RETURN HOME
Born in Houston, Texas, on March 21, 1990, Mat Kastella grew up watching MTV and singing and dancing in front of his bedroom mirror. Inspired by the rise of artists like the Spice Girls, Backstreet Boys, N’SYNC, Britney Spears, and Christina Aguilera, he decided early on that performing for an audience was what he wanted to do.
As mainstream pop shifted in the early 2000s, Kastella discovered Japanese pop music through his language teacher, sparking an obsession with pop music from around the world, particularly Asia. At 11, he began recording himself singing in Japanese and mailing demo tapes to record labels in Tokyo.
At 18, Kastella relocated to Tokyo alone to pursue music, eventually working with Sony Music Japan and joining a Japanese pop idol group produced by television personality Atsushi Tamura. After more than four years in Japan, he moved to New York City, where he sought artistic freedom to create music as songwriter.
In NYC, Kastella began performing original music at drag nights throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn. His performances led to an appearance at Bushwig Festival and an invitation to perform in Stockholm, Sweden, where he opened for PC Music artist Finn Diesel.
In 2015, Kastella met producer Sophie and soon collaborated on “Body Mop,” produced by Sophie and featuring NYC rapper Le1f, with Kastella providing vocals and lyrics. The track was performed internationally throughout the summer.
Kastella later began writing with NYC-based PC Music artist Umru, eventually creating six songs together. In 2021, rather than simply releasing them digitally, Kastella launched an ambitious summer-long IRL performance project: the “Mat Kastella NYC Summer Park Tour ’21,” performing original songs and covers five days a week across New York City parks.
The project coincided with the release of his first single, Capital D, followed by Steppin’ Out, with donations collected from fans during his live street performances fully funding the song’s music video.
Kastella released Both of Us, the third single from the project, accompanied by a music video filmed in New York City. During a few years away from performing, he relocated to Asia, where he released Hot Shot, the fourth and final single from the project, accompanied by a music video filmed in Vietnam.
Kastella has since returned to performing and is currently touring internationally throughout Thailand and Vietnam.