There is no shortage of indie folk artists to listen to at the moment, with recent breakthroughs from artists like Noah Kahan and Zach Bryan, who have become household names. Asia-Faith might be based half a world away from most of these artists in Mauritius, but there’s something universally appealing about her music that makes it well worth a listen.
In our chat, she delves into the importance of connecting with and supporting other artists, as well as her musical growth (explaining why she learned to produce) and personal growth (including her experience of seeing automatic doors for the first time and narrowly escaping arrest while busking in Europe). This journey of growth and development is captured in her debut EP, which she describes as a time capsule of what we all experience as we make the transition from our teens to adulthood.
“Just in Case You Ever Listen” is out on Friday.
Asia-Faith’s playlist “Indie Folk but make it queer…”
*This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Debut EP
PDLR: You just announced your debut EP. Can you tell us about why this particular collection of songs?
Asia-Faith: I’ve been planning this EP for quite some time now, which is really exciting. When you make an EP, you always look for things that have a thread. As an artist, you want something that’s going to be able to connect easily with people. And so it was hard for this EP because all these songs came from different periods. Some of them were recorded three years ago, while others were recorded just the other month.
I wanted these specific songs —the EP—to feel very nostalgic; kind of like a capsule, where, if you listen to it, there’s almost everything that you’ll ever feel when you’re a teenager, or even as a young adult. I’m only 20, so I think writing through my own experiences has been super cool.
PDLR: Your EP announcement post said it feels strange that people are going to listen to them now. When you write the songs, is it just for yourself and how you’re feeling at the time, or do you have the audience in mind?
Asia-Faith: I take a lot of experiences from my friends. I’m very family-oriented, friendly, and very outgoing, so a lot of it is taking information from other people and then putting myself in their shoes. Some songs on the EP are quite personal to me, or at least have my personal outlook on things. So it [the EP announcement] was more from an ‘oh my goodness’; this time last year, I barely had one follower on Spotify and maybe 500 monthly listeners, and now we’re reaching 40,000, so it’s been incredible.
Songwriting Process with Asia-Faith
PDLR: When you’re writing these songs, are you starting with the guitar?
Asia-Faith: It depends. I’ve become quite creative in terms of production; I do a lot of work at my house in my small room here. I’ve got a few little keyboards and guitars. I’ve always been interested in production because when I was 14, I didn’t want to go into the studio and not know what they’re talking about. So let me just learn how to do some production.
Sometimes I’ve got a guitar in my hand, sometimes I’ve got a keyboard, or I’m walking around with my phone memos. I do love the idea of free styling. Just do what you’ve got to do, and then you can always go back and put in the actual words. But if you’ve got some melody to kind of go off, yeah, it’s more like that for me.
PDLR: So it’s more the music side of things first, and then putting the lyrics to it?
Asia-Faith: Yeah, absolutely. Or sometimes you get both. When I wrote “Follow Me,” that was an all-in-one go thing. Same with “Take Me Back Home.”
PDLR: You’ve already released five of the singles for your upcoming EP. What can you tell us about the remaining song?
Asia-Faith: It’s actually such a cool project, because I’m getting a lot of people involved. I’ve got a lot of my friends and musicians. I wrote it just for the sake of bringing people together, not just musicians, but genuine people. The idea behind it is to create a music video featuring people from around the world holding up signs representing what they believe will bring peace to the world.
Family Influence
PDLR: You grew up sort of in this musical family and environment. How did that impact the songwriter that you are now?
Asia-Faith: My family is really musically orientated, and funnily enough, I was adopted. The tribe back in Taiwan I’m from is known for their singing and dancing. I think it’s deeply rooted in me to pursue music. And it just so happened that my family was so musically orientated that it [my musical inclination] unlocked and was enhanced. I was just playing a lot with my parents, and my brothers taught me how to play the guitar. Then I thought, ‘You know what? Let’s do it.’ I began writing music around the age of 12. But at the time, I was playing purely covers with my brothers.
PDLR: Were you influenced by the sound of the artists you were covering?
Asia-Faith: Back then, I was definitely writing more for myself. I came out as queer to my parents when I was 13, so I wrote about those kinds of things. But now I understand, with the media, how easy it is to just put things down as a niche. So I think it’s really important, instead of just making music for queer people—they’re an amazing community—it’s [the music is] for everybody.
Making Music in Mauritius
PDLR: You’re based in Mauritius, not a place that’s known for Indie music. How has that distance from the scene influenced your music?
Asia-Faith: I left Mauritius for the first time ever last year to go to Europe. I had never really seen trains or supermarkets [where] the doors just open. Everything that is so normal to Europeans. I visited South Africa quite a bit last year as well. That’s where my family’s from, so I have a sense of what’s outside of Mauritius, but not enough that I was confident to understand that there’s a different world out there. Mauritius is super small. Everybody knows everybody in the music industry. If you don’t fit in their niche of music, which is Reggae, French, and Creole music, you have it really hard to make something of yourself here. It’s not easy to make it as more of a Western artist, or pop, or indie artist. Many of my friends who perform this type of music have all left for Europe.
PDLR: Do you think your exposure to traditional music has come through in your music?
Asia-Faith: I would have loved to say yes, but not really. Where I live is very Western, and there are a lot of expats. So I haven’t gotten the chance to really experience creating music with so many musicians who are Mauritian. When I go play live, I absolutely adore playing with them. I’ve just never really felt connected with the Mauritian side of music when creating.
PDLR: Was the Europe trip to travel, or was it for your music, too?
Asia-Faith: My producer is German. We have been making music together for three years, which has been incredible. And he’s the person who’s got my back. But he flew me out there [to Europe]. I went to Majorca, then to Germany, where my label is from, and then to the UK. And I was busking quite a lot, which was cool, but also hard to busk when you can’t get a permit. So I was busking kind of illegally and then running away from the police. I was there to meet and connect with different artists and different producers. As I said, Mauritius is pretty isolating, so you struggle to find different influences to kind of mix with.
Influences, Playlists, and TikTok
PDLR: Who are some of your influences now?
Asia-Faith: I listen to so much music. I loved Ed Sheeran growing up, and I love the way he tells stories, and the fact that he’s acoustic is amazing. Tracy Chapman, I also love her stuff. I love to dive into really folky music, and I just write really pop music. So I guess it’s in between both of them, but listening to them growing up definitely has had a huge effect on the way that I write musically, very guitar-centered.
I think it’s cool that you can take a lot of people’s influences and then figure out how to make it your own. I think that folk-pop music is going crazy now. That’s why artists like Noah Kahan and Zach Bryan are going viral.
PDLR: How important would you say social media has been in getting your music out there?
Asia-Faith: I think that it’s essential to have social media. Like, if I weren’t doing music, I definitely would throw my phone away at this point. TikTok is an insane app. It can change things. When I released “Would You Love Me More?” I had maybe 700 followers. And then, when we started releasing “Take Me Back Home,” it really took off, growing to nearly 12,000 followers in a month. Still a small amount, but growth like that in the last three months has been insane. You have to put yourself out there for them, too.
PDLR: Is it hard to find the balance between putting yourself out there and having a healthy relationship with social media, because it can also be a bit overwhelming at times?
Asia-Faith: Yeah, it definitely can be overwhelming. I think with “Take Me Back Home,” I wanted to try everything at that point. Just before we released it, I was really like, “I don’t want to do TikTok anymore.” I don’t get it. I’m not reaching anybody. And then I was like, okay, let’s take me back on. And I think there are now around 500 posts to it, which was essentially me posting around 20-30 TikToks every day, which was a bit obsessive. It reached people. I think the more you post, the more frequently you do it, the better. Going live really helps.
PDLR: And what about playlists?
Asia-Faith: I think it’s really interesting because at the beginning of this year, my label sat me down and were talking to me about how important it is to get your songs on playlists. I was like, “cool,” let’s make this playlist specifically to represent the people that deserve the recognition you don’t get in other places. It’s funny, going from being the person DMing people being like, “please listen to my music. Please add me to your playlist,” to now having a place where I can help people grow.
I would love to bring my community to artists that need it, just like I do. But I think if everyone’s in the game for everybody, then it creates more space for creativity and love.
Rapid-Fire Q&A with Asia-Faith
PDLR: What music are you listening to at the moment?
Asia-Faith: I listen to a lot of Wild Rivers. I think they’re phenomenal. I think Kings of Leon are also really, really good. And The Crooked Kings—I think that’s what they’re named—[are] very good.
PDLR: Is there a song by another artist that you wish you had written?
Asia-Faith: Pretty much all of the songs from Wild Rivers. I think they’re phenomenal. Specifically, one song called “What Kind of Song Will This Be?” Really great.
PDLR: What’s been your favorite gig experience?
Asia-Faith: Funny enough, I haven’t gone to many concerts or gigs because Mauritius is so small, but I definitely want to change that. This year, I’m doing quite a bit of traveling, which is going to be very exciting. But I played my first international gig in Spain when I was there, which was super cool. And I don’t think anything will ever top your first time playing somewhere where you have no clue who anybody is, “you know?” So that was cool.
PDLR: What are you most looking forward to in 2025?
Asia-Faith: I’ve been looking at this EP, we’ve been planning it for a while. I think wrapping up this whole project will be so sick. And after that, just to create more music. I think this year has been so fully invested in what profiles look like with social media. I think it takes away a lot from artists’ creative side. I’m excited to step back and tap into my creativity. And I almost feel like locking myself up in a cabin somewhere and just writing. But hopefully, Cape Town for summertime to play some gigs; I’m looking forward to that.