Kyle Matthyew Reminds Us to Disconnect and Find Joy in the Little Things on “Garden Song”

In a world where every moment seems destined for a social media feed, Orange County indie-folk singer-songwriter Kyle Matthyew is encouraging listeners to put their phones down and experience life as it happens. His latest single, “Garden Song,” offers a refreshing perspective on happiness, human connection, and the beauty of slowing down.

Raised along the beaches of Southern California, Kyle Matthyew approaches songwriting as an ongoing conversation with himself, exploring the complicated space between optimism and existential uncertainty. His music finds meaning in everyday experiences, often uncovering hope where others might overlook it.

Interestingly, “Garden Song” began with a classroom disagreement.

While attending music school, Kyle Matthyew challenged a teacher's argument about the importance of social media for independent musicians. Although he understood its promotional value, he questioned society's growing dependence on digital validation.

Walking home afterward, one particular thought stayed with him.

“I'm not trying to grow my socials. I'm trying to grow a garden. Where they can lay me down when I'm old and forgotten.”

That reflection became the foundation of “Garden Song,” an unusually lyric-first composition for the singer-songwriter.

The track's message celebrates life's simplest pleasures, from sunlight and dirt-covered hands to meaningful relationships and the satisfaction of doing work you love. Rather than measuring success through online attention, Kyle Matthyew encourages listeners to consider what makes a life genuinely fulfilling.

“I want people to take away feelings of rolling down the car windows and letting the wind mess up their hair,” he shares.

With an accompanying music video on the way, another single titled “Wishing Well” approaching, and a full-length album planned for the new year, Kyle Matthyew is building toward an exciting new chapter.

“Garden Song” is a timely reminder that sometimes the most meaningful thing we can do is simply look up.

“Garden Song” came from a disagreement with a teacher about social media's role in an independent artist's career. Looking back, has writing this song changed how you approach promoting your music, or has it made you even more committed to your original perspective?

It does feel a little silly to be posting on my socials about a song in which the first words are literally, “I’m not trying to grow my socials.” However, I think the message of the song is not so much about social media’s role for independent artists but more about its role in our society as a whole. Because, as an artist, it can really help. You need to reach a large number of people with a little marketing budget? Socials are great for that. But on the flip side, you have the ability to take in way more information than you can handle, a lot of which could not even be real or true. And that’s where I think a lot of harm can be done.

That leaves me still believing in my original perspective. I don’t like social media. Writing and releasing this song has pushed me to find other ways to promote myself without relying on social media. It may be more difficult and potentially lead to me dealing with more rejection, but at the end of the day I can feel like I’m working hard towards something and following a path that I believe in.

The line “I'm not trying to grow my socials. I'm trying to grow a garden” feels like a powerful rejection of how we measure success today. What does a successful life look like to you when you remove numbers, followers, and outside expectations from the equation?

I think a successful life for me is about way more than just music. But let’s start with that because, of course, this is BUZZMUSIC. For my music, I’d like to continue to record and release songs that I’ve written, working with producers and other musicians to bring that to life. I have so much music that I feel like I’m finally ready to share with the world, and it finally feels like the right time for me to do so.

A lot of my music stems from struggles that I’ve had with my mental health, like depression and anxiety, so it would feel like a success as well to hear that someone listened to my music and felt like it helped them out too. That to me feels like what the baseline is right now. As this journey continues, success would be getting to write for other people to help bring their stories to life. And ultimately, I feel like success would be having the opportunity to write an entire movie soundtrack.

You describe your songwriting as a lifelong conversation with yourself, often navigating the space between hopelessness and hope. How has that internal conversation evolved as you've gotten older, and what have your songs helped you understand about yourself?

I think the internal conversation has evolved as a way for me to be introspective without it leading to an existential crisis. Throughout my life, I’ve really struggled with depression and anxiety that led to insecurities and self-doubt, among dozens of other mental health issues, that stopped me from pursuing music as a career. It wasn’t until I started going to therapy that I was able to write songs about my experiences without the inspiration having to come from some kind of mental breakdown.

As I’ve grown, I’m now able to look back on my experiences and channel those feelings rather than needing to be in the middle of them. It has led to a deeper understanding of myself as a person. There’s still plenty of internal dilemmas I struggle with, but I feel like I’m on a good path. I imagine it’s one of those things that I’ll never fully understand. Which is cool because there’s always going to be room to grow. There’s always going to be more to discover. And hopefully, those discoveries will lead to songs which can help others.

“Garden Song” touches on mortality in a surprisingly peaceful way, suggesting that a life filled with love, meaningful work, and simple pleasures can leave us ready for whatever comes next. Has your relationship with the idea of growing older or dying changed through writing this song?

I don’t know if it was this song specifically or just actually getting older, but my perspective definitely started to change once I turned 30. I realized that aging was the preferable alternative to not aging. This left me with a simple choice. Living.

Jokes aside, I did always have an overwhelmingly dreadful feeling that I would be a part of the 27 club. The group of musicians, actors, etc… that died when they turned 27. It almost felt like a curse at times. Then, when I didn’t die by my 28th birthday, I realized I was just depressed. After doing a lot of work through therapy and self-observation, my relationship with aging started to become much more positive. I started to understand more about my brain and develop habits that helped me see the process of life as something enjoyable, rather than just something that I have to do. This song helps me as a reminder that I love to be outside and in nature, getting my hands dirty, and feeling the sun on my face.  

With “Wishing Well,” an upcoming music video, and a full-length album on the horizon, what larger story are you hoping to tell through this next collection of music, and how does “Garden Song” fit into that vision?

Garden song is just the first seed to be planted that will grow a garden of music. I think it’s a good introduction to who I am and what kind of music I’m making right now. For the music video, I’m working with an insanely talented animator, Jonathan Dingle, who is hand-drawing all these incredible animations. I’ve seen a little bit of what he’s done so far, and I’m genuinely blown away.

“Wishing Well” is the next single that I’m planning to release and it tells more of a story about searching for and finding identity. This song ties into the album a little more than “Garden Song” does thematically, and I’m really excited to get it out into the world. I won’t reveal too much about the album now, but it’s all centered around human nature, our flaws, and our ability to fail and start over again.