Wonderland.
Fousheé wears Laquan Smith
“I had 1000s of DMs and it went viral.
I’d never been viral before and I just
thought, what is going on? That’s a
lot of notifications.”
Overnight success is a funny old
business, particularly when the
ascension from incognito into the
limelight happens these days with
just a few clicks. But for New Jersey
born singer Fousheé, it wasn’t quite
so simple. In fact, it was only in May
last year that a friend reached out to
the rising star to show her that a
song she’d created, “Deep End,”
was going viral on TikTok, without
her credit. “It was weird,” she reflects.
“At first, I was still so focused on
writing music. I put out this sound
pack containing the song and forgot
about it.” The royalty free soundtrack,
meaning it could be bought, used,
and played by any musician without
the need to credit; was a sort of
unbidden offering from the singer,
merely hoping someone would make
use of it. And that they did. “I was
minding my own business and then
people started tagging me in things
and I just remember it being so
overwhelming and having to block
it out.” Easier said than done in the
digital age when we’re unconsciously
tethered to our phones like external
organs. Fousheé quickly became
frustrated, watching the song snowball
and people taking credit for her work.
So Fousheé put her phone down and
went to sleep. When she opened her
eyes the next morning, her phone had
blown up.
But this wasn’t destined to be the
singer-songwriter’s only 15 seconds
of fame. Covering our Summer issue,
she reflects on reclaiming her voice,
the road to getting here, and why her
debut Project "Time Machine" is about
defying expectations.
Photography by Leeor Wild
Styled by Juliann McCandless
Words by Scarlett Baker
Hair by Malcom Marquez at Opus Beauty
Makeup by David Velasquez at Rare Global
Produced by Samantha Silvers at Fox & Leopard
Art Director Olivia Woodgate
Editorial Director Huw Gwyther
1st Photography Assistant Delilah Jesinkey
2nd Photography Assistant Ahmad Smith
Styling Assistants Anastasia Busch and Greer Heavrin
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