VIDEO PREMIERE: Matt Cornell - 'Where I Wanna Be'

Matt Cornell has returned with a smitten love song dedicated to and recalling his first date with his girlfriend, Sam, Where I Wanna Be.

Strumming an acoustic guitar and singing in a beachside restaurant, Cornell couldn’t sound more in love if he tried, and with Tori Darke and her newlywed husband portraying a couple falling for each other, the Where I Wanna Be music video – exclusively premiering on Countrytown today ahead of its release tomorrow – delivers on the star power and the love. The music video was produced by Jay Seeney (Blacklist Productions).

The music video is vibrant and authentic like it needs to be. Cornell serves the country twang in the country meets pop tune, which you can check out below.

“My girlfriend Sam sent me a message while I was in the car that said, ‘I don’t care where we are or what we’re doing, you’re where I wanna be,’” Cornell recalled about the inspiration for his newest single. “I had a lightbulb moment!” 

What Sam might not have foreseen, though, is that Cornell received the message while on the road with his collaborators, Jared Adlam and Nolan Wynne.

Cornell continued, “I told them the title and that Sam and I met online and mentioned how amazing the first date was. Hence the opening line, ‘I got there early, sat over by the window, thinking about your photo, waiting for you to show.’ Around three hours later, the song was written, and all three of us felt so good about the message and how the song made us feel.”

Where I Wanna Be follows Cornell’s most recent offerings, Stick Around, and a duet with Adam Brand, Our Church.

Brand said about the collaboration, “We found it was helping us deal with the mental anguish of our industry being on its knees, the work & money we had lost. In particular, I was really struggling.

“But I found solace in my mates, in our little catch-up every week. I’m not a religious man, but I decided to call it Church.”

On Wearing Your Heart On Your Sleeve, a podcast episode of The Man That Can Project, Cornell added, “It was never like, ‘let's write a song about mental health.’ We were just expressing ourselves. When I sent Adam the song, he rang me straight away and said, ‘We have to release it,’ because the song was about us, our journey, the last couple of years.”

In addition to his new music, Cornell is hosting two musical cruise events, starting with his 50th birthday bash on Saturday, 25 November, followed by his Annual Twilight Sydney Harbour Cruise on Saturday, 13 January 2024. You can find tickets on his website.

MATT CORNELL

TOUR DATES:

Saturday 25 November – Matt’s 50th Birthday Bash – Brisbane River Cruise, Brisbane, QLD

Saturday 13 January – Matt Cornell’s Annual Twilight Sydney Harbour Cruise – Sydney, NSW