Matthew Tyler Musto, better known by his stage name blackbear, is a Los Angeles-based multi-genre singer-songwriter and producer. A several-times-platinum hitmaker, he’s most known for R&B and pop tracks like “do re mi,” “hot girl bummer,” and “idfc.”

No stranger to the Hot 100, his personal hits exist alongside his extensive collaborations with big names of all kinds like Justin Bieber, Charlie Puth, Billie Eilish, Maroon 5, Linkin Park, All Time Low, Mike Posner, Machine Gun Kelly, Gucci Mane, 2 Chainz, and more.

He was born on November 27, 1990, in Daytona Beach, Florida. In his childhood, he was exposed to iconic rock bands like blink-182 and New Found Glory, learning to play the guitar and piano along the way.

Before going solo, he was the frontman for Florida-based punk band Polaroid. When his band was signed by Leakmob Records, he dropped out of high school to work on music full-time. Until 2012, he recorded as Mat Musto, working with producer jerry_good (then known as Boogie Wizzard) and the production duo A-Rex by the time it was his main focus. Mat released six known solo projects before he became blackbear. In that time, he met his manager Tabari Francis, who worked with him until 2018, and scored a mentorship with Ne-Yo among others under Compound Entertainment in Atlanta. He eventually moved to Los Angeles to pursue his career.

After Mike Posner took notice of him in late 2011, Mat released his first song as blackbear, featuring on Mike’s “Marauder Music.” They went on to co-produce Justin Bieber’s “Boyfriend” in 2012, earning blackbear his first million. Within a month, he released his first project under the new name, Foreplay, an EP which served as a precursor to his debut mixtape Sex, including collaborations with Mike Posner, MOD SUN, Travis Mills, Maejor, and more. By this time, it was clear he was looking to make a name in R&B.

Throughout 2012 and 2013, blackbear released over a dozen singles as part of his Black Friday series, several of which were released on Sex. One of those singles that made it on to Sex, “Cars, Clothes, Calories,” later went viral as part of a Musical.ly trend. In late 2013, he released his earliest song to persist on streaming services, “n y l a.”

In 2014, he dropped a six-track R&B EP called the afterglow, a collaboration with production duo boygenius. The duo was comprised of Aaron Harmon and Jordan Reyes, who became frequent collaborators for years to come. The project marked a turning point in his career and peaked at number four on Billboard’s Uncharted list.

On Valentine’s Day, 2015, his debut studio album deadroses was released. Another R&B offering, the album centered around romance and hearbreak. The self-produced single “idfc” gained massive attention, eventually reaching 3x platinum. “90210” (feat. G-Eazy) and “dirty laundry” went gold many years after release. It was followed by dead, an acoustic EP containing remakes of four deadroses tracks and “weak when ur around,” a previous stand-alone single.

Later that year, he released his sophomore album help. With increased hip-hop influence, a major theme was addictions to drugs and alcohol. The title track features Maejor as a concerned friend while blackbear questions checking into rehab.

2016 saw the release of essentially two blackbear EPs: drink bleach and cashmere noose, continuing in R&B and hip-hop while also beginning to work with electronic producers. This included Rad Cat, Sevnth, and Tarro who became part of his beartrap sound collective. The more widely released streaming version of cashmere noose was released as a “deluxe edition,” including an alternate tracklist. He also released Pink Lemonade as part of Hotel Motel, a new duo he formed with MOD SUN. Later that year, excessive drinking caught up with him and he was diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis.

But that didn’t slow him down, and by the end of March 2017, he debuted Mansionz, the self-titled alternative hip-hop and R&B album from the newly-formed duo between him and Mike Posner. A sequel became one of the mostly hotly requested projects in their fandoms and their iconic public antics were commented on for years to come.

Between Mansionz and the career-changing album digital druglord, blackbear released a SoundCloud-exclusive EP called salt. Showcasing three short acoustic songs, the “salty” project is inspired by a significant other who left him in the mountains of Salt Lake City, Utah. A remix of the final track, “fashion week,” from it’s different amassed millions of streams across YouTube and SoundCloud, surpassing the original song.

While hospitalized and recovering from his near-death experience with pancreatitis, he wrote his next project digital druglord. In early 2017, he released digital druglord, an album which combined R&B with electro-pop. His most successful release yet, “do re mi” went platinum by the end of the year, continuing to climb to 6x platinum, being his biggest hit for years to come. This hype scored him a 10 million dollar distribution deal with Interscope Records. Eventually, “chateau” went gold and “i miss the old u” too went platinum.

By the end of the year, blackbear couldn’t help but continue capitalizing on his success. His new mixtape called cybersex, a callback to 2012’s Sex, reflected on this massively. With over 13 guests, including Ne-Yo, Tinashe, 2 Chainz, Machine Gun Kelly, T-Pain, and Rick Ross, it was clear to everyone blackbear had made it.

After his biggest year yet, he slowed down and got sober. 2019’s ANONYMOUS was unusually somber, concerning topics of addiction and infidelity. The album was delayed for several months as he perfected it, seeking to make a “human album” with no ego. In 2018, he released “the 1,” originally intended to be the lead single, but it didn’t make the final cut. His longest project in several years, he called it his “best work to date.” Many different sounds were present (including his well-known alternative R&B), but we also saw the seeds of the more mainstream pop sound he would refine in his next projects. The R&B ballad “1 SIDED LOVE” became the biggest single by far.

Mid-2019 saw the release of “hot girl bummer,” his first single to rival the success of “do re mi” since it came out. The social media-inspired hit went 4x platinum. In 2020, he revisited his connection with Aaron Harmon and Jordan Reyes. Five SoundCloud-exclusive singles were released with their collective as part of 6 Feet Friday.

His next project, everything means nothing, was released in two parts. Track one was 2019’s “hot girl bummer.” Two other well-received singles, “me & ur ghost” and “queen of broken hearts,” saw their debut.

everything means nothing was blackbear’s first album fully produced by Andrew Goldstein, who he had worked with occasionally since 2017. Goldstein is a hitmaker too, producing “hot girl bummer” and “do re mi,” blackbear’s two biggest songs ever. This makes the choice a no-brainer.

Soon enough, he connected with popstar Charlie Puth on “Hard on Yourself,” their first collaboration ever. Puth would later co-produce the final track of his 2021 EP misery lake. Centered around loneliness, misery lake was completed during quarantine in the COVID-19 global pandemic. Single “@ my worst” saw modest success.

In 2022, blackbear was finally ready to revisit his scene roots from the days of Polaroid. A full-length collaboration with blink-182’s Travis Barker, in loving memory was an unexpected pop-punk offering. Machine Gun Kelly, a close friend of his for over a decade, appears on the lead single “gfy.” Despite MGK’s transition to pop-punk, blackbear encouraged him to revisit his own roots in hip-hop.

In 2023, blackbear and Mike Posner reunited to release mansionz 2, a steep contrast from their debut as the duo.