“Sweet Tooth” by Maya Hawke

Maya Hawke’s “Sweet Tooth” definitely isn’t the easiest song to comprehensively understand. But what the vocalist seems to be getting at, most holistically put, is her commitment to and emotional dependency on her loved ones. And she uses two examples in the respective verses. The first being her mother and the second apparently a friend or maybe romantic interest.

Just to set the record straight, Maya Hawke’s mother is in fact Uma Thurman, i.e. the star of Quentin Tarantion’s Kill Bill series and quite a few other flicks. And with that in mind, what the vocalist appears to be acknowledging is that her mom, who was around the turn of the century a firm Hollywood A lister, isn’t as popular as she used to be. But still, Maya would “do whatever to protect her”.

And to her, part of that obligation apparently includes going to see her movies – even if no one else is in attendance – and enjoying them at that. Or at least that is one way of interpreting the particulars of the first verse, all things considered.

Tough Love

In the second verse, the general idea the vocalist seems to be getting at is that just because a loved one may on occasion say something offensive, that doesn’t necessitate termination of the relationship. Or put otherwise, even if someone you’re close to does something to offend you, they’d still likely be the first person you call (or to call you) if something goes wrong. In this case that would be the vocalist unexpectedly being stricken with a toothache, which – as anyone who’s ever endured one will undoubtedly attest to – can be extremely painful.

But all of the above is not to imply that the vocalist is like a glutton for punishment. Rather, she appears mature enough to realize that sometimes being criticized, i.e. tough love as some people may call it, is part and parcel of any truly-loving relationship. Or the way Maya puts it is that the hardship the addressee(s) ‘put her through’ is what made her into the woman she is today.

Or at least that’s one way of theoretically interpreting all that’s going down here. 

Takeaway

To reiterate, this song is relatively unusual. Why? It reads, to some extent, as if it is about two completely different topics. But the conclusive sentiment would apparently be something along the lines of the vocalist not being someone who is easily offended per se. Instead, she keeps things in perspective and accordingly seemingly understands that going at it with those you love from time to time does not mean that their overall importance in your life is minimized.

Release of “Sweet Tooth”

As of the release of this track on 16 August 2022, Maya Hawke, daughter of Hollywood star Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, is herself first and foremost an actress. However, she also has a discography dating back a couple of years and dropped her first album, “Blush”, in 2020. 

Maya’s second LP is titled “Moss”, and “Sweet Tooth”, a product of Mom + Pop Music, is the second single from that project.

Credits for “Sweet Tooth”

NYU graduate Celine Sutter directed the music video to this track.

Maya Hawke wrote this song with Christian Lee Hutson. The two of them seemingly composed the song while Hawke was filming scenes for Stranger Things, the Netflix series which currently stands as the most-notable entry in her filmography. And she also co-produced this track with Benjamin Lazar Davis and Jonathan Low.

It has been noted that “Sweet Tooth” was the last song to be written for Hawke’s “Moss” album.