Fana Hues is one of R&B’s most exciting rising powerhouses. And no, that’s not being said for the sake of it. With a heavenly voice and flawless songwriting, it’s only a matter of time until she joins the likes of SZA, H.E.R., and Jhené Aiko as one of the leading ladies on the scene.

If there is one thing you must know, family is at the core of everything Hues does and continues to play a big part in her musical journey. After all, the moniker “Hues” was obtained from her last name, Hughes. The Pasadena-born singer is one of nine children and was raised by creative parents. Her father, a bass, guitar, and piano player, taught Hues and her sisters how to sing and enriched their household with music heavyweights such as Nina Simone, Dionne Warwick, Anita Baker, and Mary J. Blige. She inherited his passion for playing instruments by training in violin lessons for eight years and teaching herself how to play bass. In addition to her dad, her mother, a dancer and healer, was previously in a Nigerian band. After Hues’ teachers encouraged her poetry writing skills, she would begin to write songs during her early teens.

“My first song was a remix. Remember when everyone was doing remixes to Drake’s ‘Marvin’s Room?’ Do you remember that? I wanna say I was 14 or 15, I did one of those. That was the first time I sat down and was like, ok, this is going to be the verse, this is going to be the hook. That was the first song that I wrote,” Hues tells EQUATE, adding, “I uploaded the song to YouTube, I don’t know where it is now. Dang, I wonder where I could find it. Oh, there was a horrible song called ‘Gemini’ around the same time, it was really really bad. My mom still listens to it to this day because I recorded it.”

During her adolescent years, Hues faced a shock when was unable to sing to the best of her ability for five long years. Her case of scarlet fever, tonsillitis, and strep throat ultimately left her believing that her hopes of becoming a singer were no longer going to be an option. Luckily, her mum took care of her and restored her voice. “I wasn’t mute but I had a really really raspy voice and it hurt for me to talk. For a long time, I thought if I did sing, I would have a really low, deep voice,” Hues says. “Luckily, I did find my voice after that and was healed but still, for a long time, I thought if I did sing, I would continue singing backup.”

Once her music career started to take off in 2020, Hues found herself in a similar situation again. This time, however, she was unsure as to why. “I was living in Las Vegas where it gets really dry but I would talk normally like this and by the end of the day, I’d have no voice. I was like, this can’t happen at the start of [my career] when people are starting to recognise me! I can’t be back in that spot where I can’t even hold a conversation without wondering if I am going to be able to speak or sing tomorrow,” Hues explained, adding, “It was really really scary and I did think dang, I’m never going to showcase my full voice.”

Hues launched herself with the captivating ‘Notice Me,’ which ended up being the first song she wrote for her self-titled project, ‘Hues.’ The music video gave fans an insight into her family and showcased the people that have helped shape her life. “I wanted to set the tone for what was coming and I felt like ‘Notice Me’ did that best. It showed my musical background with the musical instrumentation and then also the message in the song felt very much like me because I’m a middle child,” Hues shares. “When I heard the beat, I was like, ‘oh, this is for me.’ I wanted to use that as the first single because it felt like a good introduction to who I am and where I’m going.”

Track four on the project, ‘Icarus,’ remains the most popular of her career, racking up more than 3.1 million plays on Spotify alone. “I feel like ‘Icarus,’ it has a timeless feel,” Hues says about the success of the song, adding, “When I was writing it, it wrote itself pretty much. It was the first song from this lock-in that I did and it was the first time I had worked with that producer. It came about so effortlessly and I think that’s because the music was timeless and so I immediately knew what to do vocally on the track.” The 26-year-old notes the song has an essence of freshness that still leaves you feeling nostalgic. “I feel that’s what the secret recipe is and that’s what I’ve been trying to instil into all the songs that I make now. People find comfort in the familiarity of it,” Hues adds.

“ I don’t ever want to rush”

- Fana Hues

‘Hues’ dropped in the final weeks of 2020 and was hailed as “exquisite,” “bold,” and “dynamic,” by critics for her flawless vocals and enchanted storytelling skills. Personally, she describes her self-titled debut as an introduction to what she’s all about, comparing it to a sample sale you would release in fashion. With the project continuing to get discovered by new listeners, Hues hopes it will help fans with their inner feelings, just like it did hers. “I hope that they take away that it’s ok to be a human being with a full spectrum of emotions,” she says. “It’s a bit of a perk that being an artist I get to make a living out of being dramatic, it’s true. I have kids who DM me often saying ‘Oh my gosh, Miss Hues, this album really helped get in tune with my emotions and I think that’s the best thing, people finding themselves.’ That’s all I ever wanted.”

2021 took an exciting turn for Hues when rap icon Tyler, the Creator came into contact with her. “One night randomly, he started liking my content. He liked the ‘Notice Me’ and I think ‘Icarus’ as well and even commented on it,” she explains. “After that, he just DM’d me and kind of read me musically, comparing me to Solange and Erykah Badu. From there, he said if you’re in LA, we should link and go to the studio to just hang out.” Upon meeting for the first time, the duo instantly thought each of them had a cool vibe about them and agreed to work on a track together. Hues continues: “He told me he was going to find something for us to record. He told me he was going to be hitting me up and a few months later he did that after finding the right song.”

That song would become ‘SWEET / I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO DANCE’ on Tyler’s latest studio album, ‘CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST.’ Those that are aware of the prolific rapper’s artistry will know that being able to feature on his album at this early in their career is the biggest flex and a form of flattery as the Grammy Award winner is a perfectionist and wouldn’t just collaborate with any old name. “I really liked working with him because he really nurtures what it is that I do. It was one of the easiest sessions that I had ever done. He gave me the outline of what he wanted me to do and then told me to go in there and go crazy,” Hues says. “He basically used every damn take that I did, so it was really really cool and a confidence boost working with him because he trusted me with his stuff. That’s amazing.”

Hues has kept it moving and already has another project, Flora + Fana, which is slated for release in March. She reveals the title for the project was first discovered during the studio session for ‘Breakfast,’ a dreamy, intimate ballad filled with layered harmonies and melodies. “The process for that song was unique because I forgot that I had a session that day, I can’t lie. I was out the day before and then remembered I had an eight-hour session. I never do that, I never ever ever do that,” Hues shares. “I went to the session nervous because I wasn’t prepared and didn’t write it down. When I got there, it felt very effortless again. Not that that happens all the time but I kinda feel like you can hear in the music that it flows through. I had been sitting on the lyric ‘I must have left my heart where my head is’ for a minute.”

‘Breakfast’ would help pinpoint what direction Hues wanted to head in with her future material and chose to debut the song as a live version on COLORS, which featured a blue theme. In fact, seeing her songs in colours isn’t something uncommon for Hues as she was able to envision the music video for ‘Icarus’ early on during the creative process. “As soon as I sang the first note of [that song], I saw the music video initially with pops of red and yellow. I feel since I can see the colours when I’m listening and making the music, it makes the visual part so much easier to execute. It all comes together at the same time,” she explains.

‘Wild Horses,’ the follow-up to ‘Breakfast,’ serves as Hues’ latest single and one she immediately appeared very excited about. “Wild Horses was one of the first songs where I got to step a little bit out of myself to write, which I don’t usually do,” Hues says. “Of course, it’s still about me and my life as it’s impossible for me not to write about myself. When I first heard the instrumental for it, the beat sounded like a train track almost. I felt like a woman with all her belongings staring outside of a train window but a woman from the wild wild west. I literally wrote that woman’s story.”

She continues: “I feel like I haven’t released a song like this one and it’s a good segue for this world that I’m discovering. For this project, I have more uptempo songs than I did for the last one just because that’s the pace of my life right now.”

The dreams of being a sought-after singer aren’t where Hues’ aspirations stop. Recently, she was cast in a musical biographical exploration of Elvis Presley’s early days where she performed the blues and gospel songs he borrowed from Black artists. In her press release, Hues says theatre has been an important part of her life because “repeating the same track every night for over 9 months allowed me to discover my voice in an entirely different way.” Her experience on stage and ambition of becoming an all-around entertainer has influenced Hues to take her career to the next level by auditioning for numerous TV show and movie roles. “My sisters get so annoyed with me because I’ll be watching TV and I’ll tell them about all the shows and movies I auditioned for,” she explains while laughing, adding, “Acting is taking a little bit longer to find success. It’s definitely something I am pursuing actively. It’s always going to be something I’m going to do as well as music.” But, that’s not all. Hues is also writing a theme song for a show that she hopes will get picked up. “I want to write more music for TV and film because it’s fun to step out of myself and write about something from another perspective,” she says.

At the time of the interview, Hues reveals she is finalising the vocals for her forthcoming project that same evening. “I’m not leaving the studio until I’m done because I’ve gone way over my deadline but whatever, I needed to take the time,” she insists. “I don’t ever want to rush. Hopefully, I can have everything mixed in the next two weeks and then release it in March.”

Like her first body of work, there will be no features again. “I want to get better at having features. For my whole life, I’ve been making music by myself, and I never really collaborated like that until now so I’m starting to make friends that I can potentially collaborate with,” Hues explains. “For me, I don’t play with music, it’s very serious for me, even if I’m having fun with a song. For this upcoming project, there are no features but that doesn’t mean for the remixes there won’t be. I’m still open to that. I just wanted to get it done first before I explore those options.”

Hues specifically mentions that she isn’t ready to label any of her body of works as albums yet as she’s already executed what her debut studio LP will be in her head. “I’ve had the concept for my debut album for six years now,” she claims. With that being said, Hues also has ideas for two other projects she’s yet to start making, therefore, fans can be expected to be fed with lots of content, regardless of what she chooses to categorise them as.

We’re one month into 2022 at the time of our chat and Hues knows exactly what she wants the outcome of the year to be. “I wanna go on tour this year. I wanna start my next project as well. I wanna book an acting role,” she says. Judging by her confidence, we believe that Hues will achieve these goals without ease.

Stream ‘Wild Horses’ below -

Watch the incredible visual accompaniment to ‘Wild Horses’ below -

Watch her perform ‘Breakfast’ for COLORS below

Follow Fana Hues - @fanahues

Credits:

Photographer: Randijah Simmons

Art Design: Lazy Goat Club

Words: Fabio Magnocavallo