Developing the sound of Big Star
My name is Eva Faye, and I want to walk you through the process of making my debut album Big Star!
Producing my first album has honestly been such a gift, and throughout the creation of Big Star I realised that I wanted to develop a more intimate, emotionally driven sound. I had never experimented like this before and it was so exciting to try something new and relatable; something that reflected the realities of growing up. I wanted to preserve these feelings of nostalgia and uncertainty, but blend them with emotional connection, central to the teenage experience.
As the album developed, Big Star began to work like my sonic diary, documenting different moments, emotions, and stages of my journey up to now. Rather than creating an overly polished and autotuned ,or commercial pop album, I prioritised emotional honesty and vulnerability; what it's really like growing up and being a teenager in the 2020's. This really resonates with the people I want in my community, listening to what I have to say as a young person today, who often seek authenticity and relatability in music rather than perfection.
The sound of Big Star is intentionally intimate. I used soft, close-mic vocals with layered harmonies, and minimal production, with the aim of reducing the distance between artist and audience. I am directly addressing you! I want my listeners to feel close to my music. The album explores friendship, loneliness and self-discovery, all the fun, and not so, parts of growing up. I want to mirror the complexities of modern teenage life and show people that music can be both comforting and connect people together.
My leading track, A World Alone is the song I was most excited to release. Now, I have been writing and producing this song since 2020, in the middle of the pandemic and it has been a long process developing it to the sound you hear now.
'Big Star' attempts to capture what being a teenager in the 2020s really feels like, the intensity of relationships, and the uncertainty of growing up. I have loved the studio process and it was not all just technical, but instead deeply personal, each production choice supporting the emotional realism i wanted to be at the centre of my album.
Where it started
I was thirteen when I bought my first electric guitar with two years worth of pocket money I had saved, this was actually the day I bought it! Before I had any clear plans for a professional career, music was a private and personal form of expression. Writing songs straight out of my diary, I taught myself guitar and vocals by ear, sat in my bedroom for hours. It's what I love best!
My self-taught experience can be seen all through the sound of Big Star. Because music has always been a personal relationship, it's left my creative approach much more emotional over technical and clinical sounding. Sometimes I still feel like writing my songs is just like writing in my diary, the best bit always being putting it to sound. This is really reflected in my album’s stripped-back instrumentation and intimate vocals.
My next steps
I have come such a long way; from my private bedroom concerts and coffee shop soundtracks, to the professional production of an album. I've kept the same emotional core. 'Big Star' resembles how the girl steaming milk with her badly recorded cover of an Arctic Monkeys song in the background has evolved, and is a genuine reflection of my personal experiences rather than a constructed or manufactured persona.
I produced pretty much this whole album in my bedroom with my favourite coproducer next to me, my dog (she was less than helpful). I think the best part was being able to transform my room back into a safe space again with my music, after spending the pandemic holed up and barely leaving it. Being a teenager during covid meant that for about a year those four walls were all I saw, and it wasn't the best time in my, or anybody's lives. Music connected me with my younger self and helped bring magic back into the ordinary places in my life.
The road to tour!
So I started booking my local small venues; pubs, open mic nights etc, and they went as expected: my voice continuously cracking in front of a crowd of about thirty people. This is why I was so taken aback when RCA records reached out to me, at the time in 2025, I was used to my small gigs.I had been dreaming of my first album being produced with big label names and huge studios, and seeing it come true, I can't even begin to describe how amazing it is. I wouldn't have been able to be here without having RCA help me gain confidence and show my identity to the public through my music. Choosing to stay close to who I really am, not a perfectly curated persona has resulted in me booking venues I dreamed of years ago. I am so excited for the Big Star UK Tour and can't wait to see you there!
