Ears Wide Open: Fana Hues

Kevin Bronson on November 23rd, 2020

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Fana Hues adopted both her stage name and the title of her forthcoming album, “Hues,” from her family name, Hughes. And quite a family it is — the 25-year-old Pasadenan is one of nine children, her father a musician and her mother a dancer and healer.

Her debut album arrives Dec. 11, brimming with strong, stylish vocals and lush production. The first three singles span the soul-pop-jazz spectrum and offer a look into the songwriter’s negotiations with heartbreak — and, perhaps, a peek into her resilience. As a child, illness deprived her of her voice for almost five years. “I had scarlet fever, tonsillitis and strep throat at the same time,” she recalls, before being nurtured back to health by her mother’s natural medicines.

Her latest single, “Snakes x Elephants,” comes with an Amira Hadiya-directed video centered on the theme of trust. “Often times, we betray ourself by not trusting ourselves,” the singer says. “In ‘Snakes x Elephants’ we get a glimpse of how I’ve fallen short in trusting myself. We also see a betrayal of those close to you and how easy it is to step on someone’s boundaries.”

That song follows the release of “Icarus,” which is more of an old-school pop song. “I’m kind of all over the place, but there’s always a method to the madness. It’s all centered; it all has a purpose,” she says of the diverse sounds on the record, not to mention its emotional range.

“I thought it was super important for me as a Black woman to be open about that,” she says, “because so many times I feel like I’m not allowed to express my emotions.”

||| Watch: The video for “Snakes x Elephants”