Today we’d like to introduce you to Foxwood.
Foxwood, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Becoming a singer/songwriter was always a very certain thing for me, I knew it was my dream and nothing else ever felt like an option. I’m originally from Vancouver, Canada, but LA has always felt like home to me. I grew up coming to visit my uncle who’s lived here for decades when I was growing up and always sort of intuitively knew I would end up here. I moved to California for college and to get involved in the music scene, I started at UCSB and transferred to USC where I majored in Communication and minored in Music Industry.
At the time I was in high school where I grew up there wasn’t much of a music scene. Of course when I say that, being that I’m from Canada, people will mention Drake and The Weeknd, and those guys put Canada (specifically Toronto) on the map in a big way, sort of legitimizing the musicians that come out of our country in general, and as a Canadian musician, I couldn’t be more grateful for that. We went from being a joke about maple syrup and polar bears to having the biggest most influential sound come out of our country, and this newfound respect and legitimacy. But Vancouver and Toronto are comparable in distance as LA is to Chicago, and so as much as Canada’s a *thing* in terms of being recognized by the American industry, Vancouver wasn’t quite there yet in terms of the creative scene. Culturally Vancouver is very professional in the conventional sense. It’s one of the most expensive places to live in the world, consistently ranking top positions for quality of life, but an environment like that isn’t often conducive to a flourishing creative scene (think San Francisco now versus in the 60s, or Laurel Canyon for that matter. As things get more expensive, where do the artists go?)
I was fully serious about my plan to go to college in California, study Communication and make music professionally, but at my high school my peers and their parents would look at me crazy when I’d say that. It was like doctor, lawyer, businessperson were the only legitimate options. And I think creative people always kind of face that growing up, but I really felt in my high school and in the culture of my city, there wasn’t space or a community for me to grow with and within to the extent that I wanted to, creatively. I felt lonely and weird. Incidentally, in the years I’ve been living in California, and as Instagram has continued to proliferate, Vancouver’s creative scene has started to flourish more, which has been cool to see.
I’ve been lucky enough to feel a sense of home and belonging in LA, working in music. I’ve been so fortunate to meet and connect with people in the industry who get me and support my work and my career. My entire circle of friends works in music, more or less, if not some other creative field. It’s crazy when I look at where I came from to where I am now, and how every year just gets better than the last in terms of my confidence in following my path.
Has it been a smooth road?
I feel like people underestimate just how important community is. Maybe because of COVID-19 and social distancing we’re starting to realize it, but community is everything, especially when it comes to music. It sounds so trivial to say, but I really miss going to shows and festivals. That collective energy and excitement–there’s something that happens when people are all together for a shared purpose, even if that purpose is just to have fun and enjoy music. Growing up not having a community that valued music or the arts in a real way, or saw it as a viable career path, that was rough.
However, in a way, I think it prepared me in a way to maintain that determination, that certainty because even though I faced people who didn’t understand me or didn’t believe in me along the way, at the end of the day I always had more faith in myself than the people doubting or questioning what I believed was for me. And that’s not the same thing as proving someone wrong–when you feel the need to prove someone wrong about you, you base your self-worth on overcoming someone’s negative projections on you. There were times a few years back that I felt no one took me seriously when I said I was a singer because I didn’t have any music out. But I always knew that I would do it when I was ready, that I didn’t want to rush it, and that you don’t get a second chance at a first impression. And sure enough, when I put that first song out, I was flooded with texts from those closest to me but also people I hadn’t heard from in years. I listened to myself instead of pressuring myself to prove myself to others.
There’s a fine line between perfectionistic self-sabotage and taking your time, but my point is I’m glad I listened to my intuition because I’m proud of “Butter”, and I wouldn’t have rather had any other song be my first single. Musicians are often really sensitive people, so not internalizing the negative projections of others is sometimes half the battle. At least, it has been for me. Having faith that the right people will get it, will get you, will like your art is the faith you have to have, and knowing you can’t be everything to everyone.
Releasing my first single, “Butter” and directing and editing the video for it has been the first of many wonderful experiences of releasing music. It’s such a meaningful song to me and having such a positive, encouraging response from my friends and new fans online makes me all the more excited for what’s to come. I’d never directed a video before but I had a specific vision and I’m so glad I was able to bring it to life.
Can you give our readers some background on your music?
Foxwood is actually the name of the street I lived on until I was three years old. It’s a time that my parents speak about with a certain nostalgia, around this sort of simple life in suburbia where they were just starting their chapter of life of having a family. As I sort of hinted at earlier, I didn’t have the best time in my adolescence, but as I got older my mom would sometimes say in the tough moments, “things were so much easier when we lived on Foxwood Drive”. When I’d hear her say that, it always had this ring to it that inspired me, and so when I was naming myself it was an obvious choice.
There’s something inherently romantic and nostalgic to the sound of the word, but also as a personal meaning, it really has to do with honoring my inner child, and seeking a simplicity and a sense of home and belonging wherever I go. And specifically how it directs my art is that being a sensitive, loving, softer individual, I want to make sure that my music always reflects the core of who I am, that it’s authentic and real. Feeling like I never fit in growing up, I developed this yearning for belonging, for calmness and simplicity, for space for my feelings and thoughts, and Foxwood is sort of like this compass toward that. A sense of home, of occupying space with my authentic existence.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
I mean, to me, there’s no better place!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://youtu.be/wV-lXGJMcb8
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foxy__paige/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/foxypaige/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/foxy__paige
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1kVZlHr4CTDx5VdZuvBLn8?si=EEq-4nzAQeqe6TQIp2blBg
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/ms_blm_homepage_2019
Image Credit:
Film BTS photos by Gabe Montero, Press photos w golden tone by Isabella Lanaro
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