MattyB is a 13 years old boy. He is also a wildly successful teen popstar. And like every other teen popstar, Matty has done more in the entertainment industry in his short life then I will ever do in my whole life span. Let me put this in perspective. Matty went on his own headlined tour when he was 10 and sold out the Gramercy Theatre in New York City twice for back to back tours. The theatre’s capacity is officially written at 499, but can probably hold more. This tour was some time ago, and his following has grown at a rapid rate since then. From January 6, 2016, to today, October 1, 2016, MattyB has gained approximately 700,000 subscribers. That is growth most youtubers only dream of. Since his start in 2010, Matty has racked up a little more than 2.6 Billion views. Here lies my issue with MattyB, it’s not with Matty himself, but the fact that he is no longer just a youtube fenom, but a legitimate business venture.

It is believed that every 1,000 views makes around 7 dollars. Now this is by no means a fact, but lets just pretend it is. 2.6 billion will make around 18 million dollars. What?! That is out of this world type money. And that is just from his main channel on youtube. Thats not counting tours, merch, iTunes and any other types of income. So where is all this money going?! I know for sure any 13 year old does not have a bank account. MattyB has no legal right to any of the money he produces. Notice I don’t say any of the money MattyB “makes,” because MattyB himself doesn’t make a dime. So lets assume that the money goes to his parents and the company that manages the MattyB brand, because his youtube account has to be linked to email account, which again you cant make until much later than seven years old (when Matty started on youtube.)

This type of fame goes to peoples heads like nothing else. The problem with young fame is young children don’t have the mental capacity to process all the fame that they produce. Heck, I don’t even have the capacity to process what Matty goes through. Young teen popstars don’t make into their young adult lives as popstars either. Very rarely does a young shining star continue to burn into their twenties. There are two obvious ones in Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber, and one of them, Justin, barely pulled his career out of the gutter after misconduct such as driving a Lamborghini into a light pole. The other, Miley, just might be out of her mind.

But besides the anomaly, most teen popstars don’t make it out of their young fame. Examples are NSYNC and the Backstreet boys. Can you name one member of either of those “bands” (I use that term loosely) besides Justin Timberlake? These young kids and adults are cast aside like we cast aside old Iphones, they are cool for a while, but that new one is much cooler. Because, quite frankly, these kids turn into money making machines, and big companies don’t see anything but money. MattyB is no different. The kid has made 18 million dollars, and he is on the low side of young fame.

MattyB is a professed christian, which I greatly respect. But do you really think Reach Records or Capital Music Group (both are christian music labels) is gonna come along and sign him when he turn 18? Absolutely not. On a musical note, Matty is actually a competent rapper. He does have a small amount real chops, which is respectable, especially for a 13 year old. He does take what he does seriously, which can be seen in some of the behind the scenes videos posted on his YT channel.

This post is merely a look into our musical culture and how it distorts and warps our vision of young singers and rappers, and how the young kids themselves are affected. But don’t take my word for, go take a look at his channel and comment what you think.

Matty’s Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmdY1pHB-KbFYxOyhwjVeQw