Faith Evans, All Hail the First Lady
Why did Faith Evans decide to move to Capitol from Bad Boy? And why did she relocate from Atlanta to somewhere else? The truths behind these questions are revealed in this interview.
Interview by: KANA
We’re not talking about the President’s wife.
Yes, it’s the former Bad Boy artist—no, the artist who has always been the “First Lady of the R&B/Hip-Hop world,” Faith Evans. In a milestone year marking the 10th anniversary of her debut (strictly speaking, she had already gained attention for guest appearances before that), she is releasing her first album on Capitol and her fourth album overall, fittingly titled The First Lady.
Why did someone who was literally the face of Bad Boy decide to leave the label? And why did she have so few activities in these past few years? We reached her by phone while she was on her way to the Grammys in a limousine.
This conversation is translated, lightly edited for content and clarity, follows below.
Your fourth album overall, and now you’ve moved to Capitol. First, how do you feel about starting anew with this label?
“It’s finally done! I feel amazing. Everyone seems to like it. I’m sure people will enjoy it. I think the results of everything I’ve worked so hard for over the past two years are all there. I believe I’ve formed a great partnership with Capitol. Of course, it took some time for me to get to know the new people I’d be working with—and for them to understand how I do things—but now they truly respect what my husband and I want to do and what we’re trying to accomplish. We’re not exactly newcomers anymore, you know? (laughs) But it’s all so fresh. They give us the freedom to be creative, and they incorporate all of our ideas and wishes into every part of the process. After all, we’re not just artists who record songs. We’ve found ourselves in a really good environment.”
You’ve always been called the First Lady of Bad Boy, and now this first record you’re making away from Bad Boy is titled The First Lady. In our previous interview, you mentioned that rather than being viewed as the ‘First Lady’ or simply as Biggie’s wife, you wanted people to see you as an artist in your own right.
“It wasn’t so much being called the ‘First Lady.’ It was that my situation—being part of the Bad Boy label, being around P. Diddy and everyone—kept overshadowing me, and I felt like my own presence was always getting hidden. Of course, it was a wonderful experience. I have no regrets about what I did with them. But being so close to these huge figures in the business, I had to work so much harder to get people to understand what I was doing as an artist and as a woman.
It was tough just to get people to pay attention to me. Even so, I tried to do my best. But inevitably, you end up overshadowed by those bigger presences right in front of you. Now I think people realize that Faith Evans is Faith Evans, regardless of whether she’s at Bad Boy or Capitol. Whether I was at Bad Boy or at Capitol, whether it was before I married Biggie or after, it’s all me, entirely. It’s not that I specifically wanted to cut ties with Bad Boy. Being at Bad Boy was a significant time in my life, and if you think of my life as a book, that period was an important chapter. And that book is still being written. I just didn’t want to limit myself to connections with a specific set of people. So it’s not like I wanted to run away from being called the First Lady of Bad Boy. I actually think it’s kind of cool to have a title for yourself (laughs). Like a queen or a king—something that sounds regal, right? (laughs) Plus, it’s true that I was the first female solo artist signed to Bad Boy. And now I’m the first female solo R&B artist on Capitol, so the title ‘First Lady’ still fits perfectly. A First Lady (as in the President’s wife) is someone who has to speak up and voice her opinions, and sometimes that’s tough. Life isn’t always fun, right? There are times when you get down. But it’s important to find something positive in the midst of hardship and figure out how to bounce back. For my recordings, I really wanted to have fun. Even on tracks with serious content, I sometimes did a little clowning around.”
It wasn’t necessarily a bad experience, but do you think being spiritually freed from something that had always clung to you—what we might call the ‘Bad Boy curse’—allowed your voice to sound more relaxed and happy?
“I wouldn’t call it a curse. I’m a team player, and I was one of the original members who helped build the Bad Boy legacy. I think I contributed to hip-hop’s growth. But now, P. Diddy has gone off to a place we can’t reach. He wanted to be as successful as he is now, and I’m sure he worked hard for that. But the truth is that he rose so fast that those of us who were supposed to build our careers alongside him kind of got left behind. Rather than just being the president of a label, he himself has become a whole brand (laughs). I’m really grateful to him for starting my career, and I respect him. He understands that, which is why I was able to move to another label so smoothly. I think he realized he’s not in a position to really focus on my projects. It’s not that we fought or anything. We both understood each other, and that led to where we are now. I do respect him for who he is, and I still love him for that. I’m sure I’ll keep in touch with everyone at Bad Boy in the future.”
The fact that you transferred so smoothly is apparent from the news that there’s a duet with Mario Winans on the album.
“Yes. I do a duet with Mario Winans on a song called ‘Ever Wonder.’ I love songs that have a back-and-forth between a man and a woman. And I love artists like Mario, who isn’t embarrassed to be sensitive. You can see that in his song ‘Don’t Wanna Know,’ right? You kind of feel sorry for him, like, ‘Aw, he’s so hurt’ (laughs). The new song is a similar approach. He regrets doing something terrible that hurt a woman, and then you hear the woman’s response—how women get hurt, what makes them cry. It’s a dialogue in song. It’s a really good track, so it might even become a single.”
And in your song “Jealous,” you sing about not being ashamed of feeling jealous.
“(laughs) That song came about from an idea my husband had. Even before the music was finished, he said, ‘Let’s write a track where we come right out and admit we get jealous.’ Everyone feels jealousy, right? It’s not a bad thing, so why not talk about it in a fun way? It’s one of my favorites on the album. Don’t you think it’s a really fun track? (In a playful voice) ‘Sure, I secretly check your phone, but that’s only because I love you—understand?’ (laughs)”
I don’t have the credits yet, so who produced this track?
“I did it together with Carvin (Haggins) and Ivan (Barias). In fact, they produced about half the album. We had so much fun making songs together that we just kept coming up with more. I think we really had great chemistry. It’s got a real Philly sound, don’t you think?”
How did you end up working with them?
“Hmm… I’ve known them for years. Back when they were still with A Touch of Jazz, right around the time they were making Jill Scott’s first album. I’d always wanted to work with them, but I couldn’t make it happen on my previous album. This time, someone at Capitol who’s close to them reached out, and I got to listen to their tracks again. I really liked what I heard, so we started creating songs together.”
“Mesmerized” has a strong ‘70s vibe, and I hear you and your husband (Todd Russaw) wrote it.
“That song was produced by my husband and Chucky Thompson. Chucky worked on my first album. Actually, this song is what led me to sign with Capitol. It was recorded back when I was still in Atlanta, in the home studio we set up ourselves. The people at Capitol loved this track, and that’s really how I got to release another album.”
Are you living in L.A. now? I heard you really liked your life in Atlanta.
“I do miss the house I lived in there—and that big yard (laughs). But from an artist’s perspective, I wasn’t very productive in Atlanta. Even though I had my own studio at home, at that time I didn’t have a record deal… It costs money to live there (laughs), but neither I nor my husband was really working; we just couldn’t. I’d thought Atlanta was a city with lots of producers and studios where I could expand my connections, but the reality was that some parts of it are still a bit closed off. The kind of casual collaboration I was imagining—dropping by a producer’s place on a whim because we lived in the same city, or getting called over to make music together—didn’t happen as much as I’d hoped. Some producers are that open, but not a lot. So I wasn’t working much. Once I signed with Capitol and realized their headquarters are in L.A., I figured it would be easier to move out here. Rather than constantly flying back and forth for work, I can go home at night if I finish up in the studio. Living here has widened my options, too—things beyond music, like being able to casually go to casting auditions for movies and TV.”
You had a small role in The Fighting Temptations, but it was certainly an impactful one. The film is only just now being scheduled for release and DVD distribution in Japan.
“Thank you! I thought it had already been released in Japan ages ago.
She is, of course, a solo artist in her own right, yet throughout our conversation, she frequently used the phrase ‘we.’ It’s as if she and her husband, Todd Russaw (whom she calls Ty), are inseparable in everything they do. As she said, it’s not that she’d built up resentment toward her time at Bad Boy. However, once she remarried and started building a happy family, perhaps she wanted to spread her wings beyond the ‘comfort’ she knew so well. You could sense that desire not just in her singing but in the very tone of her voice throughout our conversation.”
There’s been talk that you couldn’t be productive in Atlanta, but is that simply because you didn’t really get into the studio with producers? Or did you feel you needed a mental break and didn’t have many chances to talk about your “teaching voice,” so to speak?
“I moved to Atlanta partly for musical reasons, but also because my life was so hectic that I felt it wasn’t good for my kids. I wanted to get out of New York. I wanted my children to live somewhere they could be close to nature, have a pool—basically, a more comfortable life. So, if I had to say the biggest reason, it was for my family. At the same time, as I’d mentioned before, from a musical standpoint I also thought moving to Atlanta would broaden my opportunities. But after two years, I realized that in the end, I was basically just going back to New York all the time. Whenever there was work, it was in one of those two cities. That was pretty much it. Because of that, I started to feel stressed about always having to leave my kids behind and head somewhere else. Of course, even now there are times like that, but unless I go on a full-scale tour, there are many nights when I can still come home, no matter how late it is.”
There was a mention about Jermaine Dupri’s style—something about how he said, “That’s not how you should sing it.” Did you find it difficult to adapt to his approach?
“I was actually told, ‘You’re lucky you can come home at night.’ (laughs) In his head, I think he had one of Usher’s ballads in mind. When you actually listen to this track, it does remind me of one of Usher’s ballads. Jermaine Dupri’s ballads always have a bouncy beat. So it was hard to sing at times—I had to re-record it a few times. But in the end, I kind of got the hang of it, and I think I managed to sing it pretty well (laughs).”
Not just that track, but it feels like this time around we get to see many new sides of you as a vocalist.
“I’m glad you feel that way. I’m always listening to all kinds of music, and both lyrically and vocally, I wanted to do something more creative this time. Even when I do ad-libs, rather than just blurting something out impulsively (laughs), I made sure as I recorded that each ad-lib came in at the right timing for the song as a whole. Because I’ve been given a talent for singing, throwing in an ad-lib itself is easy. But I didn’t want to just keep putting in the same old, predictable ad-libs. That’s why, over the last few years, I’ve been listening to all sorts of music together with my husband. He’s a very creative person. When I knew I could work with him again, I just went, “We’re absolutely going to come up with something good. It’ll be a different type of track than anything we’ve done before. Absolutely!” I was writing things down like that.”
Sometimes people expect you to emphasize a grown-woman vibe, but especially with the five tracks I was able to preview this time, they feel like sounds that will definitely appeal to younger audiences, too.
“Exactly. It’s not like I’m literally getting younger, but mentally, I feel young (laughs). Sometimes I get as excited as a kid. Sometimes I want to have fun like a younger girl would. I don’t just want people in my own age group to enjoy it; I also want younger audiences to have fun, to sing along. I made songs that people under 30 could relate to as well. After all, that age group makes up the majority of people who still buy CDs, and they’re very active as music fans. I can’t just ignore them.”
Besides the names that have already come up, who else is involved in this album?
“Let’s see… Mario Winans, Jermaine—oh, Win & Ivan… oh yes, and Bryan-Michael Cox is in there. He’s co-producing some songs with Jermaine, and he’s also doing a ballad. Plus, there’s this band called Original Heads from Sacramento, a rare-groove band, and they sent over a bunch of tracks. I sort of hummed along with one of their tunes, and it ended up feeling right, so we decided to put that track on the album. It’s a funky, rare-groove type of track—not exactly disco, but more of a funk/rare-groove vibe. It’s called ‘Lucky Day.’”
“Tru Love” doesn’t feature any rap, but hip-hop heavily influences how you sing. Did Jermaine produce this track as well?
“It was produced by Jermaine Dupri, so even though it’s a ballad, it’s got that bounce. It ended up having something of an Atlanta crunk or bounce feel. Originally, my style was to deliberately fall behind the beat—really laid-back singing—so that’s how my vocals would stand out. But when I was recording this song, Jermaine was like, ‘No, no, that’s not it. I want an upbeat track. Even though it’s a ballad, I want that pan-pan-pan bounce.’ So I studied it. We talked about whether a certain ad-lib placement was good or bad. We listened to everything from old genres and artists I didn’t really check out in my childhood all the way to new stuff. The production process was really fun this time. Honestly, I’d love to jump back in the studio right now and start making the next album (laughs). I don’t want to wait years before the next release.”
“Goin’ Out” is supposed to be your second single, produced with the Neptunes. This would be the third time you’ve worked with them, right?
“Actually, it might be the fourth or fifth. You might know about the track I did with Clipse, but I also collaborated with Pharrell on his album. It’s not out yet, though. We work together a lot, and I think our chemistry is good. He’s incredibly creative.”
Did you write songs for most of the album?
“Yes, for the most part. But that doesn’t mean I absolutely have to be the one to write them. If there’s already a fantastic track, or if someone else comes in with amazing lyrics, I’m open to just focusing on performing those and respecting what they’ve created. On this album, if a track came in already complete, I sang it as is. ‘Tru Love’ mostly has lyrics written by Jermaine, though I added just the bridge and changed a few parts. Aside from that, I co-wrote everything else.”
If you had to briefly describe the album overall?
“Let’s see… it’s mature, it’s sexy, and it also has a lot of fun vibes. A few songs have dramatic developments, but overall it’s feel-good music. Even when it’s a bit sorrowful, I don’t think it ever feels like you’re gonna break down in tears. I wanted to express a variety of emotions from a woman’s viewpoint, but I also wanted to approach that expression in a more creative way. For example, take ‘Jealous.’ Even if something’s not going well, that doesn’t automatically mean everything about it is terrible. That’s what I wanted to convey. I hope people pick up on that.”
“Hope,” your collaboration with Twista, was featured on the Coach Carter soundtrack. Originally, on his album, Cee-Lo was singing the hook. How did it happen that you ended up singing the hook for the re-release?
“When I got the offer to be on the soundtrack, I recorded a few covers. They all turned out well, but when I heard ‘Hope,’ I was really moved. I felt it was spiritual and such an inspirational song. Even just from the title, you can tell, right? It carries a very positive message. So I thought, ‘I’ve got to sing this.’”
You started a label together with your husband, and I heard you’ve brought on the former lead singer of 702, Nimiera, plus rappers, producers, songwriters, even video directors. What’s happening with all that?
“Things are going pretty well. I was busy with my own label move, plus changing my base of operations, so it’s been hectic. The move was a big step forward for us, but because of that, I’ve actually had less time to devote to our own label. Even so, I believe these changes will also lead to positive results for our label. I’m still working with Nimiera; actually, she contributed some songwriting to my current album. And as for the video directors, they’re helping me with a DVD project I’m planning to release. Sure, they might not be as active as we’d hoped four years ago, but we’re moving forward bit by bit. Sometimes you take one step back and two steps forward, right? (laughs)”
You once said you were thinking of doing a duet album with Carl Thomas, like Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. Is that still in the works?
“Well, when I was with Bad Boy, it seemed more likely, but now I’m not sure if it’ll happen right away. But I really love him as an artist, and I’d be thrilled if we could make something together. We still bounce ideas off each other. He’s mentioned wanting to cover older songs, stuff like that. We’re definitely talking. Look forward to it.”
It sounds like we’ll be able to see your new activities in so many different areas, not just with the new album.
“Absolutely! Plus, I can’t wait to get back to Japan. I really want to go to Japan this year. I want everyone there to see my live show!”