“Black Mermaid” by Esthero

A vocalist opting to liken herself to a “black mermaid” is an interesting analogy, especially considering that Esthero is White. In other words the “black” referred to in this song’s title is (as appears to be commonly accepted by listeners) a reference to race. Furthermore, as elaborated later in the article, these lyrics were in fact written with an African-American vocalist in mind.

In the name of not getting in over heads, let’s start off by asserting that the simplest way to begin understanding this piece is as the subject/vocalist being a single lady. Moreover, she possesses qualities which she personally feels can help ‘a broken man’. But what she needs in return is for such an individual, i.e. a proper mate, to ‘believe in her’. And if so, she will ‘teach him how to love her’ and also ‘lead him to greatness’.

In other words, the vocalist perceives herself as an ideal romantic interest but in a position where potential suitors do not perceive her as such. Part of the reason, as implied, is that due to such neglect, the black mermaid has developed into sort of an introvert. Indeed what the “mermaid” designation seems to be based on is the related revelation that the vocalist is ‘deep down inside herself’.

Takeaway

So all things considered, what this song comes off as is a statement of romantic frustration on the part of Black women. Such was actually a hot topic in the 1990s, back around the time when the Waiting to Exhale movie came out. But in more recent years you don’t necessarily hear about this subject as much, which may be why Esthero seems to have insinuated that she thought this song was outdated when she dropped it. But of course African-American rom-coms are being released to this day, such as 2018’s “Nappily Ever After“, in which “Black Mermaid” was featured.

So by the time all is said and done, again, Esthero does not appear to be Black herself. But obviously she empathizes with all of the quality sistren floating around out there who are overlooked on the dating scene.

Esthero

Esthero is a musician who has been industry active since the 1990s. She actually dropped three studio albums between 1998 and 2012. The most recent of those efforts, a project titled “Everything Is Expensive”, was backed by Columbia Records. It is from that LP that we get “Black Mermaid”, a song which came out somewhere in 2013.

Did Esthero write “Black Mermaid”?

Yes. Esthero produced this track and also co-wrote it with one J-Lake. According to the songstress, she actually penned “Black Mermaid” to be sung by Cree Summer, whom some readers would recognize as the actress who played “Freddie” on the 1980s’ Cosby Show spinoff, A Different World.

Notable Usage of “Black Mermaid”

“Black Mermaid” was not released as a single. However, it still proved to be Esthero’s most-popular song. For example, it was famously featured on a 2018 Netflix film Nappily Ever After. 

Interesting to Note:

The songstress used the opportunity of the track blowing up to protest against what she deemed were unfair royalty rates paid to artists by Spotify. And this is for a song which she personally didn’t think would have long life.