Faye Webster loves the feeling of a first take: writing a song, then heading to the studio with her band to track it live the very next day. When you listen to the 25-year-old Atlanta songwriter’s poised and plainspoken albums, you can hear why: she channels emotions that are so aching, they seem to be coming into existence at that very moment. Webster captures the spark before it has a chance to fade.

Faye's last album I Know I’m Funny haha is her most realized manifestation of this emotional and musical alchemy. Continuing to bloom after her 2019 breakthrough Atlanta Millionaires Club, Webster’s sound draws as much from the lap-steel singer-songwriter pop of the 1970s and teardrop country tunes as it does from the audacious personalities of her city’s rap and R&B community, where she first found a home on Awful Records. In the four years since Atlanta Millionaire Club, Webster’s profile has steadily risen—as she played festivals and theatres across the world, giving rise to legions of fans, she even found her way onto the end-of-year lists of Barack Obama, Wilco and Tyler The Creator. “One of my favorite things about songwriting is taking thoughts that people don’t really think are worthy, or might overlook, and highlighting them,” Webster says. “I like saying things that everybody thinks, but nobody’s saying… I hope people will relate to my songs, and not just be like ‘this is a good record’ but ‘this makes me feel something. This is making me think differently, this is making me question things.’ I told myself a few years ago that I was going to be more honest in my songwriting, that honesty is the best route to take with music. If I have a voice and people are listening to me, I’m not going to waste it.”