“But Not Kiss” by Faye Webster, Monday, October 30, 2023

 

Two weeks ago, I was catching up on back episodes of Switched on Pop, and I listened to an episode that introduced me to the music of Faye Webster. The hosts had been in the middle of a music trip to Atlanta, exploring mostly the Hip-Hop, and most notably the Crunk, scene but the episode on Webster highlighted how multiple musical genres work together in the artist’s toolkit to create a compellingly unique sound. Defining Faye’s genre is tricky, which makes her most comfortably fit in the cop-out genre of Alternative. Born and raised in Atlanta and hearing bluegrass at home, some of Webster’s music feels at home on country radio. You can find her on certain Spotify Country playlists. But then there was the rap group she formed in high school. Hip-hop remains a feature in Webster’s music as does R&B, with slide guitars — a favorite of the Switched on Pop hosts.

I WANT TO SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS AND THEN FORGET. Faye Webster is perhaps best known for the song “Better Distractions,” which former President Barack Obama picked in 2020 as one of his favorite songs for the year. But before she became a Pitchfork darling, Webster began recording albums at the age of sixteen. In an interview with Justin Richmond on the Broken Record podcast, Webster talks about her early influences from listening to her brother playing Ramones covers to being inspired by the delicate vocals of Alison Krauss to learning guitar and eventually songwriting. That pursuit of songwriting led Webster to major in songwriting at Belmont University in Nashville. While the university has an extensive alumni list from CCM artists such as Steven Curtis Chapman, Ginny Owens, and Jill Phillips;  Country stars such as Brad Paisley, and Josh Turner, Lee Ann Womack; and members of indie rock bands such as Judah the Lion, COIN (whom she collaborated with on the song "Sagittarius Superstar"), and LANY; Webster found the college “wasting time and money.” She told The Line of Best Fit, Belmont’s “Their whole perspective was ‘let’s teach you how to write a hit commercial song to sell to somebody.”

DON’T WANT TO REGRET ANY OF THIS. Faye Webster talks with Justin Richmond on the Broken Record podcast about how her first two records don’t reflect her current songwriting and how she rarely plays the songs live in concert. She talks about them being "too Nashville" whereas Atlanta and Athens, Georgia; where her brother relocated; suit her musical style. This year, Webster has released two songs, “Lifetime” and today’s song “But Not Kiss,” which are rumored to be part of the singer’s upcoming fifth album. Faye’s music is certainly far from conventional, but today’s song is a bit shocking. Listeners will know fourteen seconds into the track when the music picks up after a lullaby introduction. The dynamics remind me of Flyleaf's single, “I’m So Sick.” Of course the dreamy piano and slide guitar in “But Not Kiss” make the overall tone different from Flyleaf’s 2005 album opener. Lyrically, “But Not Kiss” raises the discussion about love. The speaker of the song begins each line with a seemingly caring statement; however, she adds a caveat with each but. What causes this lack of attachment? Is the speaker selfish or otherwise hurt? And moreover, what causes us to only give part of our heart away sometimes? 

Read the lyrics on Genius.