As a dancer Minnesota artist METTE has already graced the eyes of millions having performed with Pharrell’s dance crew The Baes, as well as stared in the video for N.E.R.D and Rihanna’s ‘Lemon’. She then demonstrated that she is just as fierce of a singer when she released her song ‘Petrified’ a couple years back. METTE now returns on the music front with a new single and video titled ‘Mama’s Eyes’.
A hot stepping blast of R&B with pop and club sensibilities,’Mama’s Eyes’ is anthemic in sound as the up-rocking drum kicks provide the heart beat to thump under slaying vocals and grand chorus.
The video for the track is directed by Camille Summers-Valli and features METTE absolutely owning with the choreography and performance throughout multiple clips. There is also footage of METTE as a little girl with her family that makes the video even more personal and relatable.
Touching on the video METTE stated:
“‘Mama’s Eyes’ music video is a celebration of my beloved artist journey… It’s a window into my coming of age story – how I’ve found music, dance, and performance to be an outlet of self expression and a divine sense of belonging. The richness of this visual is in its abstraction of the song’s theme of “mothering”… Dance is fundamental for me because movement is the first language I learned as a child and has played such a vital role in my personal and professional development. Performing movement to my lyrics and vocals was a homecoming of sorts. Being a subject of Camille’s brilliant directorial leadership, through her lens I found a sense of kinship with my inner child and the artist I am today.”
Camille Summers-Valli added:
“Mama’s Eyes came out of a desire to make something that felt universal, with soul and purpose to honour the track. The song spoke to me on so many levels. I was also instantly drawn to METTE. Her mind, art, her movement and her body was such an incredible canvas to create from together. Secondly, it’s a coming of age song, it’s a journey from childhood to adulthood, it’s an ode to mothers. The desire to create a universal experience made me want to expand the film to archival footage. Something we can see ourselves in. Hours of scanning archival allowed Vid Price, the editor and I, to create these wonderful cuts that connect movement, emotion and language. Finally, Mette’s personal archives tied it all back together to a really personal place. It’s at once intimate and omnipresent. The film is a journey from the constrained body to the free one, from control to liberation, from conception all the way to release. Everything in the video is packed full of meaning, metaphor and symbolism. It’s the kind of video that upon revisiting, you discover more layers. Just like life itself.”