My Short Personal History with Faye Webster

I had never heard of who Faye Webster was until mid-2020 when a friend from high school recommended me her breakout album, Atlanta Millionaires Club. Admittedly, I was initially Indifferent with the album, with one exception, which I’ll get to, but for the following weeks, I’d notice I couldn’t get the album out of my mind. Faye’s soft-spoken quality as a singer is not whispering the melody into your ear but speaking it to you. . However, there’s always a sense of tune to how she delivers her lyrics, never at the expense of the intimacy of the track or the sense it's a conversation directed at you, but she’s the only one saying all that needs to be said. This, paired with her repetitive songwriting, creates an earworm effect. I’d come to realize that this repetition isn’t a slight against her, but the answer to why her songs work in the first place. There’s nothing more you need to understand a sense of longing, than using and repeating the phrase “The right side of my neck still smells like you” or one of my favorites, “How did I fall in love with someone I don’t know.”

I got acquainted with the rest of her albums and in a time of my life primed for finding solace in music, a breakup from a long-term relationship. I gravitated towards Faye. More so than any other artist, I formed the strongest personal attachment to her music. Particularly one song, my favorite song not just from her but that I ever heard. The song stood out to me the first time I heard it and grew on me to the point that it’s the only music that has moved me to tears when I finally heard it live. “Jonny”. A ballad about the “sorrows of love's slow passing,” and the emotional numbness of hoping for what could have been, the happiness that was possible in readiness for that with someone. It was a special moment for me when I attended an impromptu show Faye had in Georgia, the same day I finished my college orientation.

My story with Faye’s music is hardly special. I went to her concert, was moved to tears, and awaited her new release. That would be Underdressed at the Symphony, another great album full of her sense of quirk and endearing lyricism and song structures. FSU’s own Club Down Under committee was able to get Faye in Tallahassee to perform a show for us right before she would embark on a headlining tour. Her shows move me like none of the fair few others I’ve seen have. There is not a performer dead or alive that I would put over seeing Faye, even having seen her twice. What I have to say about her that would resemble anything distinct is my appreciation of her. It’s apparent that she’s a unique talent, doing an amazingly executed blend of indie-folk, soft pop, and country. But besides all her talent as an artist, I'm just glad she makes music. For myself, specifically, I thank her for what she’s done. Her music spoke to me like none other at a time I appreciated words I could relate to. Her simplicity and full soul in her tracks gave me a sense of comfort so specific– one I can’t describe with words but one I deeply cherish. And I know I’m not the only one. I know that many feel this way about many artists and I know many feel this way about Faye. I find that phenomenon so beautiful. These connections are universal but still so individually personal. She’s my favorite artist, and one of the most important artists in my life because she was essential in bridging that connection between appreciating art and experiencing it. Letting it envelop you and feeling all the emotions.

All of this being a long-winded way of saying that when she shrieked, “But I looked back two times”, I felt that.

Writer: Tony Molina

Artist: Solymar Estrella