INTERVIEW: Fousheé on latest track 'single af': "As long as you make decisions from good intentions and keep in mind what your goals are when you're creating, you can't really go wrong."
Image: Hao Zeng
Interview: Jett Tattersall
American singer and songwriter Fousheé has been writing music since she was six years old. Raised in a musical family in New Jersey - her mother was a drummer for female reggae band PEP - she always knew she wanted to follow music as a career but fell into the traditional path of studying at college. It wasn't until she and her mother were involved in a serious car accident that she realised how important it was to follow her dreams.
She ended up in LA, where she started performing and creating music, releasing a number of chilled, R&B soul infused singles. In 2020, her voice went viral when the hook for her song ‘Deep End’ was sampled on the Sleepy Hallow track ‘Deep End Freestyle’ which was streamed in the millions on TikTok. Uncredited on the track and anonymous at the time it blew up, her own TikTok video where she revealed her identity has been viewed over six million times. In July she released her full version of the song and it has now been streamed more than 83 million times. In November she released the track ‘single af’, an ode to the joys of being single. With music that refuses to adhere to any one genre, a incredible voice as well as a strong, empowering feminist message in her lyrics, Fousheé is the future superstar we have been looking for. We recently caught up with her to find out more.
Hi Fousheé! Well, first of all, what incredible music you make. It is really so very good to covet some of your time today. How are things with you this fine December?
t's been a very transformative month. Things have been changing so fast, but I'm very grateful and I’m happy.
Grateful and happy. That's what we need to be this year, really don't we? Honestly, your music is so divine. And your latest ‘single af’ is all indulgent smiles and swagger in the melody and then you've got this bruised with confidence in the lyrics. It's incredible. How did this track come about?
Well, it started off as just a sample. The chorus was part of my sample pack. I actually wrote the full version in quarantine at my home and recorded it at my home. It's kind of a synopsis of everything that happened during that time within the past few weeks of George Floyd and the sample [of ‘Deep End’] going viral and so many things compiled into it. There was a lot of chaos coming from TikTok, I kind of want it to nod to that world by creating a song that you can dance to and have fun with. But be honest in the lyrics and still touch on what I'm going through. So it's just a combination of all those things.
Melodically it's got that similar kind of spiked punch sound like ‘Hazy’ and ‘Deep End’. And your melody is in a complete contrast to the lyrics. Is that something you're aware of when you're writing? Or is it just that multi facet of a song?
Yeah, for sure. My influences come from all over the place. I have moments that are like ‘Hazy’ that very vintage sound and I don't mean to approach it that way. I just used to listen to a lot of jazz, at one point I studied classical music, but I'm such a fan of hip hop and R&B and soul and reggae. Every time I write, the melodies end up being so many different genres and elements.
It's really beautiful. And the accompanying video on this one is that 60s deliciousness. Again, your videos have very much their own sound to the visuals, and I just want to know, how imperative are those visual storybooks to your songs?
I want the visuals to feel like the song. So usually, when I write, I have a visual already in mind. I'll just listen to the song and daydream, and just concentrate on what it will look like. For ‘Deep End’ I brought it to Zach Sulak who has a certain style, I felt like he was the perfect person. It was very much collaboration, the first half of it, where I'm walking through the mountains, I choreographed those moves, did exactly what I wanted to do, the guitar coming out of nowhere. And then the fight scene he orchestrated. With visuals, when someone else is creating it from how they would perceive what you're saying, you never really know [how it will turn out], but with us, it ended up being a perfect team. And actually, after I shot the first half, I felt really silly, because it was outside of the box for me. I hadn’t really danced much in prior videos. So, I said, ‘Zack, I don't think this is it, we should go back to the drawing board. We should probably just stop here. I don’t want to waste any more time’. But he was like let's just try to get through it. I’ll edit it. If you like it, we'll keep it. If not, we’ll start over. And when I saw the edit, I was like wow, this is beautiful!
Oh, I'm so glad you did it. Honestly one of my favourite things about the video is just you coming towards the camera and your eyes… like you can't look away. Like if you weren't so good at making music you should be an actress. And even though there's a little tongue in cheek element to it, your expression, you're sending a very clear message. To me it reads about clawing your way up in this industry, which then listeners took so much to their own personal view on society. Can you talk me a little through about what that song meant to you, and then what it meant to you as it then became so much to everyone else?
Wow. For me it meant so much. This was a song that really put me on the map. And not only me, it represented black women too, because there's so many stories that I hear from every level and age group… black women just not getting what they're due. Whether it's not being paid the right amount, or you know, just being unknown in scenarios like this. So it meant that there's a happy ending. It's so hard to explain because it was such a big moment for me. I felt like I was showing other people that something like that was possible for them.
How important is it within your own career trajectory, as a performer to support women, to support black women and shall we say, educate people against the ignorance and the absolute disparity within the industry?
I feel like now that I have the platform to do that, that's kind of my duty now, to help other people do the same, or at least be an example for people that sing. I thought that there's no way I'm gonna be involved in every situation like that. But at least if people can see my story and feel like they can do it, then I feel like the job is done. But any opportunity that I can to support, I plan on doing that, because I feel an obligation to do that. It's only right.
You have been writing and performing since you were a wee child of six. Can you talk to me a little bit about your musical journey? Have you always known you wanted to do this?
It started in my little living room in Somerville, New Jersey. My mum was a drummer. She had stopped doing music before I was born. But you know, years before she was a drummer in an all-girl band in Jamaica called PEP. She exposed me to a lot of music, there was never a quiet moment in the house. And it was a struggle. We didn't have cable, I didn't have a whole bunch of things to do. So I had a lot of space and time to create. I used to collect rocks and draw but I knew from a very young age that I wanted to sing. So I would just write songs for my family and just perform for them. I just always depended on that way of expressing myself because I was so shy and quiet. I was such a quiet kid that I needed that creative outlet. That was where I felt my happiest, singing and performing. But I don't think I came out of my shell until teenage years and later. But it's always been a part of my life, my first song was probably around six. I still remember it. I think it was called ‘You’re in My Way’. Somebody literally like just blocking the way to the bathroom. It was so stupid! I used to write a lot about boys and breakups. And just what I would hear about in music. And I still have a lot of those songs. I would just record on the little karaoke machine in my radio and all of my little friends that I came across, I would force them to sing with me! I had a couple of singing groups, but I was the only one who stuck with it, because that was always what I loved to do.
I love it. ‘You’re In My Way’, oh my god, that would be an amazing track now! That was the real inspiration for ‘Deep End’. It started back then.
Right? That’s what ‘Deep End’ is about. ‘You’re In My Way’ part two.
Exactly. You're an independent artist and you've been performing and working your ass off for years. You’ve clearly got such a creative vision yourself. You’re very confident with who you are, your sound and your style, but I wanted to know, what are the ladders and snake pits of having total creative control?
Having to make a lot of decisions. It's hard. Because I don't think anyone has the answers. Okay, no one has all the answers. No one's always right. You're gonna be wrong sometimes. I think that's the scariest thing, but as long as you make decisions from good intentions and keep in mind what your goals are when you're creating, then you can't really go wrong. There's no right or wrong, but it's scary. It's scary because I just have a fear of failing. But I think we all have that fear. But more than that is my love of creating and wanting to touch people. I think I have yet to make my best song, my best body of work, my best visual creation. Every time I approach a new song or a visual, I try to outdo what I did before.
Lastly before I leave you… what is on the horizon for you? What is coming up?
A video for ‘single af’ which is going to be exciting. A project. And we'll see what else but definitely more music, more visuals. I'm gonna try to push the envelope as much as possible. There's some cool collaborations and exciting things.
‘single af’ is out now via Trackmasters Entertainment/RCA Records/Sony Music Entertainment Australia. You can download and stream here.
To keep up with all things Fousheé you can follow her on Instagram and Twitter.
