Viral Star Mark Ambor Makes Some Magic in His Parents' Basement on His Debut Album “Rockwood” (Exclusive)

"My goal is when people listen, they feel either good, they feel heard, or they feel part of something bigger than themselves," he tells PEOPLE

Mark Ambor lives in his parents' basement.

"It's not a crappy basement by any means," Ambor, 26, tells PEOPLE in a recent interview. "I mean, they ended up redoing the floors down here. I have my room and then there's a little area with a couch and a TV. And then attached to that is what I've made my little studio. And then there's a bathroom down here, so yeah — I’ve got everything I need."

And it is in that New York basement that Ambor has not only lived in for the past six years, but it’s also the place where he's in the process of changing the trajectory of his entire life via his massive hit "Belong Together."

Ambor’s basement home is also the place also where he dreamed up the 12 incredible songs that now live on his debut album Rockwood.

Certainly, the story of Ambor is a sweet one, which tends to happen when you grow up in a town called Pleasantville. After graduating from Fairfield University in 2020, Ambor found himself weighing the advantages and disadvantages of pursuing music fulltime.

But then, the marketing major’s decision was made for him.

"[The pandemic] happened and I had no social pressure of my friends going out and living their best lives in the city and me feeling like a loser at home," he remembers. "I just sat in my basement at that time and just started grinding on making demos and writing and just trying to produce better. There was no fear of putting yourself out there."

Of course, in recent years, "putting yourself out there" usually means you get a TikTok account. "At first, I definitely didn’t want to do that," says Ambor with a laugh, considering it was there that he started making major musical waves in 2023 with his viral hit, "Good to Be." "But then I started trying and within a couple months, my videos started gaining some views and managers started reaching out and then the labels. I've slowly assembled a team of people that I really love."

As the story goes, Ambor went viral and gained millions of followers and went on to embark on a career that could have him someday standing alongside the John Mayers of the world.

That is, if all goes according to plan.

“Rockwood was just a place where the weight of the world fell off your shoulders for a moment,” explains Ambor of the meaning behind Rockwood, which was named after a nearby state park he grew up going to. "There are so many themes of home and growing up and the comfort of that and then also saying goodbye to home, but how it stays with you forever. My goal is when people listen, they feel either good, they feel heard, or they feel part of something bigger than themselves."

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Rockwood also features Ambor in passing states of the most ultimate vulnerabilities, especially on album standout "Bruises and Stains."

"It's been something that has been hard for me to figure out in the past eight months," says Ambor of the underlying premise of the brutally honest song.  "It’s just been nonstop good news, but it's hard to fully let it soak in and feel proud when you are just constantly thinking about the next thing." He pauses. "It’s about coming to terms with the parts of you that you wish were different or better."

Rockwood also tells the stories of some of Ambor’s past relationships, including one that ended at the "beginning of last year." "It was definitely for the better that we ended things," Ambor says of the failed relationship that inspired album cuts such as "Second Best" and "Hate That I Still Love You." "It’s about thinking that someone that you create all these memories and good moments with is going to eventually move on and find someone that they thinks may be better than you." He pauses. "That’s not a great feeling."

But it’s a feeling he’s willing to face.

"I'm human," says Ambor, who released his debut EP Hello World in 2022. "I have a lot of days and moments where I wish things were different about myself. I wish maybe I was less of a control freak, things like that."

Ambor is also facing the reality that someday soon, he plans to say goodbye to the basement.

"It’s actually a really sad thought to me," says Ambor, who is currently readying himself to embark on an extensive run of headline shows this fall. "But yeah, I want to move upstate a little. I want to build a little studio and have a house that I can invite collaborators or friends, and we can be as loud as we want and do whatever we want."

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