Matoma

Norway’s Tom Stræte Lagergren (aka Matoma) is a DJ and producer known for his dance-oriented tropical house music. He initially garnered attention with his remixes, scoring a 2015 European hit with a remix of Notorious B.I.G.’s “Old Thing Back,” which paved the way for his star-studded 2016 debut, Hakuna Matoma, with vocals by Dua Lipa, Jason Derulo, Becky Hill, and more. In 2018, he reached the Top 20 of the Norwegian and Billboard dance club charts with his sophomore album, One in a Million. Following tracks with MNEK, Ally Brooke, Wilder Woods, and more, Matoma returned in 2021 with the Rytme EP.
Born in Åsnes in 1991, Lagergren initially started out playing classical piano in his youth. It wasn’t until his teenage years spent listening to his older brother’s music collection — including albums by Paul van Dyk, Tiesto, and Armin van Buuren — that he became increasingly interested in electronic dance music. After high school, Lagergren, who had already started remixing and releasing tracks online as Matoma, furthered his studies by earning his bachelor’s degree in Music Technology from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. By 2014, he had started to gain international recognition for his Matoma remixes, including cuts for Jessie J, Akon, Enrique Iglesias, and others. In 2015, he scored a hit in Europe and New Zealand with a remix of Notorious B.I.G.’s “Old Thing Back.” That year, Lagergren also released his own debut single as Matoma, “Feeling Right (Everything Is Nice),” featuring rapper Wale and Jamaican dancehall singer Popcaan. That track found its way onto his debut LP, Hakuna Matoma, which arrived at the end of the year. Additional guests included Becky Hill, Sean Paul, Astrid S, Akon, Frenship, and remixes of Dua Lipa’s “Hotter Than Hell,” Jason Derulo’s “Try Me,” and Coldplay’s “Adventure of a Lifetime.”
In 2017, Lagergren issued the single “Girl at Coachella” featuring Magic! and D.R.A.M. It was followed by “Party on the West Coast,” a tropical redux mix featuring Snoop Dogg and samples from Faith Evans and the late Notorious B.I.G., which was a chart hit in Norway. He also collaborated with British boy band the Vamps on their 2017 song “All Night.” Following the track “Lonely” featuring MAX, Matoma released his sophomore LP, One in a Million, in 2018. The set peaked just outside the Top Ten on the Norwegian charts and yielded the modest hit “Slow” featuring Noah Cyrus. The next year, he teamed with MNEK and Kiana Ledé for “Bruised Not Broken” and Bryn Christopher on “All Around the World.” An EP, Rytme, arrived in May 2020 and included guest appearances by Brando and Anna Clendening. Following “Good Vibes” with HRVY, Matoma released more of his own non-album singles, including 2020′s “Wow” featuring Emma Steinbakken and 2021′s “Never Surrender” with Steve Garrigan. ~ Matt Collar & Neil Z. Yeung