In this interview spotlight, I chat with Fay Kueen about her latest project, challenges, technology and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
I grew up in Beijing, and have lived in the U.S. since 2008. I live in Brooklyn but I’m still back in Beijing a lot. As far as style, I’m a nocturnal animal and lone ranger in general. I like wearing dark and simple colors. I like something sensual, spiritual, cosmic, otherworldly, mysterious, and intense. So my music has similar vibes, and lives between genres such as electronica, alternative rock, dark wave, avant-garde folk, trip-hop, neo-soul, vintage art pop etc.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to stay the course?
My dad is a musicologist and my mom was an opera singer, so music runs in my family. I grew up listening to lots of classical music and started playing piano when I was 4. For a long time I was on the path of being a classical music composer, so I’ve written music for orchestras as well as commercial music.
I was always into rock and jazz, though, and sang in several local bands in Beijing, including a Shiina Ringo cover band. After I came to the States in 2008 I found myself more and more working elements of my rock and jazz bands into my chamber music, and writing more for myself as a singer.
Making music is a passion for me, but also a kind of therapy. I’ve felt like an alien my whole life, and have always struggled to make sense of others’ expectations of me as well as my own needs. Making music often comforts me and I love making connections with listeners through music.
How is your new release different than previous ones? Did you set out to accomplish anything specific?
My songs go in phases both in musical vibe and text content. This upcoming EP is a set of songs that were written years ago during a dark time of mine. They are very dark and moody, maybe uncanny and eccentric. They some of the first songs where I stopped making a distinction between rock and classical music and just wrote whatever I wanted.
The lyrics on this EP are pretty abstract, and influenced a lot by surrealist artists. Some of my Chinese pop songs are brighter, lighter and easier to approach. Right now I’m working on a new set of English songs that’s more influenced by modern social events, culture, and common psychological issues within different groups of people.
Do you face any challenges as an indie musician in a digital age? On the flip side, how has technology helped you (if it has)?
My personal challenge of branding myself is that my musical styles are all over the place between my concert music and singer-songwriter work. I choose what I want to express first and then the genre naturally emerges. Even though we’re in kind of a post-genre era, it still seems like audiences still choose music mostly by genre. Most of the music festivals are also labeled by genres. Spotify asks artists to pay to be considered being in playlists. So it’s a challenge to figure out how to market myself and where to pitch to.
Releasing music is so much easier nowadays, but because everyone can easily release their music, it feels even harder to stand out. There are millions of indie artists out there that you have to compete with, but the big resources still belong to a few big names.
My personality is also somewhat private. I like sharing things and showing off on social media sometimes, but hard to keep it stable. Social media gives me anxiety sometimes and I need to disappear from it suddenly. But unless you’re already well-known, as an indie artist you’ll have to use social media to do promo. That’s the conflict between my personality and social media.
Where can we follow you online and hear more music?
Follow my instagram @ fay_kueen or Facebook page @Fay Kueen for music/events updates. My songs are now on all major music platforms. Or check out my website @ faykueenmusic.com for news.
