Matt DeAngelis – Playing God (Single Review)

Southern New Jersey rock singer-songwriter Matt DeAngelis has a new rap single, ‘Playing God’. The singer tells their addressee to stop playing God, which makes me think the track would have been better off titled ‘Stop Playing God’.

Matt DeAngelis tells his addressee to stop playing God, even if he knows they want to. This makes me think the songwriter is being a little harsh here, as he’s advising his listener against something that is simply in their nature. But then, my goal here isn’t really to contest the song’s meaning or message. Matt DeAngelis is perfectly right to want his listener to do what he asks of them. Of course, the presumed listener is also within their rights to agree or disagree with the singer. However, what’s clear is that they won’t get off that easily, since Matt DeAngelis not only asks them to stop playing God, but also instructs them to ‘help spread the news’.

This brings us to the song’s genre. We’ve established that Matt DeAngelis is a rock musician, but we can say this song sees him leaning into Gospel, albeit subtly. This understated approach is powerful, as his ‘sermon’ is neither preachy nor loud.

In terms of instrumentation, the song is dynamic. It starts with some chirpy and jumpy, but rather subtle, piano. As the song settles, the rock instrumentation kicks in: you hear elements of a distorted guitar, followed by what sounds like a thick, authoritative kick drum. The instrumentation alternates between the two: the opening piano and the heavier rock elements. It provides a nice contrast and ensures the track never dwells on one specific sound.

Then there’s the matter of vocals. Matt DeAngelis has a nice, angelic, if not slightly feminine, voice, and he clearly wants to bring that to the listener’s attention – which is honestly not a bad idea. If your voice is one of your biggest assets, use it. However, there’s something noticeably lethargic in his delivery here. He seems to drawl, elongating his words. At one point, he spends a significant amount of time just looping the ‘Stop playing God / Playing God / Playing God’ lyric. There’s an element of camp here, but it works well because the lyrics themselves are so strong.

The other standout moment is the beginning, where he tells the listener to stop playing God because he knows they want to. This section is crisp and clear, but there are other moments where DeAngelis might as well be singing to himself, as the words become difficult to cleanly make out.

SCORE/Good: The message is clean and simple: ‘Stop playing God’. I just think it is unnecessary to repeat that same message for over four minutes. The singer’s lyrics are mostly clear, but he should be careful with his vocal delivery – it’s a loss for the listener when they can’t catch the full lyrics. Whatever DeAngelis’ deficiencies might be, however, they are made up for by his beautiful voice. In terms of instrumentation, I’m largely satisfied, although I would have loved the guitar to be a bit cleaner.

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