2004–2008: Early career and initial success Matt Johnson is originally from
Whitingham, Vermont, while Kim Schifino is originally from
Providence, Rhode Island. The two began dating and moved in together after three months. After graduation, Johnson began learning to play keyboards and Schifino learned drums. Neither had extensive experience with their instruments prior to this. Despite their inexperience, they were urged to play live shows by fellow Pratt alumni from the band
Japanther. The duo's first full-length studio album,
Matt & Kim, was released in October 2006 on the IHEARTCOMIX record label. Matt and Kim also gained significant publicity for their music videos. The video for "Yea Yeah", which depicts the pair being hit with food from their refrigerator, has been considered one of the initial catalysts for their rise in popularity. and also played the
Siren Music Festival earlier that year.
2009–2010: Breakthrough with Grand in 2010 Matt and Kim were signed to the
Fader Label in late 2008, and
Grand was released on January 20, 2009. The duo went on a three-week North American tour in November 2008 to promote the album.
Grand was recorded entirely in Johnson's childhood bedroom in Vermont and
Lollapalooza The lead single from the album, "Daylight", received certified gold status from the RIAA. and TV shows like
Community. A
De La Soul remixed version of the song could be found on video games such as
NBA Live 10 and
FIFA 10. The duo also performed the song on an episode of
Jimmy Kimmel Live! In April 2009, the band released the controversial music video for the song "Lessons Learned". The video depicts the two completely disrobing in New York City's Times Square and is shot in a single take. The video was filmed during winter on a cold day. The video would later go on to win the Breakthrough Video Award at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. They toured with punk band
Against Me! in 2009 as well. the Siren Festival in July, Lollapalooza in August, and
Austin City Limits in October. They also engaged in a two-month nationwide tour from September to November.
2010–2011: Sidewalks and continued popularity in Chula Vista, California They released their third studio album,
Sidewalks, in November 2010 on the Fader Label. This was the duo's first album to not be self-produced. Instead, Ben Allen, who had previously produced albums for
Gnarls Barkley and
Animal Collective, was one of the co-producers.
Sidewalks peaked at number 30 on the Billboard 200 chart. and at the
Australian festival,
Big Day Out. They also supported
Blink-182 and
My Chemical Romance during select dates on the
2011 Honda Civic Tour. Their music video for the song "Cameras" was released in 2011 and features Schifino and Johnson engaged in a professionally choreographed fight. When comparing the budget for the "Cameras" video against the one for "Lessons Learned", Johnson noted, "We spent 10 times as much money to make this happen." They hired choreographers who had worked on films like
The Matrix and
The Bourne Identity. The duo also performed "Block After Block" on a 2011 episode of
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.
2012–2014: Lightning in New Orleans The duo released their fourth studio album,
Lightning, on the Fader Label in October 2012. The lead single on the album, "Let's Go", was introduced in the summer of 2012 via a
YouTube video of basketball player, Pat the Roc, exhibiting his
dribbling skills. The real music video for the single premiered on
Funny or Die shortly after the release of the album and depicts the duo in a variety of uncomfortable or awkward portraits. The band also produced a video for the single, "It's Alright", which depicts the tandem blindfolded in bed performing choreographed dance moves. Over the course of the year, they played numerous festivals, including the Free Press Summer Fest,
Bonnaroo Music Festival,
Firefly Music Festival, and Lollapalooza in front of a large crowd.
2015–2017: New Glow and WE WERE THE WEIRDOS EP The duo's fifth studio album,
New Glow, was released on April 7, 2015, by Harvest Records in the United States and Virgin EMI Records internationally. They premiered the lead single from the album, "Get It", with an accompanying lyric video in January 2015. In February 2015, Matt and Kim released three more singles for the album, "Hey Now", "Hoodie On", and "Can You Blame Me". The band toured extensively upon the release of
New Glow, commencing with a U.S. tour in April and May 2015, During their stint at Coachella in 2016, the band recorded a four-song EP titled
We Were the Weirdos between performances. The EP was co-produced by Lars Stalfors in Los Angeles and released during their second weekend performance at Coachella.
2018–2019: Almost Everyday and various singles The duo took much of 2017 off after Schifino suffered an
ACL injury during a performance in Mexico. The duo also announced an upcoming studio album (their sixth) due to be released on the
FADER Label in the spring of 2018. The release was to coincide with a two-month North American tour. The same day, they revealed that the new album was called
Almost Everyday, the album art, and the tracklist. On March 23, 2018, they released the third single, "Happy If You're Happy", and put the album up for pre-order. The fourth single, "Glad I Tried", which features Kevin Ray of
Walk the Moon, Travis Hawley of
Night Riots, and
Santigold, was released on April 13, 2018. The album was released on May 4, 2018. During the 2018 Christmas/New Year break, the band were approached to write an original song, "Come Together Now", for the closing credits of
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, releasing February 8, 2019. "Come Together Now" was issued as a free standing single on February 11, 2019, as a result. In June 2019, they launched "The Matt and Kim Podcast" series, regularly presenting hypothetical situations and how they might react. Over Summer 2019, while performing at
Maha Festival in Omaha, Nebraska, Schifino again tore her ACL, but this time less severely. With dedicated physical therapy, they were able to complete an already planned and on-sale extensive US tour during October and November celebrating the ten-year anniversary of their breakthrough second album
GRAND. They performed the album in its entirety, adding periodical multimedia documenting the actual recording process. Some of the dates offered the audience an opportunity to participate in the aforementioned Matt and Kim Podcast, recording episodes as part of early admission at those respective shows. Fall 2019 also saw the release of two new singles, "GO GO" and "Money". Both were accompanied by official music videos.
2021: Various singles and EPs, PG14 in Seattle in 2023. After a year plus of silence, the band released their version of Lesley Gore's "
You Don't Own Me" on March 8, 2021, in honor of International Women's Day. It was followed on May 14 with "Be Kind Rewind", a seven song cover EP. Included were their versions of songs by
The Flaming Lips,
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young,
Lana Del Rey,
Travis Scott,
The Shins,
King Princess and
Jeremih. Their first original song since 2019, "RARARA" dropped on June 16, 2021, on
FADER Label with an official video to follow a month later on July 12. This was followed on August 13 by "Everyone Sucks But You", a co-write between the band and
K.Flay, who is also featured. As with the previous two tracks, a new digital only single, "Steal a Yellow Cab" appeared on October 8 with an accompanying video dropping a few days later on October 13. On February 21, 2023, Matt and Kim uploaded the first video on a new TikTok page, PG14, announcing their new band. PG14, which is still only Matt and Kim, was created so they could make a new sound unlike their previous efforts under the name Matt and Kim, that sound being described as synth-garage-punk. They would then upload the PG14 debut EP titled, YES PLEASE, consisting of four tracks, on April 6, 2023. == Personal life ==