Singer-songwriter Fana Hues is not afraid to have formidable trust in her musical craft. Hues’ debut collection, titled _Hues_, is slated for release on December 11th, and covers the topics of grief, in all of its stages and emotionality. Hues’ powerful vocals accompany her cathartic expression of heartbreak, one that has been the product of two years of self-reflection and production. _Hues_ is a collection of tracks that represent varied layered ruminations. Hues released her music video for “Snakes x Elephants” today, one of her proclaimed favorite tracks off the collection, the video accenting hellscape-like imagery related to betrayal and mistrust.
Hues has not had the easiest time pursuing her musical passion, facing an illness as a child that took her voice away for almost five years. However, the artist came out the other side of her struggles, learning how to sing from her father, and being trained in violin and teaching herself how to play bass. FLAUNT had the opportunity to talk to Hues about her creative process, musical influences, and future pursuits in writing.
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**How has quarantine helped or hindered your creative process?**
At the beginning, it was such an adjustment. I had to finish my collection by a certain date, and couldn’t go to the studio so I had to do everything from home. I’ve recorded myself before, with demos. I had to do it all by myself, so I wouldn’t say it hindered my creative process, but I definitely had to adjust. I found a new sound and had to learn new things to keep working.
**When did you first know that music was what you wanted to pursue as a career?**
I wanna say for sure when I was twelve. I was always into music, but I did a talent show when I was twelve with all of my friends. We sang, and I remember after all the teachers kept coming up to me after and were like “Wow! You sound so beautiful,” and it was my first time singing without all of my family behind me. I was kinda like “Wow, I can stand on my own.” From then on, I got really serious about teaching myself how to sing and finding the style that works best for my voice.
**How did you develop your sound?**
My stepdad had a lot of old records, so he would play a lot of oldies that way and that’s how I would listen to these older singers. I got my musical history from him in that way, and then YouTube taught me how to sing like Beyonce. There were new ways about singing through YouTube if I’m 100% honest, because there were all these videos and different ways of singing. I didn’t have to have CDs to listen to a bunch of different singers.
**Tell me more about how your experience with theatre helped your writing process.**
It was such a vast world, and you do really have to dive into your imagination and put yourself in other people’s shoes. For me, theatre helped open my pin up, and write from different perspectives that I never thought about, and that I don’t necessarily want to admit. Acting was always a mirror on myself, and that helped a lot with my writing process, and reflecting became my writing process.
**What was the inspiration behind your newly announced collection, “Hues”?**
It took a year and a half to make the collection. I had some older songs that I decided to include at the end, but I was still talking about the same relationship. I think I decided to call it a collection, because it was a collection of songs from different times of life that blended together so well and told the same story.
**What kind of messages do you hope fans will garner from your music?**
When I was writing every song on my album, I wanted to be unapologetically honest with myself. In some of the songs, I talk about petty things that I normally try to steer away from but I am a human being and I have a full spectrum of emotions, and I wanted to put that in this project. I hope everyone who listens walks away knowing that having those thoughts that don’t meet your personality is still OK, and that doesn’t mean you’re any less of a good person. Everyone goes through tough times, and it's OK to go through them.
**When do you feel most invincible?**
I feel most invincible when I write songs that I know no one else could have written but me.
**What are your favorite songs from the collection?**
My favorite songs from the collection change but “Icarus,” “Yellow” and “Snakes and Elephants” are a few of my favorites. “Icarus” was one of the first songs where I was finding my sound and it was the first session I had with that producer, and the first beat that he played me. It was the most natural work to write that song, because it kind of just came out. It all made perfect sense with what I was going through. For “Snakes and Elephants,” it took me the longest to write that song because it’s very lyrical, and I usually try to condense my writing. I elongated my writing, and that is my most honest song. When I wrote “Yellow,” I was really happy and I did have to write it in quarantine, but my emotions were so nice and warm and I think I captured that in my song.
**What do you want to explore in the future of your career?**
My dream collaboration would be with Anderson .Paak. I’ve never collaborated with anyone before, so that would be interesting. I want to get into writing more in the future of my career, but in different forms of writing. Right now, I’m writing a musical but I want to eventually write and direct screenplays, and get more into my writing. I’m always going to write music, but I also want to expand.
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