Matthew Ifield: The Vulnerable Journey Of ‘My Favourite Place To Be’

Photographs by Sara Regan
Hair and Makeup by Lucy Jackson

From discovering his voice at the tender age of 4 to headlining shows across the globe, Matthew Ifield's journey in music is a credit to natural talent nurtured by a passionate fanbase. Growing up in a musical family, Ifield learned various instruments and got his first taste of performing in a choir very early on. However, it was a school musical that truly ignited his passion for songwriting and a career in music. He quickly became an online sensation in 2019, gaining traction mid-lockdown in Sydney by posting covers of artists like Michael Bublé and Frank Sinatra.

Fast forward to 2025, with his highly anticipated debut album, My Favourite Place To Be set to drop in a matter of days, Ifield admits to feeling both "excited and nervous." This deeply personal collection of songs has been years in the making whilst marking a significant shift in his creative process. It was Ifield’s first time collaborating extensively with other writers and producers. Despite the initial trepidation, he embraced these sessions, valuing the creative feedback and shared storytelling that infused the album with diverse perspectives, culminating in a refreshing sound drawn from varied influences like Jacob Collier. The album unfolds as a poignant narrative of relationships, from the exhilarating highs to the crushing lows. 

Tracks like Dinner For Two evoke the warmth of early romance. It’s the perfect track to listen to as you imagine having a meal at a fancy restaurant, or walking into a hotel lobby. Ifield confirms it's based on a similar experience, "just having dinner with her and just falling in love even more.” 

We then delve into deeper emotional territory with When I Loved You and Ready For Love questioning "are you ever really ready for love?". And when I asked him for his answer, he didn’t hesitate sharing that he doesn’t believe so "because you're always going to feel that way. The only way to figure it out is to give it a go."

Start From Scratch and My Favorite Place To Be (the title track) introduce a more upbeat, funky sound, reflecting a period of optimism. Ifield notes the album's fluctuating emotional landscape, that hopeful period filled with desire to "forget about everything that happened in the past." amongst the heartbreak of realising what you lost. 

Once you get to the end of the album, you can understand the perfectly curated narrative arc in the project as we face a rather emotional conclusion to the album with She Doesn’t Care About Me, In The Event Of Her Departure, and She Likes Me. Peeling back the layers we get a whole new vulnerable side to Ifield “the realization that it’s the right person, wrong time." Just accepting that "no matter like what you're feeling, it's not going to change anything... life will happen and you have to roll with it, and hold on along the way.”

Ifield is also about to embark on his headline Australian tour. Whilst he is still quite new to touring, his favorite part about playing live shows is "meeting these new people," particularly enjoying the "music nerds" in the crowd who share his passion. Australian crowds, he notes, are "always super rowdy and it makes it super fun, super intense and chaotic."

If you’re headed to one of his upcoming shows, you can expect "a lot of fun" as he plays "music from the album and some more unreleased tracks as well." Matthew will be joined by his band; Holly Connor on drums, Lauren White on bass, and Tash Wolf on guitar, who are fast becoming "one big happy family" as they embark on this exciting new chapter.

Make sure you grab tickets to a show near you here and listen to his debut album, My Favourite Place To Be out on August 8!