Q&A WITH OUR PISCES SISTER: FAITH ZAPATA
Interview conducted by Daphne Bryant.
First off, hi! Introduce yourself and how old you are :)
Hey! I’m Faith, I’m twenty-three, and I’m an indie folk/rock singer-songwriter, musician, writer in general, and current grad student in English lit.
2. Talk a little bit about where you grew up and how that influenced your relationship with music.
I’m a California girl! I grew up and still live about an hour out from San Francisco, in a suburban town whose only redeeming quality lies in its agricultural specialty being corn. I wish I was joking. California is known for being a Democratic state, but of course my hometown has to be one of the only overwhelmingly white and conservative towns. My Filipino family teases that my siblings and I have been“ whitewashed” because we grew up here, and because most of my childhood friends were white. I don’t think they’re totally wrong — I definitely felt some disconnect from my heritage at points because of my surroundings growing up, but I also felt an even more prominent disconnect from my friends because of who I am fundamentally as a person of color.
I think this affected my relationship with music a good amount, because I had a lot of influence musically (in terms of what I listened to) from my friends — I had guy friends that got me into folk, country, and rock, the good ol’ American classics. I had girl friends that got me hooked on various indie-type artists like Dodie, Phoebe Bridgers, etc.; just a lot of white artists generally. But there was also the part of me that was heavily influenced by my parents’ and grandparents’ taste in music, which consists mainly of songs performed by people of color. My mom is a huge Whitney Houston girl, my dad is Stevie Wonder’s biggest fan, and at karaoke nights growing up (my fellow Filipinos will understand that this was a normal weekly occurrence), pretty much every adult in my life would be caught singing OPM (original Pinoy music) songs. I used to feel like I had to create a division between the two halves of my musical upbringing and kind of treat it like two different versions of myself, but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that the plain and simple mix of all these influences make for a more unique and interesting combination. I don’t have to pull a Hannah Montana/Miley Stewart when approaching either musical space—they’re all a part of me, and shouldn’t be separated.
“AS I’VE GOTTEN OLDER, I’VE REALIZED THAT THE PLAIN AND SIMPLE MIX OF ALL THESE [MUSICAL] INFLUENCES MAKE FOR A MORE UNIQUE AND INTERESTING COMBINATION. I DON’T HAVE TO PULL A HANNAH MONTANA/MILEY STEWART WHEN APPROACHING EITHER MUSICAL SPACE—THEY’RE ALL A PART OF ME, AND SHOULDN’T BE SEPARATED.”
3. What is the songwriting and production process like for you?
There’s always something unique about the way every song comes about, which is honestly really cool and on-brand for me. However, there are a few constants in the process. One of them is that I typically write my songs alone — I don’t know if it’s a control freak thing or just rooted in insecurity. But either way, more often than not it’s a solitary activity for me. In terms of production, I used to do everything by myself, but ever since my song “company” in 2022, I’ve been branching out and having friends of mine hop on to assist me with production and mixing. I still record all the vocal and acoustic guitar tracks in my bedroom studio, but I’ve only been doing a few production things before letting my friends take the wheel and go crazy with it. The music I’ve made with them so far is my best work, and I can honestly say that with full confidence—it helps out a ton to have different ears on it, and most importantly, makes the process so much more fun than it might’ve been if I had done it alone.
4. What’s your favorite song project ever?
I love this question. So, spoiler alert, but: I have a couple songs lined up for this summer and one of them is called“ running in circles.” It has to be my favorite song I’ve made so far. It’s a post-breakup song and I wrote it all in about twenty minutes in a momentary fit of rage back in February of this year. I immediately sent it to the group chat of my friends and I, who all make music, and they totally validated my pride in this song. The next day, I posted a video of myself singing a bit of it on TikTok and everyone loved it, too. From the moment I finished writing it, I knew I wanted to fully flesh it out as a real song and release it. I recruited one of my best friends, Regina Pimentel, to produce it and she absolutely rocked it. I’m most proud of the bridge, because it’s a really epic moment and we had the idea to call up our best friends to do background vocals and shout along with us on it. It feels really significant and symbolic because it started out as a solitary thing, just me singing it on my own, but all my friends have joined in on it now, essentially yelling these words to the person the song’s about. It’s the perfect representation that none of us are ever truly alone when we go through things like messy breakups; having friends to back you up during those moments is so important. It’s a super special song to me because of that moment specifically, and I can’t wait for everyone to hear it when it finally comes out. I’m really excited for it.
5. What does it mean to be a musician that is also Asian and a woman? Do you ever feel like you’re representing intersectional groups? Do you see yourself as a role model?
I think that the intersectionality in my identity definitely plays a role in the way I approach the music scene. While there are a good amount of Asian women who are musicians in the industry, there’s definitely not a ton in the genres I tend to inhabit. Indie folk/rock/pop are all genres that have been and continue to be prominently dominated by white male musicians, and while they are definitely talented, I do think that there are so many people of color in the indie genre that would be just as prolific (if not more), if there weren’t those sneaky little underlying prejudices that play a part in an artist’s success. That being said, I think that being an indie musician that is also Asian and a woman means being tenacious and driven — because in the least bitter way possible, there are so many instances where I’ve seen a white guy go viral for something I’ve also done, largely because he inhabits the body that he does. Being a musician that is also Asian and a woman also means having thick skin and trying my best not to let lazy comparisons get to my head. I get compared to other Asian women musicians like Olivia Rodrigo, Laufey, Mitski, and Beabadoobee on a weekly basis, and while these women are all artists I listen to and admire, I truly don’t think I sound anything like them. Whether the racism is internalized or not by the speaker, it affects the recipient. I’ve had a somewhat large following on the internet long enough to know that it’s not that serious, so I just make jokes about it now, but it’s definitely something that comes with being an Asian woman who makes music in the genre that I do.
“BEING AN INDIE MUSICIAN THAT IS ALSO ASIAN AND A WOMAN MEANS BEING TENACIOUS AND DRIVEN.”
When it comes to representation, I really try my best to be a good role model for my younger fans as a whole, but especially for the ones who are also Asian women. In my own family, I’m the firstborn and eldest daughter, so my entire life has been spent being a role model whether I liked it or not, and lucky for me I’ve generally loved being the person my siblings look up to and trust. In Tagalog (the main language of the Philippines), the word “Ate” (pronounced ah-teh) translates to “older sister”, and it’s what my siblings all call me, and even some of my younger Filipino fans have taken a liking to calling me that too, which warms my heart to know that they view me that way. For my younger fans who are also Asian women, I can only hope that I’ve been a good representative figure for them and help them feel seen and understood, whether that’s through my music and lyrics, or through my writings generally.
6. Here’s a fun question: what’s your zodiac sign?
I’m a Pisces sun, Cancer moon, and Leo rising! (Is it obvious?)
7. If you’re into astrology, do you think that plays any role in the way you think about writing?
I’m not super into astrology or anything, but I will say that it played a role in this one song I made way back in 2020. I wasn’t on speaking terms with someone at the time, and I was scrolling through the astrology app Co-Star and forgot I still had him added as a friend on there. For anyone unfamiliar with the app, there’s a feature that lets you see your daily compatibility with your friends on the app, and one day it told me that we were in “ complete harmony” and had“ mutual respect” for each other, when that couldn’t be further from the truth. Seeing that opened a can of worms in my brain, and I got so angry that I wrote my song“ metamorphosis” as a result. Something funny about that song is that the chorus lyrics are the stars are liars / I don’t feel close to you and I have everything to lose and the sky’s a liar / we have no harmony / mutual respect, I couldn’t care less, but I originally wrote it as Co-Star’s a liar instead. I changed it because I didn’t want the company to get mad at me if they ever found it.
8. Another fun question: what is your dream collab? What artists or genres inspire you?
I think my dream collab would have to be with boygenius or with any one of the members from that group. All three of them are huge inspirations for my own music. I also think a collaboration with Sabrina Carpenter would be truly so random, but I am a pop lover girl at my very core, so maybe it wouldn’t be that far off…plus, anyone who knows me just knows I’ve been a huge fan of hers since the Girl Meets World days. I feel like we have similar senses of humor, so I would love to see what kind of lyrics we would come up with together — of course, if I ever get to a level of success where it makes sense that we would collaborate.
I’m also super inspired by artists like Lorde, Joni Mitchell, Elliott Smith, and by late ‘90s and early 2000s angry girl pop rock music like Alanis Morissette, Michelle Branch, Paramore, and Avril Lavigne. And I know every indie artist and their mother says this, but I have Taylor Swift’s music to thank for giving me the push to start writing and composing my own songs. As a little girl and even now as a young woman, her music has been so formative for me and helped me through literally any situation I find myself in. Having experienced that, I can only hope that my music can be that solace for my listeners too.
9. What are some personal and career aspirations you have?
I like to think of myself as a pretty goal-oriented person. I hate being bored and I am always working on something, whether it’s for music, personal enjoyment, or rooted in academia. I’ve always loved school and learning, specifically writing — which honestly probably comes off as a surprise to no one, because of how important the art of songwriting is to my image as an artist. I have an associates in Liberal Arts & Humanities, two bachelor’s degrees in English lit and Psychology, and I’m currently set to graduate with my master’s degree in English this December, alongside working on my upcoming music-related projects. I plan to work on getting a PhD after my master’s, too, which people look at me like I’m crazy for, but I can’t really see myself doing it any other way. I’m still going to be writing songs and making music throughout all of it, because I genuinely couldn’t stop doing that if I tried. I love songwriting and making music; those are things that are going to be a part of me no matter what, so that’s why I like taking advantage of the gift of time that I have right now to also put my efforts toward academic pursuits. That’s why pursuing music is more of a personal goal I have for myself, while working on my post-baccalaureate degrees are stepping stones to my professional career goals of working in academia. In August last year, I started publishing my personal essays on Substack and it’s been such a joy to finally share that side of my writing and creativity, and so far, people have been so incredibly kind about the writings I’ve put up on Substack and it truly has rekindled some sort of writing bug in me recently, outside of songwriting. Hopefully, it brings me closer to publishing a whole book one day — another lifelong goal of mine! I would love to publish a memoir or a collection of essays sometime in the future.
10. Is there anything else you would like to say or share with future fans?
Thank you so much for being here, and for giving me and my art a chance. It’s so healing and full circle to see the music birthed out of the harder moments in my life connect with people. I have some exciting things planned, so I hope you’ll stick around—and that we can all help each other feel a little less alone, one song at a time.
