Get to Know Faye Webster, Who Makes Retro R&B for Homebodies

Faye Webster: I will wear this Braves jersey for the next two months until I’m tired of it, then I’ll switch to a blazer and wear that for two months until I’m tired of that. This is what I’m comfortable in, it’s who I am. Sometimes I try to look nice when I perform and I’m just like, “Dude, I can’t even sing my songs because I’m wearing a fucking dress. I don’t feel like myself.”

What was your experience like studying songwriting at Belmont University in Nashville?

I really liked it and I made my best friends in life in college. But I didn’t agree with [Belmont’s] intentions in the songwriting field. One, I just don’t like being told what to do. Second of all, if you’re a songwriter, that’s what you do. I’ve definitely gotten better at it, but it’s not from people teaching me or telling me they don’t like my songs. It’s just from personal growth. Three, what the fuck was I going to do with a songwriting degree? You’re not going to get a job.

Were you a part of the music scene in Nashville?

Not really. I played one show there as a resident. The reason I left wasn’t because of college, though. It was because of living in Nashville. As a native of a diverse city like Atlanta, going to a gentrified, competitive city like Nashville, where everyone’s the same, [was hard]. Everybody is a singer-songwriter there. Every restaurant, every coffee shop looks the same. It felt like some “Black Mirror” shit.

You’ve photographed some of Atlanta’s most famous rappers over the last few years. What’s the craziest experience you’ve had at a shoot?

I would say the one with Offset a few years ago, because it was insanely weird how much he welcomed me. I was just a girl off Instagram. I was like, “Here are my pictures. Can I take your picture?” He was like, “Yes, pull up.” He sent me an address, and I thought it would be a spot where he comes to hang out, but it was his house. When I got there, he was washing someone’s car. It took him a while to get ready, so I was just playing with his kid. I didn’t have an idea for the shoot. His [girlfriend] at the time was like, “We kind of want pictures to hang up around the house, why don’t you go in our closet and pick out some clothes?” So I’m just running around touching all his clothes. I was like, “I don’t think y’all should welcome strangers like this.”