CREATOR SPOTLIGHT: Fae
FAE
(She/Her)
Artist, Singer, Songwriter, Dancer
Fae, a Japanese and Jewish east coast native, is an LA based singer and songwriter with a sharp tongue, fiery disposition, and a voice that demands your attention. Her music is snarky, irreverent, brutally honest — and makes you feel like no one can fuck with you. With no management, label, or PR support, Fae has independently amassed over 4 million streams, and been placed on Spotify editorial playlists like SALT and villain origin story.
1. Introduce yourself. Tell us who you are and what you do. Give us an overview of your career so far. (If possible, include some career highs and lows.) Give us a brief description of what daily life looks like for you.
Hi! I'm Fae, I'm an artist, singer, songwriter, dancer, and pun enthusiast. I've been putting out music under Fae since 2019 and if I'm being honest, I wasn't really sure how to navigate my career then and I'm still not too sure now, but I'm doing my best. I've been independent my entire career with no manager, label, or rich parents (devastating), and am super proud that on my own, I've landed a handful of Spotify editorial playlist placements, and recently signed my first sync deal. My daily life is pretty all over the place and consists of working out, sessions, dance classes, vocal exercises and practicing whatever instrument has my interest at the moment (currently bass), playing chess, and telling my dog she's a perfect angel.
2. Tell us about your creative process. What works best for you? Have you experienced writer’s block, imposter syndrome, procrastination, perfectionism, self-doubt, or self-limiting beliefs? How did you overcome them?
Lyrics will be at the heart and soul of my music until the day I die. I was thinking recently about how I'm fairly mediocre when it comes to being an instrumentalist, and realized that my main medium has actually always been words. I start every song with lyrics first. Before I wrote in sessions and wrote everything by myself, I would write the lyrics for a song in its entirety before I even touched chords or melody. I love writing a poem right before I go into a session and using that as the thesis for the song that we're writing that day, and I've noticed my best ideas usually come when I write poetry first, as opposed to coming in and thinking of writing lyrics. I used to suffer from crippling imposter syndrome, but I have actually been able to turn this into one of my biggest strengths. For so long, I was so scared that I was going to show up to my sessions and not have a single idea, that I would go into every single session over prepared: playlist reference for production, title ideas, concept ideas, poems, lyric fragments, anything I could possibly come up with beforehand to set myself up for success. Overtime, after each session kept going well and I would constantly get comments from people that they never saw an artist come into sessions as well prepared as I was, I realized that my imposter syndrome had actually turned me into a better, more intentional artist.
As far as getting over perfectionism and writer's block goes, I'm going to share one of my favorite pieces of advice I've ever received. Back in 2016, I was feeling incredibly lost and decided to email one of my favorite artists at the time, Luna Shadows, and ask for advice as someone who was really struggling to find my place in the music world and feeling incredibly lost. She wrote back a super thoughtful and helpful email, but the piece of advice she gave me that stood out the most was to take the pressure off of creativity and put it on discipline. Ultimately, realizing that my best work comes out of quality THROUGH quantity has helped take a lot of creative pressure off myself. The artists that you love probably put out 10% of the work that they actually make. So if 10% of the work you make is going to be good enough to put out, make sure you're producing enough work that 10% can still make up a body of work. It doesn't matter if the other 90% suck! The point is to just keep trying things until you have something that you really love.
3. If comfortable sharing, tell us how you’ve previously struggled with your mental health. (Have you experienced anxiety, depression, a learning disability, ADHD, bipolar disorder? Or have you experienced adversity with your gender, sexuality, race?) What other challenges have you faced as a creative?
(TW: suicide) Unfortunately, my struggles with mental health are very much not previous and are actively occurring. I called the suicide hotline for the first time just a few months ago, recently started going back to therapy a few weeks ago for the first time in 6 years, and come from a family with a pretty extensive history of suicide and suicide attempts, including my own attempts. It can be hard to not feel like I'm not supposed to be here when I come from a family that keeps trying to self-extinguish. This year in particular has been a massive test of my mental fortitude, and I wish I could tell you that I've gotten through it, but I am still very much in it. I wish I had some piece of advice that could tie this section up with a nice little bow, but unfortunately I do not.
4. Tell us what you did (or continue to do) to cope with these challenges. Tell us some of the best strategies that have helped you overcome these struggles.
Journaling helps a lot, and is honestly something I need to get back into more as a regular practice. Especially as someone who expresses themselves a lot with words, I think it can be really overwhelming to just leave your thoughts in your head, especially when they're getting really dark, and it can be incredibly cathartic to write and just run the dirty tap of your mind until things start to feel a little clearer. Therapy helped a lot previously and I'm hoping it can do the same this time around (and on a related note, making sure you find a therapist who's a good fit for you specifically is crucial for this step). Working out helps, eating well helps, leaving the house helps. But also, sometimes laying in bed for 14 hours without making yourself feel guilty about it is exactly what you need.
5. Are there any other art forms, hobbies, or interests you engage in to help restore your creative energy? What nurtures your soul? Any creative activities that recharge you?
I started pole dancing over 10 years ago as a way to be physically active without going to the gym, and did not expect it to become the massive part of my life that it has been. I go to pole 2-3 times a week and love having a hobby that has never stopped being a challenge with new goals to achieve. A few years ago, I also started taking non-pole dance classes since dance terrified me and I'm a very big proponent of facing your fears head on. I still don't feel super comfortable dancing, but I love that I'm challenging myself all the time! Ironically, going to the beach and swimming in the ocean is another thing I do that I feel like really restores me and is also something I started doing to face a fear head on since the ocean is my biggest fear. Also I play chess, watch a LOT of stand up comedy, and love interior decorating. I think doing things that I'm bad at really helps to restore my creative energy. It's nice to be in spaces where you're constantly having to figure things out for the first time.
6. What do you do for your self-care? Share any specific strategies, habits, or techniques that you find effective in improving your mental, emotional, physical, or spiritual self-care.
I work out a lot, whether it's the gym, pole, dance, going on walks, swimming, boxing, martial arts, whatever. It's funny, I don't really seem to actively feel the benefits of movement, but I can always feel the negative effects when I take a break. I also really make sure to prioritize food and sleep. I use my calendar to plan my days to the minute and honestly one of the most helpful things I've started doing is putting sleep into my calendar so I know when I need to go to sleep and when I need to wake up to make sure I'm getting the hours that I need. In general, putting things in your calendar is a really good strategy to making sure you're prioritizing the things you want to in your life. If you only engage in self care when you have free time, you'll never have a consistent practice; planning ahead takes out the guesswork.
7. What’s one piece of self-care advice you would give to a person just starting out in a creative career?
Focus on best fit over best. This is a mindset that has helped me a lot both professionally and personally. Being the "best" is great, but usually things come down to best fit. You can do everything perfectly, but if you are not the best fit for something, then you're not going to get it, and that's okay! It's not a mark of you, your character, or your abilities. Also: don't be afraid to be bad at things. Being bad at something is the first step to being good at something.
8. Anything else you would love your audience to know or to know about you?
I once tracked how many burritos I ate in a year. 63.
9. Do you consider yourself an empath or highly sensitive person?
No, but the amount that I cry would suggest otherwise
Website: listentofae.com
Instagram: @acidfairy_
Tiktok: @acidfairy_
Chess.com if you want to play me lol: aciiidfairy
