METTE is a shape-shifting pop star coming into her own in 2024

METTE constantly surprises you. 

On her debut major label EP METTENARRATIVE - a play on the phrase 'meta narrative' - the multi-hyphenate singer, songwriter, dancer and actress jumps through genres like they're hoops.

There's the staccato shuffle of post-disco banger Van Gogh, the hands-in-the-air club electronica of the Ray of Light-esque Mamma's Eyes and the elastic bass lines of debut single Petrified, which in another life could have been a Rihanna comeback single. 

You may have already encountered METTE without knowing it yet; she was the dancer getting her head shaved by Rihanna in N.E.R.D's Lemonade video, or supporting Jessie Ware at her joyous two-night stint at London's Ally Pally for the That! Feels Good! tour and she also popped up as Video Girl Barbie in Greta Gerwig's billion-dollar blockbuster Barbie. Indeed, the last year has seen METTE's long-held plans for superstardom begin to come to fruition.

With a brand new single, Darling Drive, arriving this week, it's official - METTE is one to watch for 2024 and beyond. Watch her surprise you. 

A lot of well-laid plans seemed to finally come to fruition for you in 2023, how did that feel?

Oh my gosh. I mean, I've been plotting and planning since I was wee, tiny little lamb! But seriously, this is a coming of age story, and it doesn't end here. There's so many different moments from 2023 that I'd been manifesting. It's really incredible, I'm actually really proud of myself! But I couldn't have done it without my incredible team. I'm actually living in the moment [right now], and I don't take anything for granted. 

This is just a bit of me. I've really matured in the last five years since I've been making music; the right time, the right team, the right people, the right collaborators...I've been waiting for the right time, knowing that time is on my side. I'm not racing it. It's like a dance, being in a duet with my destiny. 

That's a refreshing mindset to have as a new artist because a lot of modern pop music is driven by instant gratification, but longevity is always the name of the game, right?

I think we're in a really interesting space for music right now, you know on certain platforms a song can just...take off. But artistic development is very important to me. I want to be successful as possible, of course I do. I'm an emerging artist, I'm still developing. I'm still in year 1!

Even as a dancer, I toured the world for years and I was able to work with so many incredible artists, I was absorbing everything like a sponge. I'm trusting the journey, because I've seen [what I want] in the people that I've been around.

Where was the point you looked at all the work you've been doing and said - I can turn this into a project?

Well, I've been working for five years. I wrote [single] Mama's Eyes three years ago, but this is music we're talking about. This is art. There's no end to it. It can live forever. 

And, listen, some songs turn out awful. They're experiments! They're just little Frankenstein events, but then they could be the access point [to something greater]. 

Van Gogh is a proper highlight of the EP - how did that come about?

I wrote that in 2020. It was COVID, obviously, and I hadn't been in the studio for, like, five months because of it. I was talking a lot at the time about life feeling really stagnant. I needed a muse. We hadn't been around other people in so long, and I need a sense of community around me, to keep me moving forward. I wrote Van Gogh about meeting my muse, and then realising that I was actually writing the songs to try and talk to myself. 

You are the painter and the muse at the same time

That's what I'm saying! And then I met [the producer] Mike Sabath [who produced RAYE's Escapism.] and he just married this whole cadence of sound [into the same song]. He's so incredible, and it's all instinctual too. 

You supported Jessie Ware at her shows at Ally Pally in November - how was that? Your Madonna and Janet Jackson medley was inspired, by the way, they clearly influence your music and your performance a lot

I felt so encouraged by that crowd. I want to go for bottomless mimosas with them all!  That Madonna and Janet medley is important to me, because my set is all about the divas. I'm not necessarily trying to put myself in the same category, I just want to celebrate people who live unapologetically, who speak their truth.

And you have a brand new single coming this week too...

Yes! The new song is called Darling Drive, which is the name of the street where I grew up. It's incredible. I grew up in Minnesota, next to Lake Darling. You'll hear that reflected in the lyrics of the song. I come from a very small town!

Mette's METTENARRATIVE is out now via Since 93/RCA. New single Darling Drive arrives January 12.