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From touring with Pharrell, to landing roles in movies like Hustlers and Cats, to mesmerizing the world as the star of N.E.R.D and Rihanna’s “Lemon” video, METTE has already proven her ability as a performer. Yet, hungry to satiate a deeper yearn, she’s shedding a new layer of self and reentering the industry as a musician.

Following her 2021 debut single "Petrified,” METTE has only proven to level up with every release, with 2022’s “Mama’s Eyes” serving as a contagiously pop single about missing the ghost of your mother’s embrace yet basking in the rush of your chosen freedom. With cinematically electrifying visuals, stunning vocals, and lyrics that speak to the delicious mess that is the human experience, METTE is excellence embodied, embracing fear and flaw only as deepening of her mastery.

Upon the release of her latest single “Van Gogh,” a track that speaks to “looking for love in other people instead of finding the love and inspiration within yourself,” we had an introspective talk with the artist and uncovered many gems about the unruly becoming of womanhood. The new single also arrives alongside news of METTE signing to RCA Records and her forthcoming EP, METTE NARRATIVE, set to release September 22.

Ones To Watch: “Mama’s Eyes” and Barbie both made me feel homesick for my mother and my younger self, yet incredibly proud to be a woman and hopeful that I get to live out my dreams for both of them. As a force behind both of these projects, what’s your perspective on womanhood right now?

METTE: As much as I’d love to speak on Barbie, I don’t want to cross the digital picket line of SAG-AFTRA, so I’ll speak to my music. “Mama’s Eyes” is a coming-of-age story, particularly my own, but I was always hoping it’d find a wider audience, because I know the experience isn’t just my own. It’s the human experience, realizing that you are someone else’s genes. I’m doing a lot of inner child work in my life, asking her to trust that my adult self is going to foster a creative spirit and safety net. I haven’t always seen my inner child and adult self as a harmonious pairing and I’ve tried to find balance, but it’s been challenging. I’ve had to sit with, garner, and respect the knowing that I’m on my right path, my intuition is leading, and that if I’m sitting in my authenticity, I can take on any challenge and create what I desire. Motherhood and mothering oneself is a challenging task, there’s a lot of discipline involved. The artist’s way can be daunting and require a lot from you, and it doesn’t exist in a rubric. I’m just doing my best to stay present with whatever feelings arise. The brilliance, the joy, the celebration, taking in praise from others, and not feeling like I need to shy away from what I’m proud of. 

You can tell that the song is the product of someone who is radically self-aware. Touching on that inner child healing you mentioned, what do you think little you needs more of, less of?

Little me requires a lot of freedom or she will become radical. I’ve reached a point where I’ve said “Okay, I’m at the intersection of art and commerce right now. I’ve been an artist since I was 21 and I have a responsibility for my own livelihood.” Meanwhile, my inner child is like “I WANT TO BE FREE. Why are you worried about all this other stuff?” I’m really invested in how I market myself as an artist and my inner child just wants to create. My adult is saying there’s an audience worth reaching and I need to strategically find them. My inner child wants candy and sweets, she doesn’t want to go to pilates in the morning or worry about downloading bank statements, but that’s self-preservation. It’s not a tug of war, but it’s a tightrope to walk.

You have a line in “Mama’s Eyes” that goes “You are every woman / Whitney and Chaka.” Who are some of the icons you looked up to and what did they give you permission to do?

One would definitely be my grandmother. She introduced me to music as an outlet for me to seek out a greater, more colorful world because I grew up in a small town. Also, the women I used to watch on screen, like Vera-Ellen. When I got into college I learned about Katherine Dunham and Josephine Baker. I always loved Tina Turner, her hair was iconic, but it was also all about self-expression. It’s about how they speak, how they create, how they perform, knowing that there are no boundaries. That’s something that I still look to, especially in terms of fashion. Really delineating these boundaries and diminutive descriptions that are placed on us. That’s what I touch on in “Van Gogh,” the multifaceted soul that exists in all of us and the ways in which we can self-express. Living beyond limit.

Was it difficult to transition roles, going from dancing to singing to being in front of the camera in a new way?

There were some technical things that I realized I had to attempt, but I’ve wanted to perform my entire life. It’s all about being embodied, that’s the key to a captivating performance. Things are amazing in the beginning, there’s no technique to hold you back. It comes from the solar plexus. There’s nothing to prove, only to share. You just exist in the moment. Then things start to get categorized, like “Do I want a pop melody there? Okay, I know what that sounds like. I want a coral theme for this song so I know exactly what my references would be for that.” But dance in the beginning just came from me flailing around the living room in pure experience. That knowing still exists, it’s just less freehand and more connecting the dots, but you created the dots. 

That’s huge, mastering technicality while maintaining the pure essence.

If you don’t maintain the essence, you lose everything. That’s why I was only going to start making music when I was ready. I was going to do it my way. We’re talking about making seen the unseeable. It’s difficult to ask people to believe in an amalgamation. So I had to trust in timing, doing it my way, and my intuition to make me the happiest. Of course, I have aspirations, but the accolades won’t mean as much to me if I didn’t stay true to myself. 

You seem like someone who has earned their sovereignty. As someone in their 20s still figuring it out, what’s some advice you can give from the journey?

I’m 32 and I have no regrets. I was very naive coming out of Minnesota. Being a fresh-faced girl with ambitions moving to LA, going from a very scholarly dance concert program to a commercial world was very different. I was forced to evolve. There were years when I was pushing against fate and wasn’t aware of my surroundings to notice how far I had come. I was just thinking about the next job and the next job. So my advice would be absorb, absorb it all. Feel all the feelings. Don’t deny them and think you need to be positive all the time, that’s not inspiring. There were so many ideals I was told I had to fit into as a woman who turned 30, material possessions I was supposed to have, relationships I was supposed to have garnered. These were “milestones,” but milestones are actually what I create them to be. I’m standing on the shoulders of kings, queens, and entrepreneurs, and that perspective helps me get through it all.