Q&A with M.D.A.

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Max David Alfaro Chávez (born 26 November 2007), known professionally as M.D.A., is a Latino-American singer-songwriter, producer, podcaster and composer. Earning an estimated 3 million streams annually, he has become a successful musician since the age of 12. 

Background Information 

Birth name:

Max David Alfaro Chávez

Born:

26 November 2007 (age 17)

Place of birth:

Escondido, California, U.S.

Genres:

latin pop • pop • trap • reggaetón • latin pop • hip hop • 

Occupation(s):

Singer • songwriter • beat maker • producer

Years active:

2020-present

Labels:

Anonymous Beats • Optik Frank Entertainment • M.D.A. Productions International

Website:

mdabeats.godaddysites.com

M.D.A. made his professional debut in 2020 with the now defunct band, MDTCK which consisted of 5 members. Whilst the band never released anything officially, many of the members released solo projects during this era, including M.D.A. during this time. It was around this time that he began his solo career while at the Anonymous Beats label. He became a solo star with the release of his 2020 debut single My Inner Mexican. His success on the popular music app BandLab led him to publish his music on other platforms such as Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music and more. His success also led to the eventual release of his instrumental  albums They’re Watching You (2020), It Hurts (2021), and Authentically (2022)

He has collaborated with minimal artists, with only 2 collaborations in the first half of the 2020’s.  M.D.A. worked with music producer L.G.R.M for the remix of his 2021 single, Honrado Por Ser Mexicano and worked with relative and singer, Chalo Jr. in 2023 for the hit single, Falso Amor. Whilst he has been at the center of controversy a few times during the length of his musical  career, his music has still gained international attention, reaching countries across Latin America, Europe and more. 

EARLY LIFE

M.D.A. was born on 26 November 2007 in Escondido, California. He is the oldest of 4 children of Lilian Chávez Alfaro and Maximiano Alfaro. He has 3 siblings and 2 pet cats. When M.D.A. was young, his father introduced him to many artists and different genres of music. M.D.A. later credited this for his love of music as well as for his admiration of singers Michael Jackson and Gloria Trevi.

When he was in elementary school, M.D.A. learned to play the drums and various percussion instruments. When in middle school,  he learned to play the Xylophone and taught himself to play a few songs on it. During his 8th grade Winter Concert, his band teacher liked his Xylophone rendition of O Tannenbaum so much she allowed him to have a solo. For a year, his music teacher was American composer Grayhawk, whom M.D.A. credits as one of his influences. It was in middle school that he released his first single, My Inner Mexican. 

He is set to graduate from high school in 2026 and has an average GPA of 4.17

MUSICAL CAREER 

In 2019 when M.D.A. was twelve years old, he became the lead member of the band MDTCK which gained minimal fame on the aforementioned BandLab. The group had an album planned, titled Dancer, which was set to be released in 2020 with an accompanying tour but due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other reasons, these plans were scrapped. Slowly, the group disbanded as they all aimed to have solo careers, with M.D.A. 's being the most successful. M.D.A. wrote and is said to have possibly recorded various demos but none have been released, with the exception of We’ve Had Enough which was released as a bonus cut on the deluxe edition reissue of his first instrumental album. After MDTCK disbanded, M.D.A. released remixes for My Inner Mexican which led to more traction, earning him more and more followers on BandLab before the release of future singles.

2020: INTERNATIONAL BREAKOUT AND THEY’RE WATCHING YOU

After the success of My Inner Mexican, the beat maker released My Inner Mexican (Boogie Mix) which was used to promote the single in Europe. While it was popular, it didn’t get the amount of success he had hoped for. Weeks later, he released his first proper international release, Don’t Give Up. Also released in January, the country-pop single became a huge international hit, despite only being available on BandLab and YouTube when first released. In the following months he released more successful singles including They’re Watching You, I Like The Way You Love Me (His most popular single at the time) and They’re Coming. Soon after, he announced his first album titled They’re Watching You which was to be released in May of 2020. When released, it was streamed heavily on the two platforms it was on. A month later he was signed to Optik Frank Entertainment, and left his former label, Anonymous Beats. His first album was available on every major streaming platform after that. However, the label was later shut down and M.D.A. 's album was removed from streaming even after getting more international attention. A month later in July of 2020, M.D.A. formed his own label, M.D.A. Productions International. Soon after, he began publishing all of his singles and his album on all major streaming platforms, starting with what at the time was his most recent single, Our Lives Matter/Congrats. He released the final singles for the album, I Can’t Take It Anymore, We Are Forever Together, What Have We Done? and I’m Sorry due to the success of the album.

2020-2021: IT HURTS ERA, CLUB REMIXES, AND WE CAN DO THIS

Later in July, the artist released his single, It Hurts off of his next album of the same name. It gained many streams, becoming most popular in Brazil. Due to the success of previous remixes of songs from his previous album (particularly in Europe and Africa), the musician also released It Hurts (The Dubs) which contained 10 versions and remixes of the It Hurts track. The second single was soon announced. Originally slated for an August 1, 2020 release, I’ll Always Be Loving You was delayed (due to personal reasons) and released on September 26, 2020. The latin based, bossa nova track became a success and became one of the most successful singles off of the album. The following month, he released his trap single, In The Woods which became a hit, partly due to the fact it was released on Halloween of 2020. The fourth single, Lies was released on November 19, 2020. The dance-pop/edm track contained the first official megamix of hits from his first album.  As of 2024, the single was one of the most viewed videos on his Youtube channel. The last release of the year, I Don’t Think So was one of the most successful off the It Hurts album and it contained a previously unreleased outtake. M.D.A. took a short break and began 2021 with his Instagram Original Series, Music Making in which he posted unreleased demos every week and discussed the process behind making it. This series was met with mild attention with the most popular episode being from the first season, titled Jasmine Snippets which later evolved into his single, Jasmine. After 2 short seasons, the series was cancelled. On January 21, 2021 M.D.A. released his much anticipated second album, It Hurts which when first released, was more popular than his first album. It was released a day early in Mexico and was heavily promoted with special eps and singles. The hip-hop based album was met with rousing reviews from critics and fans alike. For its original release, the album was released with 10 different covers for a limited time. Soon after, My Inner Mexican (The Remixes) was released to commemorate the anniversary of the artist’s debut single. Despite containing only 2 new remixes, it was very popular both in his native country and internationally. The success of this single eventually led to more remix singles and eventually, remix albums. After It Hurts was released, it was so successful that 7 more hit singles from the album were able to be released. Eventually only I’ll Love You Like No One Has was not issued as a single from its parent album. On Earth Day of that year, the standalone single We Can Do This was released for charity. To increase streams and raise more funds, it was issued in 5 different versions containing popular remixes of his older songs. All the remixes issued in this era also gained attention in some clubs in foreign countries, and that also helped strengthen M.D.A.‘s international fanbase. 

2021: THEY’RE WATCHING YOU ANNIVERSARY, i’m lost, AND SPANISH CROSSOVER

May of 2021 saw the first anniversary of his debut album, and to celebrate, a new single or album was to be released everyday in May. It began with the release of They’re Watching You (Remastered) and ended with the release of various singles from the digital box set, The Singles Collection. However, the latter half of the May releases were not originally released in the United States. Along with those releases, M.D.A. also reissued his album as a Deluxe Edition which contained demos, rare songs and several previously unreleased tracks. Two of the unreleased songs, Cheater and Goin’ Back, were issued as singles. This version of the album went on to surpass the original in streams on Spotify. 2021 also saw the release of many compilation albums. This included his first compilation, Anthology which apart from including 14 of his greatest hits, also contained 6 bonus remixes and a brand new maxi single. This compilation was very popular when released. On August 10, 2021 he released a surprise single, i’m lost which was previously announced for an October release. The single became his most popular up to that point, and is still considered one of his best. The ambient track was praised as the start of a new era in M.D.A.’s music. After releasing Study Music, Vol. 1, M.D.A. decided to attempt a spanish crossover, and released the latin pop track, Honrado Por Ser Mexicano. A remix followed, done by younger producer, L.G.R.M however the original track was the most popular version. 

2021-2022: STOP F**KING WITH ME, CONTROVERSY AND AUTHENTICALLY

In November of 2022, the beat maker announced his next album, Authentically and released the lead single, Stop F**king With Me on November 18. He released the metal/rock track after being inspired by The Stooges’ I Wanna Be Your Dog as well as other metal and rock music. The single caused controversy, due to its vulgar title. Some speculated that the entire album would be explicit. M.D.A. reassured the public that the single would be the only one with a vulgar title, and that while some of the themes on the album would be darker than previous work, the album would for the most part be family-friendly. When opening up about the single and controversy, he stated he had no regrets in releasing it and that the most difficult part was showing it to his parents and family. “I wanted to try something different” he explained as he had wanted to show that he was capable of making music in different genres, something he has done successfully many times before.  On his birthday that year, he began his M.D.A. Day campaign to get more streams for his music, as he pledged to donate all profits from that day to charity. The same day he released his next single from his third album, Grateful. On November 27, 2021, M.D.A..’s next compilation, ¡Mis Éxitos! was released exclusively in Mexico before being added to his Spotify and Apple Music profiles worldwide after some time. In the following months, he released two more singles for the Authentically album. Those being Believe and Jasmine. All four singles for the album performed very well and each one became more popular than the previous release. February 2, 2022 saw the release of his third studio album, Authentically. Originally critics speculated that the album would be the “Same old thing” as previous albums. The album did very well however, and after a few days became his most streamed album at the time of its release. Containing 27 tracks, it is one of his longest albums to date. Among the new tracks was Mi Amor and while it wasn’t officially issued as a single, it became one of the most popular songs on the album. After a few months, many official remixes began to circulate to promote the album. More singles were expected to be released but were cancelled for unknown reasons.

2022-PRESENT: DANCE! The AUTHENTICALLY MIXES, Falso Amor & more

In February of 2023, it was announced that DANCE! The Authentically Mixes was going to be released as a sequel to his previous Authentically album. The latter was later released and upon its debut, the first song on the album titled Fallin’ For You became the most popular. The remix album is the musician’s 6th remix album and it contains both remixes from his previous album and 5 previously unreleased tracks. M.D.A. was applauded for blending genres of music on this project, such as with the song Latin Lover, which mixed the rhythms of latin pop, edm, and traditional latin instruments together. His DANCE! album became a hit in many countries and in some places it did better than the original Authentically album. In the beginning of March, M.D.A. posted a teaser for his then-upcoming single, Falso Amor which was rumored to have been worked on since August of 2022. He later announced the release date for March 24th, and that the song would be a collaborative effort with Chalo Jr., a regional Mexican/trap singer. The song was released and was a major hit for the pair. It quickly accumulated 1,000 views on YouTube in less than 48 hours of being released. It became M.D.A.’s most streamed song on all platforms, and on YouTube it is currently his second most watched YouTube video of all time. A few months later, in May of 2023, the singer released his second vocal single, Agradecido. This song was his first solo-vocal single and was announced to be the lead single off of his next album. The pop ballad became a hit, but it did not surpass Falso Amor in streams. Next, he released Helado. This track was considered his “most pop song yet” and while it became more popular than Agradecido, it did not surpass Falso Amor. The singer stopped releasing music for the rest of the summer season to work on new material, but would tease his next song through cryptic messages on Instagram and other platforms. Phrases such as, “Y también me acuerdo de lo tanto que hablabas de que tan guapo era Omar…” began to be posted on his Instagram accounts and some began to speculate the track would be called anything between Omar, Que Guapo or that he would finally be releasing the previously announced (then postponed) track, El Oro. The singer soon announced the release of his next song, Óyelo. The song spawned controversy because the way the singer pronounced the name of the song sounded to many like he was saying the name of his partner at the time. In November of 2023, the singer began to perform his songs live for the first time. He performed Popurrí Cumpleañero at his birthday celebration that year in order to tease his upcoming shows. Several standalone performances followed, before he began his Alfa Hits concert series in 2024. It was also at this time the singer announced he would be updating the covers of all of his singles from 2022 and before to have new, updated covers as he had gotten the help of someone for the original versions and he wanted to distance himself from that person. In January of 2024, M.D.A. released Pasión as a single for his then upcoming compilation album, Number Ones which had been postponed a number of times since 2022. Following the release of Pasión, he released Dragón which he dedicated to victims of abuse and toxic relationships. M.D.A. later revealed that his decision came about as he was in an abusive relationship at the time of its release. After a handful of performances, the singer took a break before releasing his first english-vocal song, everybody’s girlfriend and its parent album, Number Ones. The compilation was met with great success, and was applauded for its inclusion of the beats that originally made M.D.A. popular in the early 2020’s. In August of 2024, he released LA QUE SE FUE, which is a heartbreak reggaeton song he says was inspired by Katy Perry’s The One That Got Away. In September of that same year, M.D.A.’s Alfa Hits concerts were rebranded as Alfa Hits: ¡Latinos al Ritmo! to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, where he sang a cover of Gloria Trevi’s Con Los Ojos Cerrados and Sufran Con Lo Que Yo Gozo for the first time. After a successful performance in October, the singer announced a break from performing to work on his album. In December of 2024 he released his first christmas track, titled Mi Deseo and has since been working on his album and several other projects.

PERSONAL LIFE

M.D.A. recently came forward to open up about a previous abusive relationship he was in. The alleged abuse committed by his girlfriend occurred between 2021 and 2024. Many around him had previously raised concerns about abnormal things that the singer had said were “normal” to him but he remained with her until August of 2024, after being hospitalized in June due to a panic attack caused by an argument with her. While he has been vague on the subject publically, M.D.A. has said he will eventually release a series in which he will open up about the things he endured. Aside from this, he maintains that he lives a peaceful life now, with the help of God, his music, his family and his fans.

INFLUENCES

M.D.A. credits his mother and father as his main inspirations for everything in life. For his artistic influences, M.D.A. credits many artists including, Michael Jackson and Gloria Trevi as both his favorite artists and his biggest inspirations. He explained that after his father bought him a video game based on Jackson’s music, M.D.A. began to delve more into the artist and that Jackson was his main inspiration for wanting to release his own music. Similarly, Gloria Trevi’s music inspired him to sing in Spanish. 

DISCOGRAPHY 

Albums:

They’re Watching You (2020)

It Hurts (2021)

They’re Watching You - Remastered (2021)

The Extended Mixes (2021)

They’re Watching You: The Remixes, vol 1 (2021)

They’re Watching You: The Remixes, vol 2 (2021)

They’re Watching You: The Remixes, vol 3 (2021)

They’re Watching You: The Remixes, vol 4 (2021)

They’re Watching You: The Remixes, vol 5 (2021)

They’re Watching You - Deluxe Edition (2021)

Anthology (2021)

¡Mis Éxitos! (2021)

Authentically (2022)

Dance! The Authentically Remixes (2023)

Number Ones (2024)

Singles & EPs:

My Inner Mexican (2020)

Don’t Give Up (2020)

They’re Watching You (2020)

I Like The Way You Love Me (2020)

They’re Coming (2020)

Our Lives Matter/Congrats (2020)

I Can’t Take It Anymore (2020)

We Are Forever Together (2020)

What Have We Done? [The Anthems] (2020)

What Have We Done? (2020)

I’m Sorry (2020)

It Hurts (2020)

I’ll Always Be Loving You (2020)

In The Woods (2020)

Lies (2020)

I Don’t Think So (2020)

My Inner Mexican [The Remixes] (2021)

Alex Alfredo (2021)

The Hawk (2021)

Let Us Be (2021)

I Won’t Judge You (2021)

Mindless (2021)

How Did I Meet Her (2021)

Why Am I So Different (2021)

We Can Do This (2021)

We Can Do This [Remix Single 1] (2021)

We Can Do This [Remix Single 2] (2021)

We Can Do This [Remix Single 3] (2021)

My Inner Mexican [The Remixes, Part 2] (2021)

The Love Songs (2021)

The Demos (2021)

Cheater (2021)

Goin’ Back (2021)

i’m lost (2021)

Study Music, Vol. 1 (2021)

Honrado Por Ser Mexicano (2021)

Honrado Por Ser Mexicano [L.G.R.M Remix] (2021)

Stop Fucking With Me (2021)

Grateful (2021)

Believe (2021)

Jasmine (2022)

Falso Amor (2023)

Agradecido (2023)

Helado (2023)

Óyelo (2023)

Óyelo [Alfa Remix] (2023)

Pasión (2024)
Pasión [Passionate Club Mix] (2024)

Óyelo [Trance Remix] (2024)

Dragon (2024)

everybody’s girlfriend (2024)

LA QUE SE FUE (2024)

Mi Deseo (2024)