F  L  A  U  N  T

“I’m fine,” we say to ourselves every silent morning, facing the foggy reflection of who we once were. Maybe one day, we’ll believe it too. But I think musician and songwriter Fousheé is fine, or at least she has found harmony with the absence of fine. It is during these kismet and mindful spirals that the New Jersey-born artist stays up until the early mornings, untangling the wisps of thoughts that lay waste in her mind with song. “I’ll write as many songs about it as I need to until I feel like, ‘Alright, I feel better now,’” the musician confesses. “I try to write about what I’m experiencing and to be fully transparent, I haven’t had the best luck with love and all of that, but I just reimagine it, and funnel it.” 

Fousheé released her debut album, time machine, in 2021. Within, she curated an intimate array of emotions, fueled by the nostalgia of what once was. Her bedroom project intertwined delicate, pillowy vocals with twinkling synths and yearning strings. The project includes her viral sensation “deep end,” based on her sample pack, which swept early era TikTok. Now with even fuller intention, Fousheé is soon to release her highly-awaited sophomore project, softcore, a sensual offering that tip-toes the balance between tenderness and rage, hinting at a more oppositional message than her last. 

The genesis of softcore bloomed from Fousheé’s lead single, “i’m fine,” which thematically clutches close a teddy bear while holding a gun behind her back. Her soft and undulating lyrical lines are followed by a monstrous “i’m fine” refrain, lain atop a bed of sweetly dangerous, metal-inspired soundscapes. “I felt like I hit a wall or a hurdle that I needed to break through,” Fousheé says of the song’s creative process and how it inspired the full album, “and it took me stepping outside of my comfort zone to get there. I think I was letting go, letting out a lot of frustration, and letting out relationship anger, love issues, whatever you wanna call it, in addition to breaking through a wall.” 

This internal exhumation is also deeply felt in softcore’s “double standard.” Here, the artist explores the imbalance and frustration that occurs when two people experience different frequencies of love, both subjected by antiquated expressions of gender. She explains, “I didn’t want to completely let go of who I was, but I did feel like I was changing… softcore, overall, is all of those things compiled—embracing the duality.” 

Most recently, Fousheé lent her voice to confidant and collaborator, Steve Lacy, for his song, “Sunshine.” Where you are, she sings, But I’m always going to be where you are. The two blend together their sultry soundboards and true intentions into a confessional of sincerity and longing. In so doing, the song substantiates that no one can really know where they might be in the physical world. And maybe it doesn’t really matter, when you embrace the limitlessness of your evergreen thoughts. 

Fousheé seems eager to embrace. Embrace what comes from consciousness, what transforms the chaos into a gentle release. Rather than try to map out some sort of path, Fousheé follows the melody of her mind, releasing her thoughts from any constraint. “As my mood changes and as I just morph as a human,” she explains, “I think the sound morphs with that. And there’s certain things that you can’t express over, say, a ballad. You know, rage would sound so weird over a ballad. I wanna be someone that you can depend on to always surprise you.” And nothing comes as more of a surprise than the release felt the first time you truly let go.

Photographed by Zhamak Fullad
Styled by Juliann Mccandless
Hair: Doug Mengert
Makeup: Sean Harris
Gaffer: Saul Barrera
Photo Assistant: Francesca Sostar
Stylist Assistant: Kaela Janae
Written by Bree Castillo