today with Matisyahu. You have a new EP out, ‘Hold the Fire.’ There’s something I’ve always liked about your music, is it’s always music with a message. So tell me a bit about the theme surrounding this EP and the inspiration when writing it.

Matisyahu
Sure, the theme comes from, the basis is a dream that I had maybe about 10 years ago in my early 30s, as I was playing lots of shows and started out, you know, with my career and then had a family and lived in New York and moved to LA, but playing, really grinding and playing lots of shows a year, like maybe 200 shows a year in order to survive, you know, up until COVID. One of the themes that became relevant to me is: How do you still stay in love with music after you’ve beenplaying so many shows and playing those songs over and over again? And I went through a complicated relationship with the music because it’s like your dream when you’re a teenager, and then it becomes reality. And then it’s like your dream come true. And then you’re making music and there’s the art and there’s the business, then there’s like, it’s like a relationship, you know. This EP is called ‘Hold The Fire’ and it’s about stamina, as an artist, and it’s about how to not let … your fire go out. But at the same time, you know, if you still stoke your fire too much, you could burn everything up and you could burn up in your own fire. And I guess the idea in the opening track is called “Fireproof.”

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