We’re looking forward to introducing you to Mateo Palmitier. Check out our conversation below.
Mateo, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What do the first 90 minutes of your day look like?
Ooo, let’s see… Okay, first things first, I never use an alarm. I wake up when I wake up. Luckily I’ve got a fairly regular internal clock, so I usually wake up between 6:00 & 6:30am & then sneak into the kitchen to make myself a little electrolyte drink & start a pot of coffee.
After that I make my way through the New York Times game section; namely Wordle, Strands, Connections, & Tiles.
After that I take my dog out for a 20-30 minute walk, get some breakfast sausages cooking on the stovetop, grab 2 cups of coffee & crawl back into bed for a quick cuddle sesh with my wife before we continue making breakfast.
Nothing fancy. Nothing crazy.
I am weirdly a morning person. I know many musicians aren’t due the late night shows & all, but I love a good slow morning. Having said that, the key emphasis is SLOW. I don’t want to wake up & have to jump right into work or the gym or anything. I need a little time to come to life.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Of course. I’m Mateo, & I’m the guy with the super annoying Instagram bio, ie: singer, songwriter, actor, stuntman, screenwriter, producer & director from Nashville, TN.
Basically, I like art & make art.
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What part of you has served its purpose and must now be released?
I think the hidden part of me. And what I mean by that is that I believe all people are meant to go through a season, or even seasons of hiddenness. In the same way that a seed must be hidden in the soil in order to germinate & grow, I think we need moments like that in life, & I think sometimes we choose those moments, but I also think at other times those moments choose us.
I just released my album, RECOVERY (DELUXE EDITION), & for the first time in my artistry/ image/ branding, I’ve begun using photography instead of graphic design. If you were to trace my old album & single artwork from where it’s been to where it is now you’ll notice we used a lot of dark colors & ambiguous images early on & as time moved forward we’ve lightened the color palette & begun to use photography. This is a visual representation of the internal heart journey I’ve been on. One where I was hidden (and at other times hiding) in darkness, but am doing my best to move into the light.
What hiddenness has looked like for me is a lot of heart work. Therapy. Self-reflection. Accountability. Working through trauma. Etc… It’s the “recovering of myself” process. And it’s not that I no longer need therapy, reflection, accountability, etc. (God knows I do), but it’s that the things of life that have hurt me & caused me to need these things no longer get to hold me down or hold me back, but that I get to give myself the chance to try again, learn again, believe again, sing again, hope again, & all in all, live as a pioneer of my future, rather than as a prisoner of my past.
So yeah, I think it feels good to move through recovery, share about that process in an effort to help others become attuned to themselves & their own process, & then move into a fuller version of life. Not life as we’ve known it, but life as we are meant to know it.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Oof, good question… I guess suffering has taught me perseverance.
A few years ago I had this dream… In the dream I was floating in the sky & floating all around me were hundreds & hundreds & hundreds of ideas & inventions & creative works. I saw melodies flying through the air, blueprints for new systems & companies… And I knew that these things were ripe for the taking. I tried to take one & pull it down to earth with me, but when I did I saw this vision of someone who had tried to take this idea to earth before. This person was running with the idea, but then approached a hurdle. They crawled over the hurdle & kept running, but then came across another hurdle. They crawled over that one too. This continued about 5 or 6 times & when the person saw another hurdle ahead they took one look at it, dropped the idea, stopped & turned around, but what they couldn’t see was that that hurdle was the last hurdle & on the other side of it was the fruition of their idea.
I know it might be a little weird to talk about dreams, but I remember waking up from that dream & feeling so profoundly impacted by it. I had this thought that having an idea & carrying out an idea are two very different things. Dreaming is cheap, but living out a dream is costly. But dreams, ideas, inventions, creative works, aren’t just about the thing we produce at the end, it’s about what’s produced in us along the way. The perseverance & the grit & the character we form or fail to form on the way to success is what really matters.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. Whom do you admire for their character, not their power?
I have these old mentors, Jamie & Darlene, who are the most incredible picture of humility I think I’ve ever seen in my life. They used to be my bosses, but honestly, most days you would never know they were the ones in charge, & by that I don’t mean that they weren’t hard workers or that they didn’t do their jobs. What I mean is that they were masters at empowering others & wanted nothing more than to see that those in their care where flourishing & becoming all that they were meant to be. The way that Jamie & Darlene preferred others above themselves & would let others take the lead was really so inspiring.
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. If you knew you had 10 years left, what would you stop doing immediately?
You know, it’s funny… I went through a fairly intense health scare several years back & during that time I really contemplated my life & how I’d lived it. What I realized was that there were so many things I had wanted to do, but I let fear talk me out of them. And so, I started doing everything, & I mean EVERYTHING. Dance class. Done. Travel. Check. Ride a mechanical bull? Absolutely. I really began to live life to the full & I am so glad I did.
But it’s interesting… When you asked me that right now, “If I knew I had 10 years left, what would I stop doing immediately?” I think my answer would be almost everything. These past several years have been all about play & adventure & discovery, & I have had some absolutely incredible experiences. But what all those experiences have helped me to discover is what really matters. It’s not about how much I do or how little I do, but that I do what’s in my heart to do.
I think some people probably need to do more. Not for the sake of doing more, but for the sake of actually living. Likewise, I think that some people probably need to do less. Not for the sake of doing less, but for the sake of actually living.
I think my play/ adventure/ discovery time was so so important because I had let fear lock me up for a while. But conversely, I think when life gets full it’s important to take stock of what’s making it full & honestly ask yourself, “Is my life full or just busy? Am I full of life or just full of stuff & things & obligations?”
So, what would I stop doing immediately? 1. Worrying. And 2. So much.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://mateopalmitier.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mateopalmitier/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mateopalmitier
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mateopalmitier
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7sEQud4rpfsHbGPhdl7WZE?si=zseNKHC4Rwu9152itoPzsQ
Image Credits
Photographers: Keith Duffy, Vivian Gornik, Gio Gotay, Ethan Palm, Austin Lord
