Fave is Not Afraid to Talk About Unpleasant Love Stories

“I'm just excited, it’s been a hot minute. In the space of two years, I don't think I have dropped a lot of songs. I still don't have a lot of music out there that my fans could say, ‘Oh, maybe I understand Fave’s music,’” she says.

Fave’s songs are known for exceptional writing, as well as for having a unique and singular perspective. Her hit “Baby Riddim” is a spectacular blend of sharp imagery and poetic flare. In her feature on Davido’s “Kante", she demonstrates a sharp, confident command of lyricism, going head-to-head with a more advanced hitmaker in the industry. There’s no question that Fave knows exactly who she is, and in this EP, she wants people to get to know her better.

“People still haven't gotten a taste of the things that I can offer. So I'm just happy that, at least, five of them are going to come out to join those already out here,” she admits.

The Afropop landscape has always been propelled by artists with indelible personalities and even better discographies. The allure for many is to have a sentiment attached to people’s knowledge of their work. It makes them and their music an easy sell and, more importantly, reduces the need for the artist to constantly explain themselves.

Fave is consciously entering into that space in which a formal, more insightful look into her psyche as an artist is long overdue.

Growing up, Fave read Shakespeare. When she began writing she was moved by the melancholic. She mentions being moved by stories we often shy away from: stories of being down, of not having made it, stories that capture dark times and explore unexciting emotions, but capture intensely human moments.

“When I was young, it was always sad music. It was always sad poetry, So when I started doing Afrobeats, when I started to experiment outside of the shell that I was choosing to stay in, I realized that I could also write about love. But the way that I write about it, I think, is always very twisted. It might sound like this song is celebrating the love of my life but somewhere in there is a hint of sadness.”

For Fave, love is (realistically) not rosy all the time and she’s committed to reflecting that in her music.

In Dutty Love, Fave’s penchant for exploring the grimy, unpleasant parts of love shines through. “The EP, for example, is centered around toxic love and all its weird negative sides that still keep drawing us closer to it. When I write about love, I always leave room for the imperfections,” she says.

On a track like “Complicated,” Fave frankly details her displeasure with a love interest with whom she shares an undefined relationship status. The song boasts visually striking lyrics alongside clever production that nicely pairs the emotional tension in the track with a bouncy, club-ready beat. Fave’s sharp understanding, and by extension, artful interpretation of the grueling reality of modern dating makes for a compelling anthropological work across the EP.

In “You Said You Loved Me,” a house-flavored Afropop track, Fave turns even more vulnerable and open about the anxieties of deceptive love. With her voice turning nasal and teasing at times — an effect that fuels the intrigue in her story — Fave reconsiders a tumultuous love story with much-needed clarity.

At a time when everyone is ready to make love and desire their primary concerns, Fave falls into the rare category of artists willing to do the tricky work of articulating emotions that resist language, feelings that are as real as air but just as elusive to accurately describe. With Dutty Love, Fave masterfully provides a helpful vocabulary for romantic arrangements that are neither here nor there.

Work on Dutty Love spanned several years. As Fave says, its songs merge real-life experiences and romantic situations with musings and experiences she’s seen other friends her age go through. “I always do that thing where I end up mixing my story with a bunch of other stories and just kind of not making it too personal,” she says, confirming her strong storytelling eye. That technique of hiding in plain sight shields her from revealing too much while maintaining an admirable level of objectivity and openness.

Ultimately, Fave wants listeners to feel the soul of the music in this EP and be able to approach their romantic commitments with a multi-dimensional eye. “I want people to be able to identify the kind of love that they have, identify the kind of love that they are being shown and then strategize,” she says. “As much as you are loving someone and putting your all into them, you need to make sure that you're getting love in return as well. You just have to figure it out. It's very complex.”