Faye Webster is something of a cultural paradox. Her music has seen TikTok virality, but she doesn’t have her own account. She has nearly a million more Spotify monthly listeners than Grammy winners boygenius, but half as many Instagram followers. She’s classifiably an indie folk artist, but runs in Atlanta hip-hop circles.
It all makes her rather hard to pin down. And as revealed in our conversation with her for the latest Consequence Cover Story, Faye Webster: Hiding in Plain Sight, that likely suits her just fine.
When last we spoke with Webster, it was for a Consequence CoSign interview on the merit of her 2019 sophomore studio full-length, Atlanta Millionaire Club. (That makes her the second artist to make the CoSign-to-cover leap, following in SZA’s footsteps.) At the time, she was fresh off a tour and had decided to cancel some future dates in favor of rest. This time around, she was just coming back from an Australian run of shows ahead of the March 1st release of Underdressed at the Symphony, and while she won’t be calling off her upcoming tour in support of the release (get tickets here), she admitted to being “overwhelmed… but in a good way, but excited.”
Although she’s gotten more used to the work of it all, she remains very much herself — and that’s something she’d prefer to reveal in her songs. While honest, the conversation is reserved, much like her music, frequently putting one fact forward and taking two wry remarks back. She is most comfortable, it seems, when with friends. Whether that’s recording with her long-time bandmates or longer-time friends like “Lego Ring” collaborator Lil Yachty, or battling pal Daniel Caesar in chess — or receiving tokens of Pokémon plushies from fans at concerts.
Webster is not the parasocial type of star that has become so prevalent in recent years, and she’s content with that. Perhaps she should actually be proud of that, as it’s allowed her to take care of herself as her fame has grown. She’s underdressed, but she’s at the symphony. And if that allows her to keep putting out such incredible art, who are we to question her instincts?
Read Faye Webster: Hiding in Plain Sight now, and check out the official cover story artwork below.