Single Review: Mette – Bet

So, who is Mette?

Chances are that some of us had had different introductions to her. Some may have been introduced to her as an opening act for Jessie Ware. Or perhaps you just stumbled across her music online. Or maybe you saw her in Cats. Some may have been introduced to her as one of the opening acts for Taylor Swift’s London shows of The Eras Tour. And some—like myself—may have been introduced to her in the music video for N.E.R.D’s “Lemon”. The woman whose head Rihanna is shaving? The woman shaking ass in the store during Rihanna’s rap verse? That’s Mette.

Ever since giving us that fire dance section in the video for “Lemon”, Mette has been working away at being a music artist in-between odd bit part acting gigs. Mette released her debut EP Mettenarritive in 2023 and it featured a couple of good songs, but it was difficult to get a sense of her style and where she wanted to land musically. She had a really cool visual aesthetic, which helped the music video for “Mama’s Eyes” rack up a million views of YouTube. But the music didn’t punch in quite the same way, because each of the songs on the EP were so different from one another, and said far less about who Mette was than her music videos did. The only song which really stuck out in a big way was “Van Gogh”, because it sounded like something which was primed for radio and could be a hit. And thankfully Mette seemed to have felt similarly. Because “Bet” sounds like it’s cut from the same cloth, which I think was a great call to make. Because “Van Gogh” was the song which had such a clear thread for Mette to pull and unspool as she continues a journey to find her sound. Making it somewhat of a foundation for her, whilst still leaving room for her to dabble in other styles. If Mette wants to play in the mainstream pool, then using “Van Gogh” as somewhat of a template and building out a clean cut pop dance song out of that was the smartest choice, and she made it.

The lyrics to “Bet” seem like a regular song about wanting somebody to fall in love with you, and it can still be received as such. But Mette herself had said that whilst this was initially the perspective from which the song was written, as she was listening to it and singing to it at home, the song took on a new meaning as a song about loving yourself. This titbit is nice to have, because I never would have gotten that from the song itself, although it does come through in the music video. But, hey. It’s the thought that counts. And a key part of what makes “Bet” such a great song is how it makes you feel when you listen to it. The song is so breezy, fun and full of light. It makes me wanna just be carefree and dance. And the song is such a joy to listen to that for those three minutes and eighteen seconds I feel grateful to be alive and able to just dance.

Mette – Bet | Photo: Mette / Reyna King ( funkingreyna)

“Bet” features the penwomanship of Lauren Aquilina, who co-wrote “Tokyo Love Hotel” on Rina Sawayama’s debut album, Sawayama and its deluxe edition track, “Lucid”. Aquilina also co-wrote most of Sawayama’s second studio album, Hold the Girl. And when I realised Aquilina was one of the people behind “Bet”, something clicked. And I immediately thought to myself ‘I could absolutely imagine Rina singing this song’. It’s very much her vibe. And the subject matter of the song—learning to love yourself—is one which is also very on brand for her. Mette should put Rina on a remix, seeing as featuring on other people’s songs is all Rina seems to be doing at the moment.

But “Bet” also shows that Aquilina has a songwriting style, which I feel is quite similar to Rina’s and is probably why the two of them clicked and wound up writing near enough a whole album together. When I really zone in on the melody of “Bet” and a bunch of the songs on Hold the Girl, I can hear the similarities.

“Bet” is a really great song. It’s fun, playful and really uplifting, which I think captures part of Mette in a way I don’t think enough of the songs on her debut EP did. Her EP felt like it was overly trying to be something, but not really knowing that that something was, and I get it. Mettenarritive was her first release. She wanted it to ‘say something’. But whilst I do believe that her heart was in that EP, I still feel there was a barrier with it, which wasn’t there in the music videos, each of which said so much more about her—understandable, given that she was a dancer first and an amazingly expressive one at that. “Bet” feels like Mette letting go, being free and concerning herself less in trying to be seen as an artists’ artist or…whatever. That same sense of freedom and expression she showed in her videos it’s in the music now. There’s an alignment, which is great. Because I hear this song and see this video and I’m like ‘Oh. That’s Mette.’ So “Bet” this feels like a great introduction to her.

Mette – Bet | Photo: Mette / Reyna King ( funkingreyna)

It’s really unfortunate that “Bet” didn’t catch on—between how good the song is, how good the music video is and that it features a dance routine where an 8 count easily coulda been yanked from it for a TikTok challenge. Because if there was ever a song with the potential to really put Mette onto a new level of success and expose her to a wider audience, it was this one.

Side note. She’s so gonna title her debut album Metteverse.