Idan The Incredible

We discovered Tel Aviv’s Idan Matalon through his absurdly cute lipsync videos of Latin American telenovelas and knew we had to speak to him. To our surprise and delight, he’s much, much more than a super-cutie with a love of moving his mouth to Spanish-language soap operas. We caught up with the LGBT activist, head of marketing for Moovz app, YouTube superstar, Britney Spears stan and all-around sweetheart for a chirpse.

 


So first off, how did you get involved with LGBT activism? I’ve seen a blog video where you’re talking about your coming out story…

In 2011 I decided to upload my coming-out story. It was very weird because nobody did it back then. There was no such thing in 2011 as a “gay Youtuber”. It was a very successful video, very viral. People started to approach me and ask me questions. They felt empathy. So I started to help other gay people and get involved with Israeli organisations. I fell in love with LGBT activism by helping other people and making people feel good about themselves, and show that it’s ok to be gay, you know?

And you came out to your parents during your military service?

It was during the military service. I was 19 years old. And then after coming out to my parents I came out to all my soldiers. I was kind of an officer, so I had ten soldiers. Right after I came out of the closet to my parents, my boyfriend and I broke up and I was really sad, but I didn’t tell anything to my soldiers. They saw me sad and they asked why. So then I came out to them, and told them my boyfriend and I had just broken up. But it was a really nice experience.

So their response was positive then?

Yeah! They were amazing. A few of them told me they didn’t really like the concept of being gay, but I changed their entire point of view. I’m like them, there’s no difference, except I’m gay. And then they understood. I’m still a person.

So you break up with your boyfriend and you’ve got a whole bunch of soldiers to cry on the shoulders of…lucky devil!

[Laughs] Something like that, yeah, it helped me to forget my boyfriend!

What I didn’t know before I saw your telenovela videos was that you’re kind of a lip-sync superstar on YouTube; you’ve done Gaga, Britney Spears…. Did you just start doing those for fun?

I started when I was 15 years old. It was round 2005 and just a new thing to upload videos then. I did lipsyncing, but the word “lipsync” didn’t exist back then. I moved to Tel Aviv after the army and it became a big thing, because I did Eurovision songs. So then I started to get messages from people from Eurovision fans who liked my stuff. Not just from Israel.

So you’ve basically built a global network out of singing along to pop songs?

Back then, yeah! I’ve decided to do it less. It was lots of fun, with friends and stuff, loads of fun. But even back then I saw that there’s more than just having fun with videos. You’re networking and coming up with new projects, and doing mutual projects with other people of the world. I did videos gathering people through music.

Like a community? A new medium?

Yeah. It’s not just about newspapers anymore, it’s about the online community. But nobody taught that back then in university. I felt like I was part of something new in terms of media and communication.

You were an innovator.

I feel like I was part of the first people who were doing it, so yeah. That’s why today I’m the video marketer of Moovz. Everything I did by myself, created my own marketing strategies and now I have the biggest LGBT marketing team. I have a marketing team all over the world, from the Philippines, from Latin America, from the US, and from Israel of course. It’s amazing.

So your work with Moovz is much more informed by a global audience than just one specific one.

Yeah, exactly.

I saw on the website you have the special campaigns for the gay audience and the lesbian audience, like “You’re gay, now what?” video

I was really excited to do it, because for me that was the biggest thing I ever did with my marketing team. Approaching those people, like Ashley Fink from Glee, plus other influences from LGBT like Pablo Hernandez, Colby Melvin… Drag queens like Manila Luzon, Willam Belli, Shangela, it took about two years of working to find the people to be part of it.

What I liked most about the video is that it makes fun of the stereotypical experience people have when they first make their way out into the world after they’ve come out.  It has enough material about the gay experience, so that at the end when you do introduce Moovz, it doesn’t just feel like an advert, because time and understanding has been invested in it.

Yeah! You got it! I’m happy with the result.

How did you get in touch with people like Shangela and Willam and Pablo Hernandez? Were they just people that you were in contact with already, or did you specifically reach out to them?

A year and a half ago we did a project with DWV; Detox, Willam and Vicky Vox. So they did the video ‘Boy Is A Bottom’, and we did kind of a live broadcast on Moovz. Step by step, you’re starting with approaching someone, and then you have your own extensive brand because you did collaborations. And then it’s possible to get another one, then another, then another. So we brought Amanda Lepore and Willam to Israel and did a video with them here. It’s step by step, just building a good reputation.

Tell me about Moovz, which is billed as the biggest LGBT global social network.

So it’s definitely the biggest social platform for the LGBT community worldwide. The good thing is there’s no other thing like it. We are the only one that exists. We’re really willing to gather the LGBT community all over the world, in a place where they feel they can be themselves without any limitations. Imagine you’re a Mexican boy in a village and now he wants to go get gay friends, he wants to feel like he belongs. This is the aim of the platform. We have our own culture, our own community. We want to feel part of it. We really believe that there’s a huge potential for LGBT communities to gather, to make LGBT friends.

It steps outside of the traditional apps and feels more like a social interaction, rather than specifically geared to a sexual or romantic one.

Exactly. When you’re horny you’re going to those applications once in a while, but if you have something like Facebook then you can plug into it all the time and get to know people with the same interests. It’s not just about seeing their bodies and their faces and “Ok I like him”. It’s also about “Oh, this guy likes Britney Spears! I like Britney Spears!” and then they say “I’m in Israel” and the other guy’s visiting Israel. Then they could do couch-surfing with each other, or whatever. Or maybe something romantic would happen, who knows.

Maybe you’d fly to Vegas together and see Britney there…

Exactly! 

That’s my dream.

I love Britney too. I saw her in Hungary, in Budapest, she was amazing!

Which tour?
Circus! Womanizer and all that.

Oh ok yeah! I saw that in London and it was amazing!
Yeah, she’s amazing.

So you were saying it’s not like the other apps, it’s more like a Facebook-type thing where you interact on a constant level, so you’re actually building relationships with people as opposed to dipping in and dipping out.

It’s very helpful also for travelling. You go to Budapest, for example, you open Grindr to see if there’s someone around you, maybe to be your tour guide. But that guy only wants sex. So maybe you will finish with good sex, but sometimes that’s not the point. I got so many messages saying “hey I want to come to Israel, what are the places you think I should go, hotels, parties.” And all the time I’m repeating the same stuff about parties. What about networking? If you go right now to Argentina, I don’t think it will be easy for you to understand where it is that you should go. You need to find someone and ask him. How are you going to find him?

It’s a forum where you don’t have to worry that sex is necessarily gonna be the outcome.

Exactly. I was afraid that I was gonna see a feed of dicks. But now if you open it you will see people posting statuses. Not just pictures, They’re getting a lot of engagement because they raised something that is interesting to read and to comment on. We managed to make people understand the concept.

Establishing that it’s a platform for real social interaction.

But you can post shirtless pictures too, that’s fine.

Everyone’s welcome.

[Laughs] Exactly.

So your telenovela videos are kind of blowing up over here at the moment…

Wow, I’m in shock! Because it’s exactly the process that we just talked about, pop music and stuff. A year ago, I came up with this idea that I would imitate the telenovela videos that I really like and boom! 6000 shares. Then I had 60,000 followers on my page. Today I have almost 300,000. Just because of this hobby. Since I was 11 years old I’ve watched telenovelas. That’s how I know Spanish!

So you learned it from telenovelas?!

Yeah! Watching, watching telenovelas, I was addicted! I was practising my Spanish because I went to my family in Ecuador for the first time. Now when I see something in Spanish after a long time, it comes back to me. All the passion for this culture. So now it’s bringing a lot of opportunity for Moovz because the LGBT community really like it! I don’t know why, but they like it!

It’s because telenovelas are crazy, that’s why.

Yeah, I’m trying to do it in a way so it’s very fun. ‘Maldito Peloquera’ had almost 1 million views in two days. I’m really happy. I’m mostly communicating with Latin America, so I speak in Spanish and they love it. They appreciate it. The good thing is that those Latin American people are also on Moovz. Everything is together. With Moovz you can be yourself, and create the best community you can, help each other, and be fun. We are colourful people, we want to be colourful.

It’s fun, it doesn’t take itself too seriously, and it’s something that a lot of people can just watch and enjoy. There’s a big Spanish speaking community in London so they’ve sort of caught on to them here now.

I was surprised when you contacted me as I’m usually approached by Latin American and Spanish people.

But not London, so it was really nice.

So this is your first London exclusive!

For the telenovelas, definitely yes. The pop music, the Eurovision, I got some things from the UK. But really not Spanish culture, so it’s very cool.

So do you have anything lined up for your next video? Are you gonna do anymore pop music videos? Or any novellas in mind that you wanna do next?

Actually no. It’s so ongoing. Every day I get tonnes of suggestions about new telenovela stuff. I’m moving to LA very soon and Latin people from the US are approaching me. From one silly video, you’re creating a community with other artists. It sends your community, your followers, to other pages.

So is there anyone that you specifically would dream to work with? 

Definitely. Ricky Martin. Lady Gaga. Britney…

Do a music video with Britney! She’s good at lipsyncing.

Britney and Taliah. You know Taliah? She’s very famous in Latin America. Lady Gaga already saw some of my videos and I was really, really excited about that. She told me that she was really laughing. So maybe someday I will do something with Lady Gaga.

If you do take any requests for any new pop videos, I’m asking for ‘Work Bitch’.

Oh yes! I love ‘Work Bitch’. I already did a video to it! I think on my Facebook it’s had 300,000 views. My friend from Amsterdam is in it. He’s very hot. We’re in the office in underwear, dancing on the table. Then the big boss comes in and sees us…

Oh my god, this is the first thing I need to watch as soon as I get off the phone.

Let me know after if you like it. And if you come to Israel let me know.

I WILL.

 

• Check out Idan’s videos at his YouTube channel youtube.com/iddanmatalon or his Facebook page. For more information about Moovz, head over to moovz.com

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