Atlanta wunderkind Faye Webster has shared a video for “Overslept,” a standout from her critically acclaimed new album, I Know I’m Funny haha, out now on Secretly Canadian. The song is a collaboration with the Japanese artist mei ehara, who Webster has cited as the biggest influence on her new album.
“When I was writing I Know I’m Funny haha I had a little trouble finishing this song. I felt it needed someone else to complete it. mei ehara was someone who I listened to literally every day last year. She taught me so much about song-writing and instrumentation, and I felt like if anyone were to be on the record, it had to be her,” says Webster. “I wanted to do a video where mei and I could inhabit the same world, even though we’ve never met in person.”
The music video was directed by frequent Faye Webster collaborator Hunter Airheart who shot Faye’s scenes in Atlanta, GA. Meanwhile, mei’s scenes were filmed in Tokyo by cinematographer Tats Nakahara. “We talked several times prior to the shoot and got a game plan together. On shoot day, we all got on a video call. Tats finessed and hooked the camera up to the video call, so I could see the exact shot we were getting…truly was a game changer. Getting to work with these different artists all over the world, especially right now, felt super special and I’m just thankful to be a part,” says Airheart. Once edited together, the video was handed to animator and illustrator Harriet Yakub who brought the film to life with the animated creatures envisaged by Hunter and Faye.
I Know I’m Funny haha was released earlier this summer to wide critical praise. It received the coveted Best New Music distinction from Pitchfork who called it “one of the best records of the year,” and The FADER hailed as “emblematic of a new kind of Gen Z hybrid music.”
WATCH THE “OVERSLEPT” VIDEO
PRAISE FOR FAYE WEBSTER:
“There is so much depth to Faye Webster’s dazzling fourth album. It strikes a perfect balance between classic country stoicism and the sound of the saddest person you follow on social media…it reveals its great depth at its own unconcerned pace. It’s probably one of the best records of the year lol.” -Pitchfork, Best New Music
“Exceeds expectations. It’s at once sweeping and specific, grounded in slice of life storytelling, not unlike the stuff of comic greats. With her distinctly delicate croon—frayed at the edges with a folkish rasp—Webster sings and writes of the whimsical nothings of contemporary life.”–Interview Magazine
“Incredibly poignant and relatable.”-Stereogum
“A wittily titled record that trades its predecessor’s tales of loneliness and heartbreak for songs about the trials and tribulations of long-term domesticity.” -The FADER
“Her brightest album to date.” -Nylon
“Webster’s most confident and emotionally effective work yet.” –AV Club
“Faye Webster’s new secret love song is addictive and exciting, a fun new twist on her instantly recognizable sound.”-PAPER Magazine
“Her most thoughtful and self-assured effort yet. Webster has carved out a stylistic niche entirely her own, and it’s only a matter of time before a far wider audience catches up to her.” -Paste
“Illustrates the unfiltered, seemingly simple process Webster’s mind tumbles through in her songwriting.”-FLOOD
“Sometimes, the mark of a great songwriter is their ability to weave whimsical imagery together with ornate allusions and profound, hidden meanings. Other times, though, the mark of a great songwriter is something almost entirely opposite: the ability to turn everyday, mundane language into something beautiful. So far as the latter goes, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone as promisingly skillful as Atlanta native Faye Webster.”-American Songwriter
“I Know I’m Funny haha is an amalgamation of everything Faye has learned so far, set against the backdrop of a global pandemic. It’s an exercise in honesty, in getting comfortable with being alone and in falling in love.”-i-D
“On her terrific fourth album, I Know I’m Funny haha, the charming Atlanta native spins time-tested tales of romantic longing, disappointment, and occasionally satisfaction, setting her gently tremulous voice to dreamy summertime melodies punctuated by ethereal steel guitar, mellow keyboards, and other soothing touches.”-No Depression
“I Know I’m Funny haha puts Webster’s skills on fuller display. The grooves get groovier, the jams jammier, the tears saltier and, as advertised, the jokes are funnier than ever before.” -Under the Radar
“I Know I’m Funny haha marks a refinement of Webster’s songwriting, hitting a confident stride that documents her relatable internal monologue amid languid, slide-laden tracks. If you’re looking for an album that will soundtrack a summer of lying in your yard on a sun lounger, this could be it.”-Guitar World
I Know I’m Funny haha marks the latest effort from the 23-year-old artist and her most fully realized effort to date. Though she usually tackles album-making in a song-by-song approach, 2020 necessitated a more intensive recording process. Webster immediately knew the Athens-based players she wanted to record with and headed into the studio with producer/mixer Drew Vandenberg (Deerhunter, Of Montreal, Kishi Bashi). They assembled a band including Harold Brown on drums, Bryan Howard on bass, Nic Rosen on keys and Matt “Pistol” Stoessel on pedal steel – one of the most reliable and essential musical elements of Webster’s records.
A self-taught guitarist by elementary school, with a long tradition of bluegrass and country players in her family, Webster was bound to be a musician. At just 16 she released her debut album, Run & Tell. Like other teenage phenoms Jackson Browne and Laura Marling, it exhibited stunning lyrical and artistic clarity. Her Southern roots were obvious but Webster had more than country music inspiring her worldview – she was deeply embedded in the culture of her hometown, Atlanta. L’il Yachty was her classmate, she was sneaking out to see underground shows and fortuitously had befriended rapper/producer Ethereal while in High School. She went on to sign to Awful Records, making her label-mates with Father, Playboi Carti and Ethereal. To the outsider, an odd home but Webster shared the same weirdo art-kid ethos of her label mates – impossible to peg, endlessly experimenting, making shit, doing stuff, genre-fluid rule breakers.
Her 2017 self-titled release on Awful brought her enough notoriety to get her signed to Secretly Canadian, the home of ANOHNI, Porridge Radio, Whitney, Yoko Ono and more. Two years later, she released Atlanta Millionaires Club to widespread critical acclaim. “Few R&B albums have a pedal steel; few alt-country albums have a rap feature. Faye Webster’s Atlanta Millionaires Club somehow has all of the above. Even stranger, she manages to smooth these apparent contradictions into serene folk-pop with a mellow soul tinge. Webster is an anomaly, but her arty individualism represents an important common value,” said Pitchfork.
A multi-hyphenate talent, Webster also is a successful photographer who has shot campaigns for Killer Mike, Offset, D.R.A.M, Nike and other brands. She is a sometimes model and full-time yoyo enthusiast. Webster incorporates her yoyo skills into her live show. In 2020 Barack Obama included her single “Better Distractions,” on his playlist of favorite songs and she also released the single “In A Good Way.” Both songs appear on I Know I’m Funny haha.
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