Trouble with Mateo from Culcha Candela: How a band fights for their song

An orange piano stands in a train station in Berlin. A young man sits down at it and plays a catchy melody. Another joins in and sings the chorus of their shared ballad: "Hangover at the piano, I sing songs of you."

It's just one of many clips of this kind found on the TikTok profile of the Berlin band Lost. The trio finds pianos in all sorts of places in the capital and starts playing them – sometimes in a luxury hotel, sometimes next to a construction site, and sometimes the group even sings with a keyboard in an elevator. Their fans leave delighted comments under the videos: One young woman wants to know when the song will finally "come out." But that's precisely the problem.

Although the band has been posting clips of the song on social media for months, and the song has also enjoyed considerable popularity at the trio's concerts, the ballad has not been released in its original form to date. The reason for this is a dispute between the band and their label head, specifically rapper Mateo Jasik of Culcha Candela.

"We wrote 'Verkatert am Klavier' in mid-2024," Junio, one of the three band members, told the RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND). "We put a lot of love and almost a year of work into the song." They played the song live to fans on their last tour in November. The response was "unique."

"Everyone loves the song," says the singer and rapper. Since then, he and his band members have repeatedly received messages asking when the ballad would finally be released. "We felt like we had created something special."

At the end of 2024, the track was finally produced and handed over to the band's record label, MNF (My New Friends), which is run by Jasik and his mother. But that's where the problems began.

The band's accusation: Jasik sent the song's finished vocal tracks to an external producer – against the trio's express wishes. The result: The thoughtful pop ballad was reworked into an up-tempo dance track, almost resembling a Ballermann hit. A production with which the band is anything but satisfied – while the original version has not been released to this day.

At the beginning of the year, the band terminated their contracts with Jasik's label—the differences were too great. However, even with the help of a law firm, the band was unable to prevent the release of their botched track. However, they were able to get the track labeled as a remix. On May 16, the track was released on streaming platforms as the "Afterhour Mix."

In communication via lawyers, MNF even urged the band to promote the track on TikTok, the band says. However, this was "absolutely out of the question" for the trio. Mateo Jasik then took over the TikTok promotion himself: In several videos on the platform, the Culcha Candela rapper dances enthusiastically to a song that even its own artist doesn't like.

The case of the Berlin band Lost is probably not an uncommon one in the music industry – but it's rarely discussed publicly. Only occasionally do artists vent their anger and talk about how their label or management made decisions they disagreed with.

A well-known case is the controversy surrounding Madonna's 2000 song "American Pie." The now 66-year-old once said in an interview that a "record company executive" had pressured her to include the song on her album "Music" – a decision she now regrets. Madonna later decided not to include the song on her greatest hits album "GHV2."

Meanwhile, another difficulty has arisen: "It's very important to go viral on TikTok these days," says Junio. US singer Halsey, for example, complained in 2022 that her label was practically pushing her to have "viral TikTok moments" so her music could even be released. And in some cases, the trend apparently also results in songs being adapted specifically for the platform . In case of doubt, a pop ballad suddenly gets a Ballermann beat.

In the case of "Verkatert am Klavier," the band Lost said they saw only one option: to make their frustration public on social media. They even started a petition for the release of the original song using the hashtag #freeverkatert, which hundreds of fans signed. The band later also released a detailed statement video on their TikTok channel, which has now garnered 500,000 views.

Mateo Jasik's view of the case is somewhat unclear. An RND request to his management remained unanswered. However, the Culcha Candela rapper has commented on the case several times on social media in recent weeks. In mid-May, he initially kept a release of the original song open in TikTok comments: The band version will be released "possibly sometime," reads one comment in response to fan inquiries. In one video, he even used the resulting controversy to promote TikTok: "If you make a lot of videos with the sound, maybe the other version will come out too. If not, then...🤷🏼‍♂️🫣," reads one caption under the video.

The rapper and label head later posted a long statement, which has since been deleted. In it, he suggests that unfavorable label decisions often help bands. "I had to persuade [the band Lost] to do 6 out of 10 of their top songs (the ones you know them for)," Jasik writes. The trio also owes him a lot, not least financially. "In fact, the band and the songs wouldn't exist without me." He also criticizes the band's actions, saying they tried to "cheat" their way out of existing contracts. "No matter what they say, this attempt at slander through a petition [sic]: it's all bullshit." And: "The truth will prevail!"

After the band Lost's video statement, Jasik later made another comment: "It's like even the smallest bluebottles are trying to get a crumb from the scandal cake. Some people can't read or count and are truly lost..." Jasik wrote.

At the end of June, the rapper suggested in a post that the dispute with the band might have been a "brilliant promotional move." "A little theater on a big stage?? Who knows..."

The band itself vehemently disagrees: Both the anger surrounding their song and the split with Jasik's label are real. "We simply didn't know what else to do except go public with the issue," says Junio.

The good news: Jasik's label MNF has now announced that they will release the original version of "Verkatert am Klavier" after all. The band has been given a release date of July 25th. Will this actually happen? The trio remains skeptical for now: They already missed a planned release date at the end of June.

For Jasik, the publicized dispute comes at the worst possible time. Earlier this year, his band Culcha Candela made headlines after extremely rude private messages to a fan were made public . A young woman had asked the band via Instagram if they would perform at her 18th birthday party. The band replied: "At 18, you should be a bit smarter, sweetheart..." – and asked if she knew what it would cost to get the band moving.

But the drama didn't end there: Half a year later, in June, Jasik appeared on Janne Rust's "Unter uns gesagt" podcast and was asked about the case. In the interview, the rapper suggested that the messages to the fan could have been written by management or a social media intern. He also suggested—much like his statement about Lost—that it could have been a planned action.

These very statements, in turn, caused anger within the band Culcha Candela: Band member Don Cali publicly posted a comment on TikTok, distancing himself on behalf of the band. Jasik, in turn, responded with an apology on Instagram. In it, he admitted: "It was me! (...) I was the one who responded to a young woman's DM in a completely inappropriate and absolutely unfriendly manner (...)."

In any case, the band Lost wants nothing more to do with Jasik's label for the time being. "Good managers trust their artists when it comes to their art. We never felt that this trust was placed in us," says Junio. The band now wants to take action for their future. Instead of collaborating with major record companies and unpredictable label heads, they plan to continue on their own for the time being.

"We've found that writing personal songs and promoting them sincerely works better than chasing trends," says Junio. "Especially these days, fans are closer to the action than ever before thanks to social media. We feel like people are very aware of what's real and what's staged."

The band has learned a lot in the music business over the past few years and is grateful for their time with MNF. But: "All that drama has left its mark on us, too." The move to becoming an independent band is therefore a logical step. "What we're most looking forward to is finally only making the music we're truly passionate about."