When one thinks of big names in music, Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, and The Beatles may come to mind. But at Georgetown University, there is a new top dog in town. 

Matthew Chensavasdijai (CAS ’28) is a songwriter and rapper whose songs have amassed thousands of streams on SoundCloud. Throughout September, Chensavasdijai embarked on a “Georgetown World Tour,” performing a setlist of nine songs — all self-written — in front of the five Georgetown freshman dorms. Today, he gives his first interview to The Hoya.

Hi Matt! Thank you for sitting down with us. To start, I’ll let you introduce yourself!

I am Matthew Chensavasdijai. I am a freshman here at Georgetown, and I’m here with Arielle Biran interviewing for The Hoya, and I’m excited to answer what questions you’ve got for me! 

What was your musical background in high school? When did you start performing?

I started making music in seventh grade when an eighth grader at my school was making music. I wanted to work with that person, and so I decided I would give it a shot. When COVID-19 came around, when we were all quarantined in lockdown, that gave me a lot of time to create a lot of music. During lockdown, I probably made four or five albums and released them all, and ever since then, I’ve been making music. I’m going on seven, eight years of making music now. 

I started performing at talent shows in middle school, and then when high school came around, I was able to go out to parties, homecomings, proms at my school and other schools, and that’s how I was able to get a feel for the performing aspect of making music. My most recent performances have been the ones here at Georgetown: five concerts, one for each freshman dorm, so I’m excited to perform more in the future. 

Did you come into Georgetown with the intent of the world tour?

I came into Georgetown with the intent of continuing to make music. When I saw that there were five freshmen dorms — a pretty nice, tight community here at Georgetown — I thought a great way to spread my music and connect people together would be to have five concerts. Initially, I tried to do one concert for everyone, but I spaced it out so I could have more time and preparation for myself. When I came, I was not expecting the great reception that I’ve had here from the student body. I’ve had faculty come up to me and support me. I mean, even the GUPD came up to me and supported my music. So I’m just really happy with how welcoming this community has been!

That’s a great segue into my next question. You’ve had a great turnout at your shows! What about you and your music do you think is so relatable for the Georgetown undergraduate population?

That’s a good question. I think it’s the aspect of a member in your community making music, right? If you’re in a community, and you hear a person’s written a book, you’re probably going to want to read it. Or you hear about a person playing in a sport at a highly competitive level, you would probably go watch them. I think that’s the same appeal here. I’m offering something that people can listen to, something that people can consume, and because I have something to offer, much like other people who partake in sports, athletics and other hobbies, I think people are taking advantage of what I offer. That’s the reason why the tour has been so great. People want to support another student who’s working on something, to come out and show their appreciation, to show how grateful they are to have someone in the student body producing and making something like this.

Tell me about your creative process. How do you write your songs?

I started out making the lyrics without the beats, so I would just make the lyrics and have a melody in my head, or have a rhythm with a tempo in my head. I would try to find the beat, or I would make the beat myself, and sometimes work with other people to find a beat that fits the lyrics. Now, I’ve been more of a template type of person. These days, I try to find the beat first, and then I work the lyrics into making the song. In terms of writing the lyrics, a lot of them come from either my experiences or things that I’ve heard from my friends, family and close ones. 

A lot of the music that I’m currently writing and working on has to deal with heartbreak, heartache, feelings of romance — and all of those are drawn from some experiences that I’ve had in the past, or experiences that friends have had in the past. I hear about what has been, what could have been, what will be, all different stages of friendships and relationships, and I try to summarize it substantively in my music, so that people can listen to it and connect with it and appreciate it. They will have known someone who has gone through that experience, or maybe they themselves have gone through that experience, so I think being relatable has a great appeal. 

What’s your favorite track of yours and why?

I think the one that stands out most to me in terms of rapping ability would probably be “Deity.” I wrote “Deity” in 10th grade, and that track is one of my best-written tracks, and I’m constantly trying to outdo that track. I think the closest that I came to recently was with “DMV Girls,” and that song is just a really nicely put together song with really great beats and good lyrics. I also like the new song that I put out just a couple weeks ago, “Blue and Gray.” That’s been a recent favorite of mine now, not only because I just put it out, but also because that’s going to be the song that I remember as the first song that I released while at Georgetown, and it will be the beginning of a really cool era. 

Which musical artist do you take the most inspiration from?

When I started making music, I was very inspired by Eminem — his music and the way that he just rhymed things and how he would rap. I took a lot of inspiration from that, and then over the years, I started to realize my music might be very lyrically technical and complex, but they’re not sounding good — not sounding like something that’s replayable. So over COVID-19, I started shaping my production style to be more like André 3000, maybe Kanye, maybe Tyler, The Creator. And I started shaping my lyrics to be more like heartbreak lyrics. So maybe something more like Frank Ocean, something like Drake, something like Mac Miller, those types of artists, and so now I think I’ve kind of found a great balance between lyricism, sound, and content of the song. 

You’ve gained a lot of attention on Fizz. Have you seen these posts, and if so, what do you make of them?

I got Fizz just a couple weeks ago, and I had no idea that I had a whole fanbase on Fizz until I got it, and I’m just astonished. I love the appreciation that people show me on that app, and I love the attention that my music is getting, the attention that my openers are getting, all the people that I put on, all the people that I help. Every time I post something, it usually always shows up on Fizz, and I think that’s a great way for me to reach out to the community. I posted there a couple of times myself, just promoting my music. But I can’t wait to see how much bigger this Fizz community is going to grow and the upcoming posts in the future.

I know that you’re planning to take a break from music, so what’s next for you?

Well, I am currently going to lock in academically. After I’m done locking in academically with these midterms and papers, I will make some more new music. I’ll get to work on this album that I am making for the first-year class called “28” to commemorate our graduation year, 2028. I hope to also release a couple more singles, and potentially have an album release or listening party for the first-year class. I’ll perform a little bit more, show up at some functions, get to meet and greet some more people! This break has been treating me nicely.

What’s one piece of advice you would give to other aspiring artists at Georgetown?

Connections are the way to go. That means just reaching out to people, talking to new people, following people on social media platforms, talking to teachers and such. Any relationship you have with a community member is a connection. Maybe you’ll meet somebody who can help you guide your lyrics, somebody who could help you improve your beats. Or if you’re someone who plays an instrument, maybe you get to know a music teacher who’s going to guide you into what you’ve been looking for this whole time.

Anything else you’d like to share?

I’m mostly excited about the prospect of continuing to make music, and I can’t wait to see what else Georgetown has in store for me.