Before leaving the first month of January, Mélat had announced that her 2021 single “The Lesson” had received the visual treatment courtesy of DavieeDavee, and the finished product would be surfacing in the second week of February. The brief clip stunningly showed Mèlat singing her heart out with a black & white filter to show this vintage feeling & concept that she parades in the video. It’s an astonishing release and one we got the pleasure of enjoying early, so go ahead & take a seat, start to be amazed because the show is about to begin.

Austin, Texas, at Monk’s Jazz Club with the clock showing 11:07 pm, the headliner for the night is Mèlat. She lets the band that consists of Xavier Davis, Will Baroni & Oscar Saldivar play her out to the stage where once she steps foot, and her hands gripped to her flower-designed mic with the place going quiet, hearts jumping while her soul starts spinning a tale of love. The record was already such a robust joint that shared the story of the heart & head playing a tug of war, she wants to stay, but she’s coming up with so many reasons to go. Love isn’t easy to let go of; sometimes, it comes with a price you are unwilling to pay, so your best bet is to leave it while you still can. The visual does a magnificent job in painting this record with such a vivid & intimate setting from beginning to end. You get to see visual shots from the crowd and a zoomed-up moment with Mèlat singing out to the heavens in such a blissful moment. The video constructs a whole new emotion that is quite breathtaking when you think about it. The transition to taking you back to an era of music & soul is put on display here, and we as the viewers get to witness all of its glory in multiple ways. It’s a beautiful blessing and one we can’t thank Mèlat and the people behind the scenes for creating such a memorable release.

If you were dialed into her text community by messaging +1 512-675-1083, you would’ve already known about this video a while back. We recommend from here on out you stay updated with her text community to be on top of announcements and news for any upcoming Mèlat releases. We wanted to give you all a deeper look into the video drop, so we spoke with Mèlat below to see how this release came along and some interesting facts about her as well.

First off, we just want to say we love the feel of the video, so warming and just so beautifully done, how excited are you to let the whole world see it?

Mélat - I would have to say I’m approximately a cool 1,000,000% excited.

Can you explain to me the inspiration, if any, that you had to make this visual concept come to life?

Mélat - This is the first song I’ve released that uses fully live instrumentation. It’s sonically very pure and I wanted to have a video that also had a very pure aspect to it. I thought: What is more pure than a live show where the audience is enveloped in the world of your music? I wanted to convey that feeling of intimacy and purity. I also love the jazz era of music and as a performer, I wanted to bring that element into the visual as well. If you could see in my mind it would look just like that: a mashup of what once was and what currently is.

I know you said in a previous Instagram post that shared the first glimpse of this visual that your sure you lived in the 1920’s-50’s, what do you think a daily schedule for you would’ve looked for you back in those days?

Mélat - It definitely would not be as comfortable as it is today. I love that era despite knowing the struggles people of color, and Black people in particular faced. For that reason I have a hard time imaging what my daily life would’ve been like then. Beyond that, I hope I would be enterprising, finding ways of pushing boundaries and making people feel valued and hopeful. These are the things I strive to do today and it’s something I’d be doing regardless of time period. Honestly I’d probably be married with like 3 kids ‘cause you know they married hella young back then!

I remember when speaking about the record when it first drop, it felt like you had your heart & soul playing a tug of war which is a powerful illustration to the song, would you agree on that description or did you look at it a different way?

Mélat - Yeah, I’ve never thought of it like that but it’s a perfect description of it. The song starts off with “I dont even know why I wanna stay when there’s a million reasons to walk away.” But the lesson I learned in this song is that “you dont ‘find’ love; love comes rushing in,” meaning that you dont pick and choose what your heart feels for someone. You can decide if it’s for you/healthy for you/etc but when your heart feels something, it simply just does. So the song is basically a tug of war between the heart and the mind, knowing you love someone for sure but you’re not sure what to do next.

You’ve been doing music for so many years now and have always continue to elevate with each release case in point this latest visual, what motivates you to wake up and keep going so strong towards this craft?

Mélat - I feel I’m so far from reaching my potential and there’s so much more I want to say and do. There are definitely some days where its more difficult to keep going but I’ve started to really listen to my mind, body and heart for when it’s time to pause. Being able to better take care of myself helps me better show up for my career and to keep pushing the envelope till it busts wide open.

I love the intimate nature of the visual especially choosing Monks Jazz Club as the stage to perform in the video, what are some highlights you had behind the scenes of making the video?

Mélat - I want to keep pushing my limits so I directed this video and had all the scenes mapped out before hand so it was incredible to see it all flow so smoothly! Me and the band (Xavier, Oscar, Nate, Isaac) would get swept up in playing the song and we probably played The Lesson like 10 times in total that night…usually when shooting a video you just do the parts that are mapped out for you which are seconds at a time. I woke up the morning of the shoot and had this vision of the mans hand at the end. I never wrote it down but I told Daviee what I was thinking and we added it at the very end. I was hesitant to add it but it seems to be a crowd favorite…so stay tuned to the WHOLE video. You need that last second!! I had a room full of incredibly supportive friends and friends of friends there. As well as a mini bar available for all the amazing people putting in the work of listening to the same song over and over again!

Any artists or producer you would love to hopefully work with in the near future?

Mélat - I’d love to work with Jon Batiste, Mac Ayers, Babyface, Mereba, Amine, Stevie Wonder….the list could go on and on…

Besides your performance at Zoi Market, do you have any Valentine’s Day plans?

Mélat - As much as I love love and talk about it I’ve never been a big Valentine’s Day person. Sharing V Day with an audience and being able to sing for them is probably as perfect of a Vday plan as I could ever hope for!

With a new year starting, are they any personal goals you hope to accomplish in 2022?

Mélat - Like everyone else in the world I’m trying to work out more consistently and eat better. And I’m learning Italian just because I want to.

Without spilling out too many surprises, is there anything you can tell us on any upcoming releases?

Mélat - March and May. That’s all I gotta say. :) I really want the people to keep texting and joining our little community. I love responding there and that’ll be the best way to get all the deets as we release them. +1 512-675-1083

I’ve always wanted to know the story behind your signature mic stand that is covered in flowers, what’s the introduction on how that came about?

Mélat - Hahaha well I’ve always liked understated, standout things. Originally I wanted to make a whole set but then I realized nobody wants to move all that stuff around. So I took some spray paint, a scarf some flower and string lights to my mic stand and have never looked back. It’s gained a personality of it’s own that I honestly could’ve never planned for but I love it nonetheless.

How would you describe Mélat in five words?

Mélat - Love, Growth, Peace, Unique, Ambitious

The Deep End with Mélat on The Lesson