About to Get Good: Matt Breland on growing up, coming out and Shania Twain

It seems like everyone knows Matt Breland. Whether you covet his front-row seats at nearly every Shania Twain concert, admire his retention of Lady Gaga choreography or play along on his frequent “What shoes am I wearing?” on his Instagram (@matt_breezeland), this out and proud native Missisppian meteorologist is a fixture in the Louisville queer community. For those who don’t know him personally – or even for those who do – he exudes an air of confidence, of assurance. But has it always been this easy for Matt? The electric and infectious positivity he radiates now wasn’t always so certain for him, but thanks to some support – and, of course, some Shania – things did indeed get good.

Matt grew up in a textbook small town in the South. His hometown of Sumrall, Mississippi, boats barely 2,000 people and was very much an everyone-knows-everyone kind of place. He remembers as a teenage freshman in high school first noticing an attraction to boys, which he tried to suppress or even talk himself out of given his Baptist upbringing.

As his high school years went on, Matt, like so many, had the instinct to hide the feelings he was experiencing. To not arouse suspicion and avoid bullying, he maintained friendships with other boys and feigned an interest in football, posting enthusiastic statuses on Facebook recapping games. When Lady Gaga released the single “Born This Way,” Matt remembers changing the name of the song in his iTunes library so that if someone had his iPod, they wouldn’t see that song’s title.

He was 19 when he first spoke the words, “I’m gay,” aloud to someone else – first a cousin, then a close female friend and then another. All were emphatically supportive of Matt and slowly, he was able to build up his own confidence and self-assurance. While enrolled in Mississippi State University’s meteorology program, he began to meet people from other walks of life, who opened his eyes to the possibilities of living more openly: “That’s whenever I said, ‘OK there’s no reason that I should be ashamed of who I am.’”

Decidedly living more authentically, Matt knew the next step was to come out to his parents, which he did in 2017. While the revelation was challenging at first, his parents have since come around to embrace his identity. “I do feel grateful that I do have supportive and loving parents that did not turn their back on me whenever there was a time in my life that I did have a little bit of fear that that would happen,” he says.

Armed with a newfound celebration of his own identity as well as a loving support system, Matt set out into the world of broadcast media following college. He started work in Alabama and, as a rookie to the industry, played the game as best he could without raising too many eyebrows. 

But he soon learned that even just being who he was – as proud or as comfortable as he might be himself – may still lead him to unexpected challenges. While Matt was interviewing for a job in Jackson, Mississippi, a news director pulled up Matt’s Instagram, pointed to a photo “and he said, ‘This picture of you at this Lady Gaga concert – I can’t hire you with your Instagram page looking like this.’” Unsettled, Matt confronted his interviewer, who then of course tried to backpedal. But Matt did agree to archive some posts if it meant he were to get the job.

Cosmically, at this same time, Matt had been in talks to work at Spectrum News in Louisville, Kentucky, and when that offer came through, he was all too happy to turn down the Jackson job, which he was offered by the way.

“After that interview in Jackson happened, that’s whenever it started really popping – I need to really start pushing for an opportunity that’s going to allow me to be who I am because I lived way too long in my younger years being scared of who I am,” he maintains. “And I felt like if that job would have worked out in Mississippi, then it would have really set me back into a place that I had to work really hard to get out of.”

Matt took the job in Louisville and found himself at a workplace that celebrated diversity and equality, letting him give weather forecasts on air for Pride festivals, for example. Additionally, he fell in love with the interconnectivity of Louisville and how one friend can quickly morph into five. “It just turned into a spiderweb,” he says. “It was so cool to see how connected all of Louisville was, and so easily too. So in a way, it felt like I was bringing my small Mississippi rural town vibe into Louisville, but in a way that felt way more diverse and free and loving.”

And it looks like Matt’s here to stay. You can now occasionally watch him delivering the forecast on WHAS11 or find him out and about in Louisville’s LGBTQ nightlife. It’s a win for Louisville to be sure, as the electric energy he exudes is palpable, and when you’re around him, you can’t help but have a good time. Louisville native Erin Quire first met Matt in Alabama and they then worked together here at Spectrum News. “He’s the embodiment of kindness,” she says of Matt, “with a heart so big and open that it makes everyone around him feel safe and loved. The way he lives his life inspires me every day. No matter what, I know I can always count on him. His love and care are constants in this ever-changing world. I’m so grateful for his friendship and the joy he brings into my life.”

Living with that kind of effusive joy isn’t just the way Matt is; he’s the first to point out that throughout his life there’s been someone acting as a sort of guide for him, someone who has always had the right words just when he needed them most. That person is Shania Twain. 

Anyone who knows Matt knows about his love for the country superstar. In concert, he has seen her 34 times, been front row 15 times and been on stage with her seven times. His reverence for Shania  began early in his life and he recalls finding resonance with her message of overcoming. “Pretty much any time that she ran into something that inhibited her ability to keep going on in life, she fixed it and kept going,” he shares. “And so I just, I don’t know, I always took inspiration from that, from her. Just like, if she can get through this, then I can get through whatever I’m going through.”

His devoutness to Twain’s music was renewed when she released a song called “Life’s About to Get Good” in 2017 – the same year Matt came out to his parents. “Ever since I heard that for the first time,” he says, “I was like, ‘Wow, the hard part’s over. I’ve come out to my close circle and I’m not afraid of anything anymore. And so now I do feel like life’s about to get good.”

And life really did get good. Thanks to his friends, his family, his own inner strength and of course Shania Twain, Matt Breland has forged a life for himself that he’s proud to live. Both in Louisville and in his hometown, Matt shines as a testimony to the joy you can find when you embrace your identity, live without fear and love who you are.