Bio

It was more than half a decade ago that a 19-year-old Annabel Fay first appeared upon New Zealand’s musical landscape. Her first single Lovin’ You Baby spent 16 weeks in the NZ Top 40 singles chart in late 2006 and her debut self-titled album followed soon after in August 2007. She was a talented, young singer in the making and people began to pay attention as to who this girl actually was.

Annabel Fay has now established herself as one of the country’s true pop stars. 2012 saw her return with Brave The Rain, a hard-hitting, uncompromising album stronger than anything she has done before. Storming out with the first single Hold On, we see the direction she has taken on Brave The Rain: a more electronic, edgier, and aggressive version of Annabel Fay. No holding back, and no questions as to whether or not this is her own style shining throughout the album.

Produced by P-Money and engineered by Evan Short of Concord Dawn, Brave The Rain has been made to make a statement of intent. One where Annabel Fay makes a pop record with a commanding injection of bite and intensity.

The release of her debut self-titled album in 2007 showed a hungry, talented, pop starlet exploring several avenues and genres. Four years went by and aged Fay’s vocals with strength, style and a renewed vigour as she released her second album Show Me The Right Way in New Zealand in April 2011. And, Brave The Rain in June 2012: another album on, another album wiser.

“I had a lot of time between my first two albums and the writing process was very long winded; this time around my focus and thoughts were much more consistent. To make this third album I really had to leave my comfort zone on the side lines and really push myself to relinquish control some of the time,” says Annabel “The messages I'm sending are of strength and perseverance because a lot of the time I needed both of those things to get this record finished.”

Having worked with songwriting collaborators Red Decibel (Kelly Clarkson, Switchfoot, Miley Cyrus) at the start of her songwriting journey, it set the scene for what would shape Brave The Rain. Delving into a grittier, more face-paced side of pop music, we hear more electronica, less vocal layering and less instrumentation. Annabel Fay wanted her songs to be stronger than ever before and we hear that both in the upbeat dance anthems she has created (Hold On, Warrior), as well as a new strength in the ballads on the album. The album also features Invisible, a single on which Annabel collaborated with pop sensation Stan Walker.

The album was written, recorded and conceptualized in a number of different places across the world. From Auckland to Sydney to Nashville to LA, Annabel travelled working with a series of producers and songwriters who brought the best from her. The songs she had written were brought to life with more attitude than she had mustered on the previous albums. Working tirelessly with the likes of P-Money, producer Junior Sanchez (Madonna, Katy Perry, Gorillaz, Daft Punk), Evan Short and Anika Moa - who also did backing vocals for the album.

She was born a performer. With a voice that was growing inside as long as she could remember, Annabel Fay always wanted to sing. She still refers to it as her fulltime love even though it’s been half a decade since her debut album was released in 2007. It would seem that there really wasn’t ever any other path that she would have pursued except for music.

Links

• SoundCloud Page