Matisyahu made waves in recent months, and it wasn’t for the musician’s creative blend of reggae and hip-hop.
It was about the hair.
In December, the artist known for his observant Orthodox Judaism, cut his hair and shaved his beard. More recently, photos popped up of Matisyahu sporting tightly cropped, blond-dyed hair.
The Internet filled with fans and commentators adding their two cents, wondering what it all meant.
| Onstage |
| Matisyahu |
| Where: Wolf Trap’s Filene Center, 1645 Trap Road, Vienna |
| When: 3 p.m. Sunday |
| Info: $29 lawn, $38 in-house; 877-965-3872; wolftrap.org |
“That’s a beautiful things about life,” said Matisyahu, 34, during a phone interview from his home in Los Angeles. “Things can happen that you wouldn’t expect. Your life is yours to choose what to do with it. It’s your experiment. You can try on different ideas and try on different looks.
“At the end of the day, no one knows the truth; nobody knows the answers,” he continued. “You have to go where inspiration is. You have to go where you feel most authentic, where you feel things resonating. People talk all the time. It’s sad when people are locked into their ideas or into their version or their perception to the point they can’t stand seeing people do what they don’t agree with.”
Matisyahu performs Sunday at Wolf Trap.
While all things follicle might interest some, Matisyahu’s new album, “Spark Seeker,” features much more nuance. The thirteen-track effort that drops July 17 boasts lush, uplifting, danceable beats and insightful lyrics. The first single is “Sunshine.”
“There’s a lot of different things that come together on this record from a sort of uplifting dance vibe to this very heavy internal struggle and searching,” said Matisyahu, who added he recorded much of the album in Israel. “There’s a desert element to the record. I think a lot of it had to do with our trip, where we actually went into the desert and spent some time there.”
Matisyahu plans to tour through the end of the year and feed off those close to him. No matter his hair.
“You meet all kinds of people on the road, all kinds of people with all kinds of agendas,” he said. “When you find people who support each other, real friends that care about each other and you share the musical side, it’s amazing.”
