In some vault, somewhere, are a couple of unreleased “rough tracks” featuring two-time Emmy-nominated actor Matt Bomer and 17-time Oscar-nominated songwriter Diane Warren.
In a conversation with Josh Horowitz for Happy Sad Confused, the Fellow Travelers star revealed that he has an unreleased EP of songs tied to 2015’s Magic Mike XXL.
The idea came about following the success of the 2012 Steven Soderbergh original; while between setting up scenes, co-star Channing Tatum asked Bomer to entertain background artists by singing. After he chose to do a Jodeci cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Lately,” producers knew they wanted him to sing in the 2015 sequel. As a result, Bomer covers D’Angelo’s “Untitled (How Does It Feel).”
“So we recorded a couple songs for the soundtrack, kind of just on a lark — although one of them was recorded by Ludwig Göransson, who just won his [third] [sic] Oscar, because he was working with Donald Glover, who was also on XXL,” he recalled. “I guess they did well on Spotify, which is not something I had planned for, but then the folks at Tower Records were like, ‘Would you ever want to record an album?’ And they were like, ‘Do you write music?’ And I was like, ‘I’ve written music since I was a kid.’”
Bomer subsequently penned three songs, and was told he would be set up to work with some producers.
“If you think the entertainment/acting side of things is crazy, the music industry’s like, ‘No, no, dog, watch this.’ It is some craziness,” he added.
However, the project didn’t see the light of day, with the White Collar alum saying his unwillingness to do it stemmed from logistical issues: “People wanted such a big percentage, which is so complicated between the lawyer, and it was too much, and I had kids.”
Bomer also recorded with “total legend” Warren.
“I knew that if I released them into the world, I was gonna have to go on talk shows and do them, and tour around the country with them, and do all this stuff. And I was like, ‘You know what? I love her music, but if I’m gonna do this, it has to come from me,’ and so we never released it,” he concluded.
