FAYE WEBSTER SHARES NEW SINGLE & VIDEO FOR 'CHEERS,' ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM, 'I KNOW I'M FUNNY HAHA', OUT JUNE 25 VIA SECRETLY CANADIAN
Image Credit: Pooneh Ghana
“Faye Webster’s particular strain of sad-girl loneliness hits a little differently in the pandemic era”
– Pitchfork
“Webster breaks musical barriers in such a way that musicians rarely do these days”
– Rolling Stone
“Webster's songwriting and voice are both so exquisite, comfortably settling into the space between the worlds of twangy Americana and safe adult contemporary. She takes the best parts of these styles and delivers something even greater than the sum of its parts.”
- ABC Online
Today Faye Webster returns with her new single ‘Cheers’ and it’s companion video, directed by Matt Swinsky. Alongside, she announces her new album I Know I’m Funny haha, out June 25th on Secretly Canadian.
A sense of relief charges the neo-psychedelic pop of ‘Cheers’, which see’s Webster experiment with an overdriven guitar tone. According to Webster "This song has always felt like a standout from the record to me. It was the kind of song where you’re like 'oh yeah, this is the one' right after the first take. It felt different to me and it made it feel like I was entering a new era and chapter for myself. It’s kind of the outlier on the record but at the same time is still so original and identifying to myself. Also, it just makes me feel like a badass for once." The video features Faye hanging with her hometown Atlanta’s dirt bike scene king SIG and the Real Bike Life Only riders.
The follow up to her 2019 breakthrough and Secretly Canadian debut Atlanta Millionaires Club, I Know I’m Funny haha is Webster’s most realised manifestation yet of her emotional and musical alchemy. Her poised and plainspoken music channels emotions that are so aching, they seem to be coming into existence at that very moment. And her unique sound draws as much from the lap-steel singer-songwriter pop of the 1970s and teardrop country tunes as it does from the audacious personalities of her citiess rap and R&B community, where she initially found a home on Awful Records.
In the time since Atlanta Millionaire Club release, while Webster’s profile has steadily risen - she also fell in love. “This record is coming from a less lonely place,” Webster says of I Know I’m Funny haha, which finds her sound fuller, brighter, and more confident. “When I wrote AMC, I was living by myself and on some don’t-know-what-to-do-with-my-own-time type shit. But now I’m living with my partner; I’m happy most of the time. I’m in such a different place. These songs aren’t necessarily happier, but it’s a different vibe.”
Webster started recording I Know I’m Funny haha before the coronavirus pandemic, but with the 2020 shutdowns, she had to switch up her typically spontaneous song-by-song studio approach for most of the album. She tried recording with her band for a COVID-safe two-week studio stretch, but ultimately left, recording vocals at home on Garageband: “I did the rest of the vocals in my bedroom, which is what I’ve done and what I’m used to, and what I prefer,” she says of her intimate singing style. And the uncertainty of life in 2020 also seeped into some of her lyrics, as on the gorgeous 'Better Distractions' (which landed on Barack Obama’s 2020 year end playlist), a song about missing a loved one and wondering “What’s next?”
WATCH THE ‘CHEERS’ VIDEO
The brilliantly colloquial title of the album is an indication of the humor and personality that shines through Webster’s music (This is also the case with her work as an accomplished photographer of portraits who has shot Killer Mike, Offset and D.R.A.M among others.) Many of her songs contain bits of girl-group-esque talk-singing, which colour her atypical story-songs. “One of my favorite things about songwriting is taking thoughts that people don’t really think are worthy, or might overlook, and highlighting them,” Webster says. (She also comes alive when describing hobbies like chess and yo-yoing.) “I like saying things that everybody thinks, but nobody’s saying. Sometimes you can’t really sing them, or make them pretty. So I’ll just say it, just talk. I’ve become more purposeful with it.”
Accepting the challenges, Webster says she’s in a growth mindset, pushing herself to learn more, to be more vulnerable. “Growth is really important to me,” she says. “I hope people will relate to my songs, and not just be like ‘this is a good record’ but ‘this makes me feel something. This is making me think differently, this is making me question things.’ I told myself a few years ago that I was going to be more honest in my songwriting, that honesty is the best route to take with music. If I have a voice and people are listening to me, I’m not going to waste it.”
FAYE WEBSTER 'I KNOW I'M FUNNY HAHA' IS OUT JUNE 25
PRE-ORDER ‘I KNOW I’M FUNNY HAHA’ HERE