Matthieu Tota, is the son of professional footballer André Tota and his mother is Brigitte Tota. His parents divorced in 1998 when he was just 13. As a child, he studied at an elementary school in Hohberg, and later at Collège Paul-Émile Victor in Mundolsheim, and Lycée Aristide Briand in Schiltigheim near Strasbourg. As a young man, football (soccer) became his first ambition and he wanted to be a professional player. But he opted for music.
Matthieu Tota explained about the origin of his name Pokora in an interview during the documentary Mis à jour broadcast on 26 August 2010 about him on NRJ 12 television station. He said he was searching for an artistic name and happened to be talking to his grand mother of Polish origin and the importance of humility came up. So he asked her how do we say humility in Polish language and she said "pokora". So Matthieu immediately decided to call himself Pokora. Matt came form his name Matthieu. So he became to be known by his stage name Matt Pokora.
He earned some public attention as a member of French R&B group, Mic Unity. In fall 2003, he participated in the third season of Popstars, a French talent reality television show broadcast on M6. The concept of the program was to present possible candidates the winners of which would take part in the formation of a boy band or girl band. He was a crowd and jury favourite, and became a member of a boy band called Linkup formed with Lionel and Otis, two other winners in 2003 Popstars. The female winners were formed into another group Diadems formed of Marylore, Angel, Pookie, Ophélie and Alexandra. In the final showdown, the boy band including Mattieu Tota won the series over the girl band Diadems, who ended up runners-up.
Their first Linkup single "Mon Étoile" was very successful topping French charts, and the debut album Notre Étoile was moderately successful. However the second single release "Une seconde d'éternité" was much less successful despite good sales.
The band tried again their hand in a collaboration with the British boy band Blue making a bilingual English/French version with Blue based on the latter's song "Bubblin'". The bilingual English/French Blue/Linkup version was entitled "You & Me Bubblin". Soon afterwards, Linkup disbanded due to poor performance of sales on releases
In 2004, soon after the break-up of Linkup, Mattieu started working preparing for a solo career collaborating with the producers Kore & Skalp.
Under the stage name Matt Pokora, he released his first eponymous solo album originally entitled Matt Pokora. In 2005, he was forced to change his chosen name after a lawsuit from French R&B singer Matt Houston. As a result, he changed his stage name to M. Pokora and re-released the album as M. Pokora.
The debut single from M. Pokora was the very successful. Called "Showbiz (The Battle)" it was a Top 10 hit in France, and also charted in Belgium and Switzerland. The second single Elle me contrôle featuring Sweety reached #6 in France and Pokora received two NRJ Music Awards for the single. Yet a third successful single was released called "Pas sans toi". The album released on Universal was certified gold.
He also started collaborating with Hakim Ghorab who became his long-time choreographer and took part in many of his music videos. He also developed a close collaboration with music video director Karim Ouaret who directed most of his successful videos.
Like A Criminal
M. Pokora Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Tell me what's happening now
I wanna make it work but
Tell me what's the use
You keep on listening
To what your friends keep saying
And you wont even let
All of a sudden
Everything that I say
Don't mean nothing
I thought that my heart would be enough
Every relationship
Revolves around trust
And loving
But you make it hard to stay in love
Cause I feel like I'm guil...ty...
Un...til...
Pro...ven
Innocent
You...
Caught...
Me ...
Red...
Han...ded..
You make me feel like a criminal
Lock me up throw away the key
A criminal
Lock me up throw away the key
I feel like a criminal
Lock me up throw away the key
A criminal
Lock me up throw away the key
Now look
Look
In the beginning
I tried to play it by the book
It didn't work
Didn't work
Now matter how hard
That I tried to give you my side of the story
You still believe you girls...
All of a sudden
Everything that I say
Don't mean nothing
I thought that my heart would be enough
Every relationship
Reloves around trust
And loving
But you make it hard to stay in love
Coz I feel like I'm guil...ty...
Un...til...
Pro...ven
Innocent
You...
Caught...
Me...
Red...
Han...ded...
You make me feel like a criminal
Lock me up throw away the key
A criminal
Lock me up throw away the key
I feel like a criminal
Lock me up throw away the key
A criminal
Lock me up throw away the key
Coz I feel like I'm guil...ty...
Un...til...
Pro...ven
Innocent
You...
Caught...
Me...
Red...
Han...ded...
You make me feel like a criminal
Lock me up throw away the key
A criminal
Lock me up throw away the key
I feel like a criminal
Lock me up throw away the key
A criminal
Lock me up throw away the key
(Merci à pokorette06 pour cettes paroles)
In M. Pokora's song "Like A Criminal," the singer is pleading with his girlfriend to tell him what's happening and why she won't let him explain himself. He is frustrated that she listens to her friends and doesn't trust him. He feels like he is guilty until proven innocent and that she has already caught him red-handed. Despite trying to give her his side of the story, she still thinks he is lying and treating her like a criminal. He feels trapped and wants her to see that he is telling the truth and not trying to deceive her.
The song speaks to the struggles of communication and trust in a relationship. It highlights the importance of listening to your partner and not allowing outside influences to cloud your judgment. It also touches on the feelings of frustration and hopelessness when you feel like you're not being heard or understood.
Line by Line Meaning
Girl
Directly addressing a girl
Tell me what's happening now
Asking to know the current situation
I wanna make it work but
Expressing desire to make things better
Tell me what's the use
Questioning the purpose of the effort
You keep on listening
Pointing out a habit of the girl
To what your friends keep saying
Clarifying what the girl is listening to
And you wont even let
Indicating an obstruction in communication
Me give you an excuse
Explaining the obstruction
All of a sudden
Pointing out a sudden change
Everything that I say
Explaining what has changed
Don't mean nothing
Saying that nothing is being taken seriously
I thought that my heart would be enough
Expressing disappointment that feelings are not being considered
Every relationship
Making a general statement about relationships
Revolves around trust
Defining an important factor in relationships
And loving
Adding another factor
But you make it hard to stay in love
Explaining how the girl is obstructing this relationship
Cause I feel like I'm guil...ty...
Expressing an emotion of guilt
Un...til...
Explaining when this emotion holds
Pro...ven
Defining what it takes to lose this emotion
Innocent
Defining the opposite state to guilt
You...
Pointing out the girl's role in the above emotions
Caught...
Defining an action attributed to the girl
Me...
Clarifying who got caught
Red...
Describing the situation of getting caught
Han...ded...
Completing the description
You make me feel like a criminal
Expressing how the girl is making the singer feel
Lock me up throw away the key
Using criminal terminology to express the above emotion
A criminal
Repeating the sentiment expressed earlier
Now look
Directing attention again to the girl
In the beginning
Establishing a previous situation
I tried to play it by the book
Explaining how things were tried before
It didn't work
Describing the results of previous efforts
Didn't work
Repeating the above statement
Now matter how hard
Indicating a high degree of effort
That I tried to give you my side of the story
Explaining that the singer has tried to communicate his perspective
You still believe you girls...
Pointing out that the girl has not been convinced
Coz I feel like I'm guil...ty...
Repeating the earlier sentiment of guilt
You make me feel like a criminal
Describing how the girl makes the singer feel
Coz I feel like I'm guil...ty...
Repeating the sentiment one last time
You make me feel like a criminal
Repeating the chorus
Lock me up throw away the key
Repeating the chorus
A criminal
Repeating the chorus
Lock me up throw away the key
Repeating the chorus
I feel like a criminal
Repeating the chorus
Lock me up throw away the key
Repeating the chorus
A criminal
Repeating the chorus
Lock me up throw away the key
Repeating the chorus
(Merci à pokorette06 pour cettes paroles)
Giving credit for the lyrics
Contributed by Nicholas W. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@laplusgrandepokorette
Incroyable ❤❤❤ t'est le meilleur ❤
@yoann4365
Coupable, j'avou 😈😈😈
@src3621
Comme un criminel 🔥👏💪🏼😘🌟💚💙
@OceanePkrOff
Je t'aime!❤❤
@luciegosselin2654
love
@teddymitev1727
i love M Pokora
@teddymitev1727
my lovely song before 7-8 years
@howtomusic1
best one
@AlexNikoOfficiel
Louuuurd !!!
@src3621
🔥😘🔥😘🔥😘🔥😘🔥