Watch: Tyler Ballgame – ‘Matter of Taste’

Tyler Ballgame, Rough Trade Records’ astonishingly gifted, infectious crooner shares new single ‘Matter of Taste’ and its accompanying video. This is the latest track to be released from his stunning debut album For the First Time, Again, out January 30th, 2026 and follows earlier album singles ‘I Believe in Love’ and ‘Got a New Car’.

A hook-laden rocker, ‘Matter of Taste’ shows Ballgame and his band cutting loose, with what the singer-songwriter calls the trademark  “Ballgame voice”. Lyrics like “Don’t let me go to waste / No I wasn’t worth my salt / Just a matter of taste / You don’t know me at all” acknowledge a desire for love – from a person, an audience – but also assert that it is just fine if one doesn’t receive it. “That’s not a rejection of me as a person, it’s just a matter of taste,” Ballgame explains.

For the First Time, Again was recorded with acclaimed indie producer-multi-instrumentalists Jonathan Rado (Foxygen, Miley Cyrus, Weyes Blood) and Ryan Pollie (Los Angeles Police Department). Known as unapologetic “analog fetishists,” Rado and Pollie shape the sonics of Ballgame’s work with propulsive acoustic guitar, soulful rhythms, colorful keyboards, occasional horns, and lush harmonies, all rendered with the same recording technology as in classic albums of the ‘60s and ‘70s. Drummer Amy Aileen Wood (Fiona Apple) and bassist Wayne Whitaker contribute mightily to the pulse and character of the album.

Ballgame traces the genesis of For the First Time, Again to a pivotal moment that almost didn’t happen. Stuck in his native New England, depressed and isolated during the pandemic, living in his parents’ basement, Ballgame knew in his heart he was destined for a life in music. He’d known it since he was a child growing up with a classically trained music teacher mom, who encouraged him to joyfully perform anytime, anywhere – which he did, to great effect. He’d known it when he obsessively downloaded classic rock from Napster, and when more than one teacher at the prestigious Berklee College of Music told him he had the goods, as both songwriter and vocalist. As Ballgame says, “I think I’m meant to sing for people.”

Post-Berklee musical endeavors were fun, but nothing caught fire. Demons of doubt crept in. At his lowest point, Ballgame toiled on the cover band circuit, playing three nights a week in Rhode Island bars. Feeling he had little to lose, Ballgame applied online for an office job in Los Angeles, where he’d never set foot, and got the gig. With encouragement from a life-changing, body-positive-centric counselor, and the support of his family, Ballgame left the East Coast, he says, “in desperation to find myself.” As traveling companions, he carried books by philosophers Eckhart Tolle (The Power of Now) and Alan Watts (The Way of Zen).

Soon, Ballgame was renting a room at Venice Beach, and slaying at a weekly open mic, playing his own songs. These low-stakes baby steps, Ballgame says, “spiraled out into a community. The move was the best thing that ever happened to me. It opened my eyes to the nature of risk, and the nature of betting on yourself. My whole album is about that experience.”

After a year of growing an ever-larger audience wowed by his extraordinary voice, charismatic stage presence, and catchy repertoire, Ballgame met Eastside L.A. movers-shakers Pollie and Rado. The deeply impressed duo told him, “Let’s make a record – now!” Within a month, Ballgame had written a plethora of new songs including earlier stand-alone single ‘Got A New Car’ which appears on the album.

On For the First Time, Again, Tyler Ballgame and his talented circle of fellow music-makers enthusiastically offer listeners songs to fill them with hope, acceptance, delirious happiness, and support for rough roads ahead. For healing to occur, Ballgame offers, “We need to dissolve into experience.” With its gorgeous melodies, wise invocations, irrepressible – and sometimes mischievous – generosity of spirit, and THAT VOICE, For the First Time Again is in itself an amazing experience.

Pre-order / Pre-save For the First Time, Again here.
Stream / download ‘Matter of Taste’ here.