METTE is Mothering: On Chosen Family, Female Strength and Dancing

METTE is a musician who you’ll already be familiar with, even if you haven’t heard her music. An accomplished dancer who’s appeared in Hustlers (2019) as well as being the captivating star of the music video for the absolute goddamn summer banger from a few years back that is Lemon by N.E.R.D. featuring Rihanna. She’s also about to feature in the most hotly anticipated film of the summer, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie (2023) - A woman that knows how to pick iconic projects tbh. 

The absolute definition of a triple threat, she’s now turned her hand to making music. Eden sat down with METTE to discuss dancing, her latest single Mama’s Eyes and our ongoing obsession with exclaiming ‘mother is mothering!’

Okay so first, I’m obsessed with the video for Mama’s Eyes. It’s such an expression of joy and emotion and movement and I love all the archival clips spliced into the video. What inspired you to use them?

When I was discussing the video with the director Camille Summers-Valli. I was thinking about how I fit into pop culture which made me think about what influenced me as a kid. I used to watch a lot of Turner Classic Movies, which is a network where they run like old Hollywood movies. They inspired me so much as a child, it’s what I grew up watching. I wanted to make a tapestry of my life and my influences. It feels like a true expression of me! And to have a whole team working on that, the editor Vid Price did an amazing job. It’s profound!

You also used personal clips from your childhood with you and your mum in, why did you focus on your childhood in the video?

The lyrics are so particular to my life and my story and my mother. I really wanted to cast a wide net and delineate my personal narrative. But also bring myself into the fold and ask myself, what's the art of mothering? We used the archival footage and stock footage so I could ask, who am I as an artist? I’ve been thinking a lot about how do I mother myself as a woman, how do I take care of my inner child, especially when I’m in a place of flux as an artist where I’ve got music I’m sitting on and I want to put it out but I can’t. I feel like I’m stuck in the inbetween. So this song is expressing that. And now it’s out in the world I feel at peace!

Would you say releasing a song is kind of having a child you have to let go of too? Once it’s out there you have to let people perceive it how they want to perceive it, you have no control over it once it’s out there

Yep, once it’s delivered to the world it belongs to the world! In a lot of ways. But it’s always going to be precious to me. 

"Just think about ‘mother’s’ origins from the ballroom scene in New York. People whose families have abandoned them because they are literally living their authentic truth. We can have a chosen family. It's a beautiful thing to think we live in a world of 7 billion people and we all have the possibility to find a family out there in the world, all because of mothers.”

How do you feel about your mum being at the forefront of the song? There’s a lot of discussion of mothers and mothering in popular culture at the moment. Even the meme mother is mothering is so popular now and we have such a habit of calling famous women that we love mother. Why do you think that’s so common?

I'm so blessed and privileged to have had the relationship that I do with my mom. She grew up in America, during the Civil Rights Movement era, I have a great aunt who walked with Martin Luther King, that is a part of my legacy. My mom is strong! She's lived through a lot and her sense of self is unlike any other sense of self I’ve ever experienced. She's a sword and a shield.

I feel like mothers, in every sense of the word, also shrug it off their strength a lot. That’s just them existing but to us they’re such beacons of strength. That’s just what they do! 

Totally! I can only speak from my experience but I’m lucky. I can also pull strength from the women on my team, my managers, my stylists and my allies. I’m talking mother in the sense of “MUTHA!” too. I love being surrounded by women who support my emotions and mother me every day. And you don’t have to be a woman to be a mutha either. You just have to strike a chord and teach people how to find love, compassion, fortitude, work ethic, etc.

That’s such a good point. Mother is a fluid concept - anyone can be a mother! The term has been around for decades but the mother is really having a moment right now. Anyone who takes others under their wing can be a mother!

Exactly! Just think about ‘mother’s’ origins from the ballroom scene in New York. People whose families have abandoned them because they are literally living their authentic truth. We can have a chosen family. It's a beautiful thing to think we live in a world of 7 billion people and we all have the possibility to find a family out there in the world, all because of mothers. I just love people right now. I'm sorry!

Dancing is at the forefront of everything you do too and I feel like throughout history dancers, choreographers, etc have defined so much culture but unless you’re fully immersed in that world you probably couldn’t name many professional dancers. Why don’t dancers get the flowers they deserve?

Look at Hollywood back in the day, everyone was expected to be a proficient dancer. Gregory Hines was so important to the world of dancing, especially tap dancing, but was never given the praise he deserved because he was black. I’d love to see dancing and musicals make a big return to cinema but yes, let’s give people the flowers they deserve. And make it equitable!

That’s why I wanted to showcase dance so much in the Mama’s Eyes video. I wanted to share with people what I've been up to since my appearance in the Lemon video but also to show that human beings are incredibly multi talented and multifaceted. We're living in an age where we can really start to showcase who we are. I'm a musician, an actress, a dancer. But I’m also really good at making pies!

Words: Eden Young

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