If youre part of blackbears friends and family, you got a Balenciaga sweater for Christmas. Im like the Aunt Karen of the family, bear real name Matthew Musto tells SPIN. I get anxious because Im like, Who did I get a gift for? Who did I forget? Is so-and-so gonna fit in the sweater I got them?

Its a good holiday for the people in blackbears life. And its been a good year for him too, despite the obvious madness. Its my sons first year on the planet, he says. [Midnight] has eight or nine teeth already, and they just keep growing, he adds, laughing. Theres never been a dull moment.

Lately, dull moments have been rare for the 30-year-old singer, songwriter and producer.

With hot girl bummer, the lead single of his fifth studio album, everything means nothing, he had what he calls a moment. The infectious rap-pop song has become a career milestone: So far, its earned nearly 700 million Spotify streams and a combined 88 million YouTube views for its low budget and big budget videos.

I feel like [this] happens every two years or something, he says of such moments. The dark, stripped-down idfc started it all, becoming the Tumblr-esque anthem for unrequited love in 2015. Then there was 2017s do re mi, a pissed-off hit about taking charge instead of accepting pain. It just proves my consistency, he says. I have major love for the craft of what Im doing.

Aside from the major success of hot girl bummer, bear used quarantine as an excuse to work with other artists over email since no one could tour or even go out. It was really easy to collaborate this year for everyone because no one was really busy, he says. You cant lie to me and say youre busy.

He hopped on a verse of Machine Gun Kellys pop-punk single my exs best friend, appeared on G-Eazys trap serenade Hate The Way and worked on a remix of Dixie DAmelios Be Happy. Among his other 2020 collaborations, theres a song with both All Time Low and Demi Lovato, a track with Charlie Puth and a cut with Ellie Goulding. Theres a lot.

Cheers with Wiz Khalifa is his way of closing out the year. Justpiss off 2020 was the idea, he says. Hed written the song already when Todd Moscowitz the founder/CEO of Alamo Records and Gucci Manes manager suggested Wiz as the extra voice. I was like, Oh my God Wiz would bring the perfect happy vibe. Like, I think his picture on Twitter is a smiley face, he says. The song is about drinking, and he brings the smoke.

It might be the best drinking anthem written by someone whos almost five years sober. Because of health complications, hes so sensitive to it; Im, like, literally allergic to alcohol. I can sanitize my hands and thats about it. The process of sobriety was helpful for him, as an artist and as a human: I was used to writing songs in a haze for so long, and then all of a sudden I had to relearn my body and relearn my moral compass.

Together, bear and Wiz bring a feeling of hope and lightness during dreadful times. And Cheers, he says, represents his path toward responsibility: I just want to take people higher and not lower. In the past, blackbear has taken people a little bit lower when theyre feeling low.

everything means nothing is not necessarily light. The lyrics are still dispirited and distraught but with flashes of clarity and awareness. Sonically, though, its far from his quasi-emo rap debut, 2015s deadroses. It even feels distanced from itspredecessor, 2019s ANONYMOUS.

It was a big shift, he admits. The only explanation: Im always making the music that I love and want to listen to. This time around, he used Katy Perrys Teenage Dream as an influence, which meant paying more attention to the production. I wanted a very squeaky clean pop sound, he says.

He may have been drawn to this polished direction because of his own personal happiness. I feel on track in a way, and thats good, he says. I think we have moments and spurts of feeling on track and feeling happy and feeling joyousbut this is my longest spurt.

If his lyrics dont reflect that mindset, its because of his songwriting heroes: Saves The Day, New Found Glory and Blink-182. Hes a MySpace kid, and thats not his fault. He grew up the way most millennials did with a scene-kid haircut and face piercings he did himself in his moms bathroom. I think the biggest complaint about my music is that the lyrics are really emo and I cant change that because Im just an emo hag, he says. Like, dude, if I tweeted it, its probably in a song.

The Saves The Day fan remains in him even as his tastes expand. At the end of the day, if there was a gun put to my head and [someone] said, What kind of music do you frickin make? I would say pop music I mean, at this point, he says. This wont make his tattoo dedicated to Through Being Cool disappear. His future collaborations stray even further from his normal stuff including a feature on Maroon 5s forthcoming album and a remix with UPSAHL. Theres no reason to confine himself or his music, and theres no reason to stop working.

If blackbear can find the ambition to thrive in 2020, he can do anything. His goals are always changing, but lately the underlying theme has been simple: I wanted to help the world a little bit.

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blackbear Thrived This Year and Probably Will Next Year - SPIN