When your friend from far away Portugal hits you up with a message like, “Have you seen this? Do you know this guy? He’s from Richmond and he is all over TikTok!” you can’t help but check it out. And when you discover it’s Chandler Matkins, it’s almost a given—of course, it’s him making waves. He’s been at this for a while, as we uncovered in our chat with him last year — and he hasn’t slowed down since. (ed. note: You can catch up on that interview right HERE.)
A couple of weeks back, the opening lines of his track “NOTHIN’ TO IT by ON THE HUNT and Chandler” caught on worldwide, offering a mantra for resilience and overcoming. The lyrics “Don’t ask me how I did it, I just did it. It was hard.” are super relatable and that has resonated with millions, providing a backdrop for people wanting to speak on making it through something difficult af in life.
To date, the track has hit the Tik Tok Top 50 Music Charts has been featured in over 166K+ TikTok videos HERE and HERE, 300M+ video views, and its popularity is still on the rise. Chandler’s original post of the song boasts over 7M+ plays, with additional content related to the track garnering another 6M+ views.
When asked about his thoughts on what’s happening, Chandler had this to say, “This is what I love most about music. Bringing people together. For me, that’s what music has always been about. Building community. For people to come together and share their stories using my words is truly such a gift. I am filled with gratitude and couldn’t be more excited for what’s next.”
Catch him live in Richmond this 4/20 at The Camel — more information HERE.
