Ajay Mathur Music

From zero to #10 on The BandWagon Radio Network charts 📈🔥
UNGRATEFUL is now on rotation in the UK, USA, Australia, Germany, Italy, Brazil, and India.

Have you heard it yet?
👉 https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/ajaymathur/ungrateful

It is rare to read an exceptionally good interview, and it is rarely the achievement of just a single party. It is the result of a dynamic relationship between interviewer and interviewee, in which both enrich each other and which arises when both meet on the same level of attention, curiosity, and honesty. In my opinion, the chemistry in this interview is perfect.
Published Monday, February 23, 2026, in Nidwaldner Zeitung. Many thanks to Unterschütz.

UNGRATEFUL video & streaming links: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/ajaymathur/ungrateful
----- Read English transcription👇

When The End of Love Means Liberation

Philipp Unterschütz, Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Urschweiz

Stans-based musician Ajay Mathur is causing a stir on streaming portals with a new song.

The single “Ungrateful,” which is somewhat reminiscent of Sting, as Ajay Mathur himself writes, is a precursor to an album due out in late summer. The moving rock ballad describes feelings that most listeners can probably relate to. It's about the arc of love: the euphoria at the beginning that makes you feel like you're touching the stars, and the painful descent when everything falls apart. The realization that devotion and effort don't always save a relationship. But the song, which combines vulnerability with strength and pain with hope, does not end in despair.

Ajay Mathur composed “Ungrateful” together with his partner Mary Lou von Wyl. The song is accompanied by an impressive video by Ciro Ayala, an Argentine artist living in Los Angeles with whom he has collaborated several times. In this interview, Ajay Mathur tells us more about his latest project.

How does it actually play out with you guys? Do you compose the melody and then Mary Lou writes the lyrics, or do you also provide a content idea along with the notes?

Ajay Mathur: For me, lyrics are the most important part of songwriting. They are the crown jewel and have to feel honest, otherwise the song doesn't work. We often write together in real time. I play a musical idea or sing a line, and Mary Lou immediately responds with lyrics. I sing those words right away, and we shape and refine them together as the song develops. It's fast, emotional, intuitive, and prevents us from overthinking. The song stays alive as we write it. Sometimes the process becomes very intense because topics arise naturally and are personally meaningful to us.

What role do personal experiences play?
My lyrics don't come from an invented perspective or concepts, but from situations I've experienced, thoughts that have occupied my mind, and feelings that were real. For me, songwriting is a way of processing my own life—not explaining or justifying but observing and being honest. When I write about doubts, ruptures, closeness, or loss, it's not to spread something out, but to capture a moment that felt true.

Over time, I've realized that my own experiences are often just the starting point. The closer I look, the more universal the themes become. It's less about me as a person and more about states that many people are familiar with; insecurity, hope, the need for honesty, the desire to remain true to oneself. If a song achieves that, then it has served its purpose. If others can relate to it, it's precisely because it was born out of something real.

You collaborated with Los Angeles-based visual artist Ciro Ayala once again for the video.

Our partnership spans several music videos—Ungrateful is the sixth. It's an ongoing creative collaboration. It began with the video for My Wallet is a House of Cards from the album Little Boat, for which he created a provocative animated video that presented a relentless caricature of consumerism and an increasingly indebted society. Various videos with him have won awards at several festivals. It really is a lasting and fruitful partnership, in which Ciro brings his distinctive dark and surreal visual style to my music, enriching my work.

“Ungrateful” is a precursor to a new album of yours. What can you reveal about it?

“Bridges”—that's the working title of my new project—is my most ambitious art project to date. I want to take the whole thing to a new dimension—a platform that connects different art forms and cultures, which can also be performed and experienced. It's not just about making music, but telling stories that can be experienced through different forms of artistic expression. This is where the hammered dulcimer and Schwyzerörgeli, along with other world sounds, come into focus for me. In addition to “Bridges,” I am currently working with very talented singers from all over the world on an album project that includes my songs. I haven't been able to get a Swiss singer excited about the project yet. Maybe it will work out.



Yakketeeyak Music

UNGRATEFUL was born from that universal moment when you realize that love doesn't always reward effort. Sometimes, the harder you try, the deeper you fall.
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https://open.spotify.com/track/4wG6hfzcBQIZOC79qdKpi2?si=4f768f2cd633438b

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Ungrateful Ajay Mathur · Ungrateful · Song · 2026