Album Review: Faye Webster’s Underdressed at the Symphony

On March 1, 2024, Faye Webster released her fifth studio album, Underdressed at the Symphony, a genre-blending piece consisting of ten tracks. The album creates a dreamy, philosophical place, where Webster asks questions and confesses truths. Since June 2023, the singer-songwriter has been releasing the occasional single, teasing an upcoming era. Finally, earlier this year, she announced that the album was coming when she released the single “Lego Ring.” It features her lifelong friend Lil Yachty.

“Lego Ring” consists of childlike lyrics like “I want a lego ring / I want it to hurt my finger” and “Your left hand up in every pic / ‘Cuz your lego ring is sick.” Webster is known for simple, yet profound lyrics. She has a commitment to preserving the innocence and emotional depth in her sound. Both Webster and Lil Yachty’s vocals have an intense vibrato or autotune applied. It elevates this song and sets it apart from the rest of the album, in addition to its thematic differences.

Faye Webster’s lyrics typically have a lot of repetition, both melodically and lyrically. This allows her to hold space for the audience and for herself to dwell on the idea. Her lyrics also rarely follow a typical song format (i.e. verse, chorus, bridge, etc). Instead, each song goes in a different direction and has a different combination of verses. For example, the opening track, “Thinking About You,” has four lines in the song that are not the lyrics “I’m thinkin’ about you.” Even though the lyrics may reiterate the same ideas multiple times, the song’s instrumental arrangement gives it a lot of movement that lets it flow. 

Faye Webster’s Underdressed at the Symphony showcases her evolution and dedication to her craft while still feeling familiar to fans of her previous work. The song “Feeling Good Today” highlights her feeling-based lyrics, while still creating an immersive soundscape that pulls you in. Her experimental sound constantly pushes the boundaries of different genres, like alt-country, pop, and indie rock. She is a visionary artist, constantly outdoing herself and proving that her best work is yet to come.