Matisyahu Has Much to Say — and So Does His Music: ‘Albums All Tell a Different Chapter of a Story’ (Exclusive)

Matisyahu has spent most of his life moving from place to place, but it seems that the place he is currently in already feels like home.

“We had to be so good on all these moves,” Matisyahu, 44, tells PEOPLE in a recent interview. “We make ourselves feel at home within days.”

The house where the Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter and alternative reggae rock musician currently lives is located right on the Hudson River. “There is a bright side [moving so much],” says Matisyahu, who will embark on a 34-show tour starting Jan. 31. “It’s very cathartic. I think when you move, you get rid of things and throw things away, and start over in a new place.”

And often, the moves this New York-raised, New Jersey-based visionary has made throughout his life also correlate with his album releases.

“All the albums tell a different chapter of the story,” says the narrator, whose career has included seven studio albums, including chart-topping ones Light (2009), youth (2006), i Spark finder (2012). “I can associate different houses with different times in my life. And a lot of my children were born at home, so different houses were different births for my children.”

Matisyahu.

Juliana Ronderos

And while Matisyahu once yearned to own a home in his 30s, he currently prefers to keep his options open. “There is something very special not own anything,” he notes. “It goes back a lot to my Hasidic roots in a certain way I’m just not too attached to anything that’s yours. Our time here is not permanent.”

Certainly, the aging process has begun to directly affect the music making process for Matisyahu, especially on his upcoming EP Keep the fire going.

“It’s an album about endurance,” Matisyahu says of the five-song collection, which will be released on February 2. “It’s about continuing to be an artist as you get older and not letting your flame go out or being consumed by your fire. It’s about the balance between fire and water and how to maintain it. There are a lot of superstars out there who have had very influential and intense life, but they didn’t have the stamina or ability to just keep going.”

Matisyahu’s Hold the Fire.

Courtesy of Press Here Publicity

But as an artist and a man, Matisyahu continues to put in the hard work, and it’s that hard work that he put into his new single, “End of the World.”

“It was hard for me to write that song, to be honest,” Matisyahu says of the track, which premiered exclusively on PEOPLE. “It was one of those that I’ve always loved, but for some reason I kept writing lyrics and melodies for other songs instead. Every time I approached it, it was difficult.”

Everything changed when Matisyahu met a man named Sir Charles Coffey, a poet, producer and singer from Mississippi. “He delivered a verse and chorus that were so good,” Matisyahu remembers. “So I sent him this beat and said, ‘Can I hear what you can do with this?’ And he sent me something back almost immediately.”

Sonically, the song seems different. Heck, the whole EP looks a little different.

“It’s a bit of a different flow,” he admits of the EP, which also included his previous single “Fireproof.” “I had to stretch a little bit. It’s kind of in my wheelhouse, but it’s also a song that makes me pull from new places. And that’s what’s good for me right now.”

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Source: HIS Education