Sylvan Esso - Hey Mami

Sooner or later the dudes at bodegas will hold their lips and own their shit.

Album: Sylvan Esso (debut album)
Genre: Dance, Indietronica, Synth-Pop
Album Release: May 12th 2014
Single Release: July 16th 2013 (lead single)
Length: 3.21
Producer: Nick Sanborn (age 30)
Vocalist: Amelia Meath (age 25)
Label: Partisan Records

Live on Moog Music in 2013


Live on KEXP in 2014


Live at Hangout Fest in 2015


Audio

Charts, Streams & Sales

Spotify: Over 50 million
YouTube Music: Over 5 million
Paste Magazine Best Songs of 2014: #1

Credits & Gear

MF-104M Analog Delay Mic

Details

• 'Hey Mami' is about a confident woman walking around town being catcalled. There are references to staring eyes "as she pulls on the eyeballs of all the kids standing tall" and "she owns the eyes"suggesting that she likes the attention.
  
  The song is based an Amelia Meath's own experiences which is standard for her work. She sees her singing as a continuation of her self, as if her voice is a manifestation of her inner life given form. This makes her music very personal and unabstract. The lyrics are concrete and free of metaphor or allusion. When Meath says "she's walking so fast" it's exactly what she means.

"I wrote the song when I was living in Red Hook. There was always a team of dudes who would hang out outside the bodega below me, underneath my room. Every morning I would come down to get my bacon, egg, and cheese, and they would call me "princesa."

But sometimes I would get cat-called in a way that was really threatening, usually when I was walking home at four in the morning. I would feel scared. (Amelia Meath talking to Genius)"

"Sometimes there would be a pack of old men outside of the building who would look at me and say 'Ugh, bless you.' It would make me feel like a million dollars. I realised that I didn’t think that cat calling was always a bad thing. It is really wonderful to be acknowledged as a beautiful being. I also like to acknowledge others as beautiful beings in public. It’s a kind of communication.

People usually just like to decide that I'm saying cat calling is wrong in this song. And in some places it is wrong, but I like to cat call people, man. I like to whistle at dudes, or tell women they look lovely. Sometimes it's nice, if you figure out a way of doing it well. I think we should be able to acknowledge each other in public spaces." (Amelia Meath talking to Genius)

Artwork