Matthew Najar’s 2013 album – “Straight For The Sun”: source

Added by Pat Williams on April 25, 2012

By Raphael Chestang

Sources confirmed today that singer Matthew Najar is working from the United Kingdom and Los Angeles on his new upcoming studio album, due for release sometime in 2013. The exact release date could not be confirmed and Matthew did not comment about the upcoming album at the recent Young Talent Awards in California last month, in which he was presented the ‘Best New Talent 2012’ award during the event.

In 2011 the Australian-born singer was signed to IDJ Music Group, an affiliate of Island Music worldwide, after coming from a small local Australian recording label. With the resources of a major recording label Najar’s first single ‘Amnesia’ sold 40,000 copies on iTunes in just 8 months during 2011; when ‘Amnesia’ was first released in 2010 its sales peaked at 800 under his original label. During a press conference in Adelaide, South Australia during October 2011, Najar was quoted as saying “the changes have been drastic; we’re doing it big now – heading straight for the sun. We have some really great stuff coming up and I can’t wait to share it with you”. Straight for the sun, a young performer’s journey to becoming a star.

Matthew Najar started his career in music performing as a Michael Jackson dance impersonator in his home town of Adelaide, in the south of Australia. He performed hundreds of shows (some of which were recorded and can still be seen online), moved continuously around the country taking his act on the road until he was signed to his first label, StarMusicAU (now defunct) in 2009.

The label was small, industrial and offered little reach in the entertainment industry. In 2010, under StarMusicAU, Najar released his first single ‘Amnesia’ which would commence a familiar tale of young child performer turn young adult star. ‘Amnesia’ caught the attention of label IDJMusic Group, a label with strong affiliation with the major recording label Island as well as numerous other major entertainment industry contacts. His little-known single ‘Amnesia’ soon went from zero to hero with a huge influx in downloads through popular online music store iTunes and constant Australian radio airplay. Australia’s Triple J radio network rotated the single throughout the second half of 2011 with positive reviews. From nothing to something is such a short amount of time – an Australian success story in the making – but commonplace in today’s entertainment industry.

At the start of 2010 Matthew Najar was worried that his then-upcoming new single wouldn’t sell past 1,000 online copies. At the end of 2011 this same young man says he is worried that his newest singles won’t sell fewer than 100,000 copies worldwide. From nothing to teaming up with rock stars like John Mayer (see: ‘Question Why’ by Matthew Najar) in less than a year is amazing, say industry insiders. It is reported that Najar is expected to complete a supportive European tour at the end of 2012 and continue touring with shows in the United States throughout 2013 – this is before he actually releases a full-length studio album.

According to Matthew’s label representative Kaitlin Sah Matthew “is gearing up to finish recording his upcoming album – which is currently untitled. We want to focus on preparing and completing our booked European festival shows before any further announcements on the album.”

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