44phantom

Brayton Matthews, born in Oklahoma, performs under the name 44phantom and delivers a turbulent emotional fusion of alternative rock, indie pop, and post-grunge. Early exposure to music created lasting ties for him with figures such as Kurt Cobain, Carrie Underwood, Bob Dylan, Lil Wayne, and Drake. He chose 44phantom after noticing the numeral’s recurring, unexplained presence in his family’s pattern of achievements and hardships. The 2019 streaming release “Break Your Heart” brought widespread attention once the track accumulated millions of plays across platforms. Building on that momentum, he issued the Bittersweet EP the following year, which contained the additional streaming success “Poison.” On the 2021 project Die Sometime, It’s Good for U he examined the pressures that accompanied sudden recognition, then scored his strongest commercial result later the same year through the Machine Gun Kelly collaboration “Don’t Sleep Repeat.” His first full-length album, All My Bad Feelings, reached audiences in 2023, led by the singles “FMU” and “I Feel Like Crying.”