Written by SIMON HOWARD

There are plenty of artists who say they know how to rock but there are few who really can. Adelaide-born, current UniSA student, Matthew Najar is one of the few.

Matthew, with a myriad of other young aspiring hip hop artists, took centre stage at Festival Hall on a balmy Sunday night this March for a hip hop inspired evening concert, eager to demonstrate what he calls “the future of pop music”. Walking onto the stage 15 minutes late the hall was relatively quiet, anticipating something – anything – to bring them to life. The 4,000-strong crowd became restless as Matthew paced the stage, stared at them. Disorderly chatter began to get louder. Then, without warning the lights dimmed, a pop, then burst back twice as bright as Matthew launched into the song ‘Attack’ by rockers 30 Seconds to Mars – immediately stunning the audience, this wasn’t hip hop at all!  The opening performance was loud, rough and hundreds of the standing-room-only crowd began to develop into dangerous circle pits. Everyone’s attention was now on him, completely. The opening song moved directly into an original piece called ‘Unknown’, a drum-heavy song with a thick bass line further fueling the crowds moshing.

Following on from two rather typical hip hop hopefuls Matthew was like a breath of fresh air at Festival Hall. Lacklustre backing tracks were replaced with a live band, uninspired dance moves by precise movements and flat vocals by a voice with impressively flexible range; from guttural screams to smooth falsettos. Dancing and showmanship were his two clear strong points; with young women his clear target audience. He sung sugary ballads to women in the front row, rocked out with songs like his 30 Seconds to Mars cover and wowed with original dance routines. This was a very cultured performance, oozing with aptitude. The highpoint came with the closing song though, performing his newly released single ‘Amnesia’.  The energy invested was monumental, the crowd at its highest point the entire evening. People roared as Matthew pulled out all stops showcasing the most impressive dance moves of the night. During the song pre-autographed t-shirts and copies of his new single were thrown into the audience.

What was just a 45 minute show felt like it was twice the length, but when it ended it ended all too soon. Matthew Najar made sure that he made an impact. He knew how to rock. Hard. If this is the future of Australian-bred pop then the days of uninspired radio hits could be numbered.

Artist Profile: Matthew Najar

Matthew Najar was born and raised in Adelaide South Australia. From a young age he was involved with music; learning the guitar and piano from the age of 7 onwards. He later started singing. Growing up Matthew was a very shy child and music was his main form of escape.

Graduating in 2007 Matthew immediately entered the workforce employed with big-4 accounting firm KPMG as a cadet accountant, while also studying part time at UniSA. Juggling full time work, part time Uni, a social life and his love for music became too much after two years. Matthew has since postponed full time work to concentrate on Uni and music.

Matthew has recently signed onto a partnership music contract with music label Island Def Jam allowing distribution of his music worldwide through sites such as iTunes, Zune and MySpace Music under the Island Def Jam distribution label. He receives varied radio airplay on stations such as Triple J FM. His newly released single ‘Amnesia’ is being promoted with a television ad spot (shown on network 7, available also on YouTube).