MA/SA – In My Breath

Video features Oak (Okieriete Onaodowan) from the original Hamilton cast.

ARTIST’S QUOTE – MATTHEW SANTOS (MA/SA)
For me this song is about the ending of a long-term relationship and learning how to live with the void of that deeply-rooted bond—and the distractions that we use to not feel the heartache and loss, to avoid looking deep into the mirror and confronting our own mistakes and misgivings. There’s a drawn out process of grieving that happens through avoidance and distraction post breakup. A haunting of mundane things, like her spirit of living sown through my every day dealings. Those things that keep us up at night, the stolen pillow rest swept up in reruns of regret and arresting sadness. Escape seems like the only option. A vicious cycle of turning cheek while the lonely winter groans, running from the cold into the arms of a willing stranger, afloat through the nights on a cloud. Yet there you are again, on the ceiling of my dark room, soaked in dream. You are moonlight and gravity as I fall upward into you thru the quiet night, mourning the restless break of day, knowing that nothing will ever be the same. We are forever changed, and now, you are in my breath.

MA/SA began singing and songwriting when he was a young teenager. He later ventured to Chicago in 2001 to attend Columbia College for music composition and performance, where he soon recorded his first full length album “Change Is Better” (2004) and follow up EP “As a Crow Flies” (2006) at the Attic Studios where he met a young and budding Lupe Fiasco. The two hit it off and ended up creating many songs together, most notably the Grammy nominated smash “Superstar” (2008). In recent years, MA/SA has collaborated with Grammy-winning Daveed Diggs (from Hamilton, Blindspotting, Snowpiercer), Rafael Casal (from Blindspotting, Bad Education, The Good Lord Bird), NGHTMRE, and Saba Pivot. Currently independent, Santos is slated to release two upcoming EP’s and various singles in 2022, while composing for film and TV. Upcoming scoring projects include the feature-length, indie-documentary “Beyond The Trees”, and the short film “Kasama”