Homily on Cringe by Matt Maeson
Here is the preview of Fr. Rossi’s homily about the song Cringe by Matt Maeson:
"Sweating all your sins out.”
Matt Maeson was raised in Norfolk, Virginia by parents who played in Christian metal bands with names like Holy Warfare and Neverthirst.
Matt grew up performing songs for inmates at maximum-security prisons with his mother and father.
He was part of their inmate ministry, “Life on The Verge,” which is still going strong today.
“Growing up, I wasn't allowed to listen to secular music.
"I was raised on Christian music only, mainly lousy Christian music.
“I had to dig really deep to find something I actually liked in that world."
And he found it. It was his faith in God
He admits further that his Christian upbringing contributed to his development as an artist.
“I have a unique faith in God because of it, and that’s very important to me.
"Also, touring with my parents for a few years really kickstarted my live performances.
"We did A LOT of shows, and by the time I went my separate way, I’d like to think I was pretty damn good at it."
It was the way he discovered the effect music can have on people, even those incarcerated.
"I was seeing the difference music could make in people's lives in such a dark place, and how influential music could be on those guys.
"Like, they walked in sluggish, just like, oh, I've been in prison for 30 years -- obviously, not in the best mood.
“And then by the end of it, they're on their feet, clapping, having fun.
“It's like, wow, man, music really does have the power to completely shift your atmosphere."
It was playing with “Life on the Verge” after a debut gig at a Chick-Fil-A open mic when he was just 16—one Maeson says he won, "not because I was good, but because everyone else sucked,"—that he found out the good his music could do.
“I brought that kind of attitude to every show I did after that, even outside of prison.
“And it's been great just to see how music can help people.”
“Then I found out about the whole other world of music outside and went bonkers.
“I attribute most of my writing skills to the likes of Johnny Cash, Jeff Buckley and Kurt Cobain.
“People who knew how to write a song from experience and with brutal honesty.
“That’s what I respected.
“And that’s what I wanted to do, too.
“However, I went off the rails for a while in my late teens.
“I got addicted to drugs, and later served time in jail.”
Maeson’s song “Cringe” is about all of that.
Its undercurrents deal with his search for redemption.
His impassioned singing cuts to the core, telling the story of his struggling against his sins and transgressions.
His goal he says is to point listeners towards a life of transcendence and triumph through the prism of his own spiritual battles.
“I didn’t think much of “Cringe” after I wrote it.
“I definitely didn’t think it would do as well as its done.”
But it was brutally honest, for him the most important benchmark, and so he believed in it.
Maeson says he also wrote "Cringe" about being pushed away by people close to him because of the lifestyle he was living.
Rather than pulling him in and loving him, he was merely getting reprimanded.
He felt he was making these people "cringe."
"I lived pretty rough for a while.
"Some of the people I really cared about would rather tell me how wrong I was rather than ask how I was doing."
Breaking a song is often a time-consuming process, but rarely does it take well over two years to make a hit.
"Cringe" had somewhat of an unconventional trip to the top of the Billboard charts.
Not that Maeson's complaining.
Originally released in November 2016, it wasn't until nearly two years later that the song hit the charts.
It debuted at No. 38 on the Adult Alternative Songs airplay list, eventually peaking at No. 7 in January.
Seven months later, it was the No. 1 song on the Alternative Songs airplay ranking, a distinction it held for four weeks.
Maeson knew something was up right off the bat, despite having to wait a bit to see the returns on Billboard's charts.
“It took a while for 'Cringe' to do its thing organically but it kept getting more and more listeners.
When "Cringe" began making the rounds on streaming services, Maeson was surprised about the song's trajectory.
Something didn't add up, compared to most releases.
"I saw the consistent number of streams it was getting, and it was getting higher each time, which Isn’t normal a year and a half after you release a song.
“The streams kept going up.”
The lightbulb moment occurred in a July 2017 concert, when Maeson says he "could hear everyone singing “Cringe” back.
This was when the song was still over a year off from its radio debut.
"Cringe" eventually remained on Billboard's Rock Airplay chart for 42 weeks between December 2018 and October 2019, a product of its success at two different radio formats over an extended period of time.
"I think there will always be a hint of the darker side of me in my music, Maeson says.
"But there’s an uplifting spirit to it and that’s just because of where I’m at in my life.
"That’s what attracted more and more people to “Cringe”.
"Whatever I put out is going to be about where I am in life at that point.
"I think a lot of my songs are both depressing and uplifting at the same time, because even if I’m in a really dark place, I’ve got faith I’m going get out of it.
"That’s the message I’ve put in “Cringe”. People want that!"