Stories, Songwriting, and Sad Girl Music with Faith Zapata
Photo by Faith Zapata and edited by Kevin Hackett
Faith Zapata has not shied away from being sad, and her adoring audience of 80k followers on TikTok love knowing from the indie singer-songwriter’s covers and original music that they’re not alone in their sadness either.
From reimagining Taylor Swift’s “Gorgeous” into a sad song that caught the attention of Swift herself to earning the approval of Phoebe Bridgers to remaking Miley Cyrus’s “Party in the USA” with “party in the alps,” Faith’s approach to sad girl indie music has turned into a reinvention all her own. Through her inclination for open-hearted storytelling and finding the solace in heartbreak, the rising artist has transformed herself into her own “everything.” In her bedroom, she writes, records, produces and promotes all her music, something she’s taught herself how to do over the past few years, and perhaps it’s Faith’s natural ability to connect so deeply with herself through that connect her even more to her growing fanbase.
By making her much-anticipated return to streaming platforms with her most recent release “company,” Faith not only tells the story of unrequited love but also a rediscovery of gaining clarity from the past. Through an ethereal, soul-swelling, gentle soundscape, “company” highlights Faith’s talent for building consolation between story, lyrics, and sounds.
“‘company’ is a song about not wanting to end up alone, and trying to keep people in your life for as long as you possibly can, even if it’s clear you’ve outgrown each other,” Faith shares. “It’s about wanting someone who doesn’t necessarily want you — just someone. It’s about not caring whether the people you’re surrounding yourself with are good for you or not, and feeling like as long as you’ve got company — any company at all — that you’ll be okay. ‘company’ is the result of proper reflection of the self, and finally seeing things for what they are.”
Stream “company” here.
With a deep dive into her songwriting, the artists that inspire, and her shifting relationship between music and TikTok, Faith Zapata opened up exclusively to Amplify Her Voice about the story behind “company” and more.
Tell us about the first time you fell in love with music.
Oh man, I don’t think there was an exact moment when I fell in love with music because it’s always just been around. I was born into an incredibly musical family, so it’s just always been something that I’ve been surrounded by from the very beginning. Everyone in my family sings, plays an instrument, or does both. It’s pretty awesome.
You write, record, and produce all your music all from the comfort of your bedroom! How did you learn those skills?
With writing, it’s something that just sort of happens, but with recording and producing, I wing it. I honestly just play around with different presets and plug-ins until it sounds good. For anyone who thinks I know what I’m doing in the production realm of music… I genuinely do not. I do think I’ve gotten a whole lot better though, compared to how I was when I first discovered GarageBand and Logic. I think it’s just something that improves with time and practice. Your ear becomes more keen and able to recognize that certain things just sound better than others. I know more about what I’m doing when it comes to songwriting. I still generally wing it, because I’m a firm believer in allowing songs come to fruition naturally, but I have a better idea of what I’m doing when I go into writing a song.
You’re a huge fan of Taylor Swift. Was there a song, era, or specific lyric of hers that inspired you to become an artist?
I remember being really young – in fourth grade, so about eight years old – and coming home from a pretty bad day at school. Some kids hadn’t been the nicest to me. It wasn’t a huge deal, but to a little kid, it feels like the end of the world, so I cried about it to my parents. They consoled me and tried to make me feel better by telling me that even celebrities experienced things like this sometimes, and as an example, they showed me “Mean” by Taylor Swift. I was already a casual fan of her music, but something clicked in that moment, and the entire trajectory of my life changed. I became the biggest Swiftie ever. I learned the lyrics to every single song she had released, and even the ones she’d left unreleased by searching them up on YouTube. I began playing guitar with intent and figured out how to play by learning her entire discography. I began writing songs, which I’d surprisingly never considered trying before all of this. It came so naturally to me, as an avid writer of stories and diary entries, and I often wondered why it took me so long to realize that it was a thing I could do. I fell in love with songwriting, and it became the main outlet through which I expressed myself. I found (and still do find) great entertainment and satisfaction in it, as someone who always has something to say about everything and anything. I think Swift was such a significant factor in discovering that part of myself, because her music was proof that you could turn heartbreak and misery into something much more than simply an experience – or rather, that you could turn any situation into a piece of art that would outlive you.
Your videos on TikTok have even been noticed by Taylor Swift herself, and Phoebe Bridgers, another musical inspiration of yours! How do you feel the music of your heroes affects your artistry?
I feel like through the lyrics I write, the chord progressions I tend to use, and my overall idea of song structure, it’s quite clear who my biggest inspirations are musically. Taylor Swift and Phoebe Bridgers are my two constants and it’s oh-so obvious. I also think it’s hilarious how you can tell who I’m currently obsessed with or who I’ve been listening to a lot, simply by the kinds of songs that I write at that certain point in time. For example, there was a two-ish week period last year where all I listened to was this one playlist I made, and it only contained songs from the albums Sling by Clairo and Either/Or by Elliott Smith. I’d written “crash on the couch” and it was just so evident that I was currently fixated on those albums.
What’s the inspiration behind “company”? What does it mean to you?
I’m the kind of person who finishes writing a song in one sitting or it doesn’t get finished at all. It’ll just sit and rot in my archives while I go on writing new ones, and the cycle repeats. It’s not a great habit, but that’s just how I operate (unfortunately). I say this because the fact that “company” even got finished is a miracle in my book, because I started writing it in my senior year of high school. It was one of those songs that had been abandoned. In May of last year, I hit major writer’s block. I was bored and began sifting through old songs I’d written. I thought, “Hey, what if you just finished an old song?” and I made it all the way to 2019, where “company” had been waiting for me all along. I remembered how much I adored the chords and first few sections of lyrics that I wrote and decided it couldn’t hurt to try and finish it – so I did.
The song is about unrequited feelings. That’s what it was about when I started it, at least. I could sense that my bond with this person was slipping away, with graduation and young adulthood nearing us, and I was trying to keep them within my grasp as much as I could. But what I didn’t realize is that they’d slipped away long before, and I just chose not to believe it. I felt like if I put enough effort in, I could get things to get back to how they were, but I was wrong. The point at which my 18-year-old self stopped writing the song was after the first chorus: I wanted you, and you wanted anyone / Anyone at all. The rest of the song that follows is sort of a result of reflecting properly on everything that happened, which I hadn’t really given myself a chance to do. I’d spent a good chunk of the last three years of my life waiting for them to give me some sort of closure from this person, but then I realized that the most important closure that you could ever get is from yourself. You’re never fully over something until you decide one day that you are. Once I let myself look at the situation with a set of fresher, more mature eyes, I saw it for what it was, understood that it all happened for a reason, and shaped me into the person I am today, who I really love being.
You’ve done a great job at building your fan community on TikTok! Were you at all nervous or afraid to begin using it as your platform for sharing music?
Yes, I was very nervous. The way TikTok works now, it’s really common and easy for people to share their original music on the app, but around the time I started posting, it didn’t really feel like the right place to let my songs thrive. I started posting original music and cover videos in the beginning of 2021, and it was terrifying because I wasn’t sure if anyone would actually care. Luckily for me, they did, and every day, I feel so blessed to have such a cool group of people who genuinely like me and my music. Knowing that I have them makes it so much easier and less scary to share snippets of original songs. They’ll always be there to hype me up and I am so grateful for that.
Have you run into any difficulty working in the music industry as an independent musician who also has to navigate being her own producer, promoter, etc?
Oh, definitely. The biggest thing I have trouble with is promoting myself. It’s so embarrassing sometimes, or at least it feels that way because it feels so narcissistic and selfish even though it’s not. When I see other artists doing it, I don’t think that way of them, so I’m not sure why it feels so daunting to do it for myself, but it’s just something that has to be done in order to gain any sort of excitement around a release. I absolutely hate how critical of a factor TikTok has become in the music industry. It’s all about likes and shares and comments, and if you don’t get those, you’re not a hit. It’s all just a gamble. It sucks because there are so many incredible musicians that deserve recognition, but if they don’t market themselves properly or get enough attention on the app, viewers won’t give them the time of day. Navigating being my own everything – manager, producer, promoter, etc. – has been pretty difficult, but I think it comforts me more to know that I’m in control of everything. At the end of the day, I think relinquishing control in terms of my own work is something I’m more afraid of than not getting as many streams on a song, or millions of likes and comments on a video.
A talent of yours is rewriting iconic songs to fit your story and style. What do you do when you run out of ideas or have writer’s block?
I allow myself to write bad songs. I always say that you need to write the bad ones in order to get to the good ones. It’s not great for self-esteem in the moment, but at least you’ve gotten the so-called “bad” songs out of your system, so the good ones will come to you soon enough. When my personal life gets too boring for songwriting material, I love to combat that by writing from the perspective of fictional characters. It’s so fun to try and get into the headspace of someone that isn’t yourself. It’s like playing pretend for a little while. It also gives you a temporary escape from your own mind, because you’re writing from the point of view of someone else. It’s a very fun and sure-fire way to get myself out of a writing rut.
What’s something you’re still looking forward to achieving in your career?
I want to play a proper show and hear people singing my lyrics back to me. I feel like that’s when you know you’ve made it somehow. I’ve been on the opposite end, being in the audience at a show and screaming lyrics back to the artist, and I know how cathartic that can feel, so I hope that one day, I’ll be able to experience that from the performer’s point of view. I want to be able to provide listeners with that sort of experience with my music and to create a safe space where folks can gather and engage in community with one another because of my music. I think that would be awesome. I see the beginnings of this occurring online already, but how much cooler would it be to do it in person at a show or something?
Is there anything you can share with us about your upcoming music plans?
Crossing my fingers that all goes as planned and that I can get more music out this year. I have a few things currently in the works that I hope you all will get to hear very soon!
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