Mateus Asato has announced a break from music and removed his Instagram account. The 27-year-old virtuoso cited a loss of inspiration due to the COVID-19 pandemic and feeling “overwhelmed” by social media as the main causes.
Asato shared a statement via his Instagram account – which he had renamed @brb, yesterday (7 February) – explaining that he’d be taking an indefinite break. He admitted he hadn’t “played guitar for 3 weeks,” the longest he can recall of staying away from the instrument.
“This feels very weird because I don’t even feel the excitement of grabbing my guitar to enjoy the goodness and blessings that music creates on us artistically,” Asato wrote. “I honestly didn’t want to blame the pandemic but I got to a point where my inspiration simply disappeared.”
In another Instagram story, Asato announced that he would be taking an indefinite hiatus from social media, citing its adverse effects on his musicianship.
“I am [concluding] my relationship with social media in general. Instagram is a place where I will be forever thankful in terms of my career (I’ve met my biggest heroes and had the coolest opportunities through IG) – but I’m sincerely overwhelmed,” he wrote.
“Instagram helped musicians to get better at business, at making flawless-performance videos (after uncountable takes),” he continued. “I got lost inside the boxes of the 15s-60s videos.”
“I have a big feeling that we are losing the essence of [musical] interaction, establishing patterns based on the same 4 bars chord progressions to start the vibe. Anyways. Sorry if this offends any community related to music. It’s time for a break. I’ll be back soon, hopefully.”
Asato has since taken down his Instagram account – which had amassed over a million followers, according to speakrj.com – and along with it, the statement.
See screen caps of Asato’s announcement below:
Mateus Asato rose to fame posting videos of his playing on YouTube and Instagram. Last year, the Brazilian guitarist collaborated with Canadian singer-songwriter Renforshort for a cover Feel Good Inc. by the Gorillaz.
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