I met Fox Gunn in a lively London cafe on a Friday afternoon. The walls were lined with records and vibrant posters, and the whole place pulsated with the steady beat of lyricless dance music. Fox had suggested it, and I understood why. It felt audacious, bold, and powerful — just like Fox and their music.
Fox began her musical journey playing the piano and cello from a young age. However, she soon realised that she would rather be jumping around on a stage than playing sheet music. Her raw and free performance style is influenced by artists like Gwen Stefani in the 90’s.
“I’ve seen the show for Tragic Kingdom in Anaheim, I think it was, in ‘98… like thousands of times,” they said. “I feel like it was very different because now everyone gets their dancers and everything, and that’s great but I feel like you lose the artist when it’s all about the way you do it, not the actual song and the emotion.”
Fox also noted Halsey as an influence, whose merch she was coincidentally wearing.
“Yes, it’s pop, but not, like, mainstream pop, and she doesn’t need back up dancers or anything to still have the same effect. I like raw and vulnerable,” they said.
All of Fox’s songs have “some type of beat, or something that makes you move.” They explained confidently that it was a conscious choice. “I want people to have fun…I want them to feel it.”
Fox’s distinctive style of performance (and dress, for that matter) is indicative of her sense of self-expression, of not caring what others think. The inherent feeling of freedom that permeates her character also translates to her shows. She tries to create a space in the room where “people can just be free for a bit.”
I asked whether living in London has contributed to this sense of freedom. Fox moved here from Barcelona at 18 years old and told me that they wouldn’t be the person that they are today if they hadn’t done so.
“There’s something about London…no one gives a shit what you do,” she said. When I moved I was like, ‘I can be whoever I want’.”
Fox’s first EP, BADASS + VULNERABLE, was released in 2023. As I listened to it for the first time, I was struck by the story that is threaded through it. With each track, Fox documents the journey of a breakup — from the initial fall out, to flirting and dating, to feeling vulnerable again — but from a multifaceted perspective.
“I just wrote how I was at the time. There’s a lot of breakup music that’s either very sad or very angry.” She thought, “actually, I’m going through all of these things, and I’m all of it at once.” She sees beauty in the dichotomy of feeling badass and vulnerable, and communicates this with her honest lyrics and dark beats.
Human relationships are what drive Fox in general, and even more so with her music. She told me that, though BADASS + VULNERABLE might not show it, she’s a hopeless romantic.
“I write about the things that I’m passionate about and most of the things I’m passionate about are other people, and love, and sex,” she said. “I don’t know what I would write about if I wasn’t dating.”
When I started to dive into her lyrics, we tumbled into an excited flurry of analysis and began uncovering their meanings and origins.
“My lyrics are, like, my favourite thing,” she told me with a smile, “I write all the time. Notes on my phone, there’s thousands of them, or notebooks, napkins, anything I find. If I have an idea I just write it down and then, when I actually feel like creating, then I sit down at the piano or my laptop, or my guitar, and draw from the lyrics that I have already written and put something together.”
The EP was conceived when Fox wrote POTTERY, the second track, when they were “truly heartbroken.”
“It just flew out of me. I felt like I needed it.” The concept, as well as her identity as an artist, grew from there. Fox believes in concept albums and enjoys telling a story with their music.
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RECKLESS “homemaker to heartbreaker”
The first track of the EP, RECKLESS, perfectly introduces the emotional journey that the listener is about to embark on with moody piano chords behind lyrics like “homemaker to heartbreaker” and “I’m reckless, badass and vulnerable.” As she led me deeper into the layered world of BADASS + VULNERABLE, Fox pointed out some of the connections and small details that tie the tracks together. “The outro [of RECKLESS] has adlibs and stuff from every single song that comes after it, so that your brain subconsciously recognises it.”
POTTERY “my muse”
POTTERY follows Fox’s powerful intro track. It is “one of the most honest and vulnerable songs” that she has ever written, and has a fascinating origin story.
“I was going through my first big breakup with a woman. I had this notebook that I used to write in all the time and I started it when we first started to see each other. And then, when we broke up, there were two pages left in the notebook and I was like ‘fuck it, I’m just gonna write something so it is the end of the chapter,’” Fox candidly revealed. The song feels like a cathartic release as she reclaims the power that her ex had over her. “When I wrote this song and I finished the notebook I never wrote about her again.” As they reflected on POTTERY, Fox told me how they had heard that the best way to get over a woman is to turn her into literature, so that is what they did.
USE ME PROPERLY “forbidden fruit”
In the next track, USE ME PROPERLY, Fox wanted to write about the toxicity of the situation. The title of the song, as well as my favourite line “you’re my forbidden fruit,” were both pulled from her notes and notebooks of ideas, then drawn together with other notes to create the bass-heavy, confident track. “I had written ‘use me properly’ cause that’s something she actually said.”
IDON’TWANTTHSBUTIWANTHER “Yo te doy una clase privada”
IDON’TWANTTHISBUTIWANTHER is the first track in the EP to cross the boundaries of language, with lyrics in both English and Catalan. “I was like, there’s this language that I speak to my family and my friends and most of the world doesn't know about so I was like I might just add it and see how it goes and it worked very well.” Their multilingualism is also a significant element of their TikTok presence. On her account (@foxgunnnn) she has created a series that she has dubbed ‘Foxlingo’. “I mean that’s how I went viral, it wasn’t even because of my music.” She had thought to herself “What if I translate lesbian slang into Spanish…that’s perfect, because people love that I have an accent, they love languages, especially Spanish, and being queer… tick tick tick!” Fox uses her social media as a space to authentically express herself, not just to advertise her music. “That drives people to me, which drives them to my music.” As I sat opposite her, I could see how her sense of authenticity feeds into every aspect of her life, particularly her music, creating a fearless and striking style.
DESSERT “please forgive me, I’m a flirt”
This style continues on into the penultimate track, DESSERT, which is a perfect example of the way Fox freely expresses their sexuality and their sex-positive attitude in their music. Her refreshing lack of restraint feels incredibly empowering. She spoke candidly of her desire to share her empowerment with her audience. “I’ve spent all of these years being tame or feeling a lot of bad feelings about it. Now I'm gonna be selfish and I'm gonna make it so obvious that anyone who meets me, or hears my music is gonna be like, ‘gay!’ I don't even wanna have to explain it anymore.” She told me how she had a difficult time coming out and how great it is when people say that they came out because of her music. “I’ve made it, to me that is success. I want other people to feel how I feel now and encourage them to do that.” Hopefully, with the ever-expanding space for Queer artists in the music industry today, this feeling of pride and empowerment only grows. “The Lesbian Renaissance is happening,” Fox stated proudly, as we happily discussed Billie Eilish.
ALL MY LOVERS HATE EACH OTHER Fox as a femme fatale
The final track of the EP beautifully rounds off the story and cleverly refers back to the first track, RECKLESS. “The last song ends with almost like, ‘I’m badass and vulnerable’ which is the start, so technically you could listen to it over and over and it will always make sense.” The cyclical structure of the journey creates the impression of finding yourself again after processing the end of a relationship, making it the perfect EP to listen to post-breakup.
As a big literature enthusiast, I was eager to explore what influenced Fox’s lyrics. Certain lines feel like allusions to mythology and the grand, classical romances. Fox was just as eager to share her thoughts on this.
“At the time [of writing the EP] I was obsessed with the theme of the femme fatale. I had this book called Dangerous Women (The Perils of Muses and Femme Fatales). I feel like lots of things like “forbidden fruit” and “muse” - it all, I think, subconsciously came from that.” She continued to eloquently explain the influence that the femme fatale trope had on the EP as a whole. “I saw myself as the femme fatale. As much as I’m not very feminine-looking, I’m still a very feminine person. I went from this loving person to the bad one in everyone else’s story because hurt people hurt people.”
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Fox is currently working on her next EP, which is also a concept album; “It’s gonna be the process of how I went from the whole player side to being in love.
While Fox still considers the sentiments of BADASS + VULNERABLE to be a big part of her identity as an artist, her next EP marks a new stage in her development.
“So if you look at it, the whole BADASS +VULNERABLE EP was all written in all caps and now life is not a game (but i think i’m winning) is all lowercase. The new EP is all lowercase. It’s because, as much as I still love it and I’m very proud of BADASS + VULNERABLE, it felt like I had something to prove. It’s in your face and I’m shouting to the world ‘THIS IS WHAT I AM.’ Whereas, with this one, it’s more like, ‘I know who I am, I know what I’m doing, I don't have to shout it at you’ - all caps just feels like shouting to me.” She laughed as she said this, and I could feel her excitement for this next stage radiating from her.
“I feel like I’m more confident in myself and in my music, and I think that’s gonna translate in the next EP as well.”
Stream BADASS + VULNERABLE
Photos by Carla Fuster
WORDS by Tallulah Stephens Skeete
Proofread by Allyson Park
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