Blackbear (musician)

2006–2014: Early career

In high school, Musto was the singer of Florida-based rock band Polaroid. They released one album, Paint The Town, one EP, Inside And Out, and one demo, The Cure Demo.^[4] They were signed to Leakmob Records.^[5]

After leaving Polaroid, Musto began his solo career when he moved to Atlanta to work with Ne-Yo.^[6] He put out his first EP entitled Brightness in 2008, followed by Contrast in 2009, and Exposure in 2010. He put out a Christmas song with Tyler Carter, then-member of the band Woe, Is Me in 2010, shortly followed by a new single, 'Douche Bag'. In July 2011, Musto released his Year of the Blackbear EP. In fall 2011, he decided to take his nickname of Blackbear and use it as his pseudonym for making music. The first song to be released with the Blackbear moniker was Mike Posner's song, 'Marauder Music' in November 2011.^[7]

Musto co-wrote Justin Bieber's "Boyfriend",^[8] a number two hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 2012. Intent on pursuing a career as an R&B singer, Musto released his debut EP Foreplay on April 20, 2012, and his debut mixtape Sex on October 31, 2012. Both releases were under the name Blackbear, and Sex featured collaborations from fellow "Boyfriend" co-writer Mike Posner, along with producers, singers, and songwriters James Blake and Maejor Ali.^[9] He also appeared on MGK's End of the Road from the Lace Up album. Blackbear released an EP, The Afterglow, on April 20, 2014.^[10] This landed him as number four on Billboard's Uncharted listing of releases from upcoming artists.^[1]

In 2014, Blackbear became one of the first independent artists to monetize streaming on SoundCloud.^[11]

2015: Deadroses and Help

Blackbear released his first full-length album, Deadroses, a self-released set of 10 tracks, on February 14, 2015. Blogger Redleaf Goldteeth wrote that the album had "pleasantly mixed together a plethora of genres, sounds, and emotions to create a completely cohesive and unique project."^[12] The lead single, "Idfc", charted on Billboard's R&B Hot 100 and held a spot on the Billboard R&B charts for over a year. The track has earned millions of streams on both SoundCloud and Spotify. It has been streamed over 22.5 million times on SoundCloud and Idfc (Tarro Remix) has over 93 million views as of April 2017. "Idfc" shot Blackbear to the top 20 of the Billboard charts.^[13] The second single, "90210", features G-Eazy and gained over 11 million streams on SoundCloud and over 9 million streams on Spotify.^[14][15]

Deadroses was followed by the EP Dead, which featured acoustic versions of four Deadroses tracks, as well as one new track, "Weak When Ur Around".^[16][17]

He released his second full-length album, Help, on November 27, 2015.^[18] Although Help didn't match the success of Deadroses, its track "Different Hos" has been featured on celebrity Kylie Jenner's Snapchat several times. In addition, blackbear's music video for "Slide Thru" caught significant attention on Twitter and Youtube for its Wes Anderson vibes through its whimsical, colorful videography.

2016: Drink Bleach and Cashmere Noose EPs

On April 20, 2016, Blackbear released his fourth EP, Drink Bleach, which featured appearances from "Boyfriend" collaborator Mike Posner as well as American hip-hop recording artist and The HBK Gang co-founder P-Lo.^[19]

During the rest of the year, Blackbear was featured on several tracks from other artists and toured with Hoodie Allen, whose 2016 track and Happy Camper promotional single "Champagne and Pools" also featured Blackbear. Other activity in mid-2016 included joining Super Duper Kyle & Tinashe on their tours that year, and having the Blackbear track "NYLA" featured in the documentary Hot Girls Wanted on Netflix.^[20]

On August 2, 2016, Blackbear released his fifth EP, titled Cashmere Noose, through SoundCloud.^[21] He handled the EP's production entirely on his own through his production collective Bear Trap Records. The EP originally included a feature from American rapper Mod Sun on the track "Spent All My Money On Rick Owens Cargo Pants", but this track was removed from the EP's final cut and replaced with "Wanderlust" and "Flirt Right Back".^[22] The original version of Cashmere Noose, however, can still be found on Blackbear's SoundCloud page.^[23] The final version of Cashmere Noose peaked at number one on the iTunes R&B charts and number six overall on iTunes, just behind Beyonce's Lemonade and Drake's Views.^[24]

Blackbear was also featured in Olivia O'Brien's single "Root Beer Float", released September 15, 2016.^[25] He also released the track "If I Could I Would Feel Nothing," a freestyle originally posted on his twitter ^[26] that eventually became a promotional single for his upcoming third studio album.

2016–present: Mansionz, Digital Druglord, and Cybersex

In late 2016, Blackbear formed the alternative hip hop and R&B duo Mansionz with frequent collaborator and singer-songwriter Mike Posner. Mansionz have been active since 2016 and are based out of Los Angeles, California. The duo released their debut single, "STFU", on December 9, 2016. The song features rapper Spark Master Tape. Mansionz released two more singles in early 2017, "Rich White Girls" and "Dennis Rodman", the latter of which features the basketball player Dennis Rodman. Both of these singles, along with "STFU", were featured on Mansionz' self-titled debut album which was released on March 24, 2017, and features guest appearances from G-Eazy, Soren Bryce, CyHi the Prynce, and Snoozegod.^[27]

Also in 2016, Blackbear went to the hospital for what he thought was acid reflux. Doctors diagnosed him with necrotic pancreatitis and went through multiple surgeries and stays in the hospital over the year. While being in the hospital, he wrote Digital Druglord based on his experiences with alcohol and drugs. In an interview with Vice's music channel Noisey, Blackbear states that the cover art for his album is not to glorify the use of pharmaceuticals, but because he now has to take prescription drugs to stay alive due to his illness.^[28]

Blackbear also released music on his own in early 2017. On January 29, 2017, he posted the track "Make Daddy Proud," a remix of Jeremy Zucker's "Heavy," on his SoundCloud page. The track was later confirmed to be the next promotional single for his third studio album Digital Druglord. On March 17, 2017, Blackbear released the lead single for Digital Druglord, titled "Do Re Mi".^[29] He toured with Fall Out Boy for their Mania Tour from October 20, 2017, to November 18, 2017.

On April 2, 2017, shortly before the release of Digital Druglord, Blackbear released a short acoustic EP titled Salt on his SoundCloud. Digital Druglord was released on April 20, 2017. It featured the single "Do Re Mi" along with both promotional singles "If I Could I Would Feel Nothing" and "Make Daddy Proud".^[30]

Blackbear collaborated with many artists in 2016 and 2017, working with American rock band Linkin Park as well as Jacob Sartorius and Phoebe Ryan.^[31] He also signed a 10 million dollar distribution deal with Interscope on June 22, 2017 that gave the label the rights to Digital Druglord, Blackbear's next studio album and their respective singles.^[32]

Blackbear released a song on SoundCloud in September 2017 titled "froze over". The track was written and produced by Good Intent and Blackbear. It would later appear in Cybersex as a two part interlude titled "thursday/froze over".

On August 18, 2017, Blackbear announced his next project, a mixtape named Cybersex, by way of an Instagram post.^[33] The name Cybersex comes from blackbears infatuation with the internet. In an interview with Pigeons & Planes, he talks about how the internet is why he is here and how cybersex was the first form of sexting. He states how he finds the internet interesting and how you can now fall asleep with your loved one in another country, due to technology.^[6] On October 6, 2017, a song titled "Playboy Shit" was released on Blackbear's PornHub account and confirmed to be a part of the project. "Playboy Shit", which features rapper Lil Aaron, was released on iTunes and Spotify one week later, on October 13.^[34] On October 20, 2017, Blackbear released the single "Bright Pink Tims" featuring Cam'ron. On November 27, 2017, Musto's 27th birthday, his album Cybersex was released.

On April 26, 2018, "About You", a song written by Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda regarding the death of his bandmate Chester Bennington, was released featuring Blackbear.^[35]

On August 23, 2018, “the 1” got released. A single by Blackbear, produced by FRND. The song is about Blackbears previous relationships and how all of them were not so great, it's also about that he has to come to terms with his inner demons because he can't seem to fight them. Blackbear is also famous for teasing his songs and albums before releasing them through twitter. If you are eager to know when his next song/album will get released then just keep your eyes open for some lyrics on his twitter.^[36]