Interview by Katherine Cardinale
Indie singer-songwriter and literature graduate student Faith Zapata recently released her long-anticipated breakup anthem, “same guy new apartment,” which garnered the attention of fans all over the world after being teased on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok. Faith is known for her authentic songwriting that accurately portrays relatable yet complex topics such as emotional heartbreak and toxic friendships. We recently had the opportunity to learn more about Faith’s experience writing her latest single, as well as her musical inspirations and artistry as a whole.
LOUDSPEAKER COLLECTIVE: You’ve been praised for your brutally authentic lyricism. How do you strike a balance between vulnerability and artistic expression when songwriting?
FAITH ZAPATA: I guess if I had to dig deep and really think about the balancing act between honesty and artistry, I would say that I place a high importance on keeping some things to myself. I know it generally seems like I’m laying everything out on the table for everyone to know — because I really do put so much out there — but I really do keep some things private. I used to think that if I didn’t tell people absolutely everything, they would think I’m lying in some capacity — but that’s just not true. As a writer and an artist, I suppose there is a certain art to deciding which parts of the narrative are essential and therefore must be shared for context, and which parts are safe to keep to yourself. Like, I’ll tell you how an ex-boyfriend or situationship treated me badly, and I might share some interesting details, but I won’t tell you exact word-for-word conversations we had, or name drop any of them, and justify those actions in the name of artistry. There’s a masterful balance to it. This is just what I’ve realized over time. I think we all learn how to navigate things like that as we go.
LOUDSPEAKER COLLECTIVE: Do you tend to write lyrics first, melodies first, or do they come together at the same time?
FAITH: It really depends! For “same guy new apartment”, it all came together at the same time. The song was written in two sittings over the course of 24 hours. But with other songs, sometimes the case is that I’ll just be going about my day, and a line will randomly pop into my head, and a melody will closely follow it. Other times, I’ll just think of a cool lyric idea and jot it down in my notes app knowing I want to figure something out with it, or incorporate it into an existing unfinished song. I think most of the time the lyrics come first though — I’ve always been a very lyric-forward musician, meaning that every single word I write into a song is there for a reason. Like, I didn’t just put it there because it rhymed; there’s an actual thought-process that went behind its usage and exact placement. I think it’s because I was already a writer before I started writing songs, so words have always held significance and weight to me.
LOUDSPEAKER COLLECTIVE: The lyrics to “same guy new apartment” feel like pages from a diary. Do you usually write from personal experience, or do you also draw from imagined scenarios?
FAITH: I almost always take inspiration from personal experiences. And by always, I mean 99.9% of the time. It’s funny because my most popular song (“apollo”) is written from a fictional perspective, but it’s like one of the only times I wrote a song like that. I’ve definitely written from perspectives other than my own before, but it’s usually as a writing exercise to get the songwriting juices flowing — like when I do rewrites of popular songs from the other person’s POV. But when it comes to fully original songs, it’s pretty much always from personal experience. It’s the only way I really know how to write. I feel like I simultaneously know myself the best, but also the worst, which always makes for an interesting perspective when writing songs. Like a classic unreliable narrator kind of thing.
LOUDSPEAKER COLLECTIVE: This track brought together many of your collaborators, both old and new. What was it like to create this song across distances?
FAITH: This song is super special to me — and I know I say every song is special but I mean it every single time! — because my collaborators aren’t just ‘my collaborators’, they’re also my siblings and good friends. I didn’t have to travel or work across a distance to work with my brother and sisters to get their tracks down, but I did have to do the latter with others who worked on “same guy new apartment”. Regina Pimentel, Tomás Paul, and Noah Farhood are wonderful friends of mine and regular collaborators — they’ve all worked on with me on other tracks before, so we all pretty much knew the drill for this one and the process was super smooth. Working with my friends doesn’t even feel like working, it just feels like creating art with my favorite people — which is what it’s all about, really.
LOUDSPEAKER: Who were your earliest musical inspirations, and how have they evolved as you’ve found your own voice?
FAITH: When I started writing songs in the fourth grade, Taylor Swift was a huge influence, if not my biggest inspiration. I feel like everyone and their mother was inspired by Taylor in some capacity if they’re around my age and making music, especially in my genre. As a young girl, witnessing a teenager be able to “make it” in music just made everything look so much more accessible, and like a dream that could be achieved in some capacity one day if I just kept practicing. As time went on, I got really into pop rock music, listening to a lot of Avril Lavigne, Paramore, Demi Lovato’s debut project, 5SOS, stuff like that. Heavy on the 5SOS. I think the combined influence of these artists, along with artists I discovered in high school — like Phoebe Bridgers and Lizzy McAlpine — as well as music tastes I inherited from my mom — like Alanis Morrisette and Michelle Branch — all really contributed equally into making my music sound the way it does today. Whether it’s a sad, melancholy ballad, or an upbeat, indie rock, guitar-heavy diss track, there’s hints of all of these influences (as well as many others I know I’m forgetting right now) in everything I make, whether big or small.
LOUDSPEAKER COLLECTIVE: What’s next for you? Are more releases or a longer project in the works?
FAITH: I definitely want to release more music this year. As an indie artist who manages herself, I can really just decide to drop music whenever I feel like it and I don’t have to pitch it to a team or a label or anything before doing it. However, being independent also means I have to do a huge chunk of the work myself. So, it will definitely take some time, but I do want to release more music in the coming months for sure — whether that’s demos or fully produced songs, I’m not sure yet, but I will say I am in the very early stages of planning some fun stuff. So stay tuned! And thank you from the bottom of my heart to anyone who’s given my music a shot!
Loudspeaker Collective 