Fovvs

Overview

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• Quotes

'It's a bad day, not a bad life'. Think about how many times you've had a bad day, and then the next day you've been able to rectify the things that went wrong the day before. Life is beautiful. Life is a really wonderful thing that we're blessed to have.

Fovvs' version of memento mori ("remember [that you have] to die")

Andrew Robert "Andy" Fowler (b. 16 February 1994 (1994-02-16) [age 32]), also known as Fovvs (/fɔvvs/ faaw-vvs), was an English singer-songwriter and musician. He was a member of the boy bands Monroe (2012-2013), Overload (2014-2015), and RoadTrip (2015-2020). His song, "Jekyll and Hyde", was planned to be released as his debut solo single.

Biography

I was brought up with a single mother. … [She] was better than an individual mother and father. She raised me to more than the best of her abilities.

Fovvs, on his upbringing^[1]

Fowler was born on Wednesday, 16 February 1994 in Stockport, Greater Manchester, during a time when the British government had initiated an urban regeneration project aimed at improving the country's most deprived areas,^[2] and gang violence and gun crime were prevalent in neighbouring boroughs, earning the nickname 'Gunchester'.^[3] While inner-cities of south Manchester like Hulme, Moss Side, and Longsight were frequently subject to rival gang wars and illegal activity, disputes sometimes travelled out of territory into pubs and clubs.^[4] His father abandoned his family, and Fovvs was raised as an only child by a single mother. Although he saw his father a few times throughout his life, he never reached out, having had an estranged relationship.^[1] His father died in 2019.

Whenever Fovvs' mother worked away on weekends, he would stay in the care of his grandparents. At around age eight,^[a] he listened to the English pop-punk band Busted. Inspired by the lead singer, Charlie Simpson, he began learning to play the guitar and took lessons until the age of fifteen. The first guitar he received was a Fender acoustic, which his mother gifted him for Christmas. He also learned to play the piano in high school, studied the violin when he aspired to become a session musician, and picked up percussion after seeing live acoustic performances and participating in his school's orchestra. He even tried the trombone, though unsuccessfully, as his asthma made it difficult to get air through the valves.^[5][6]

He attended Priestnall School and later matriculated at Xaverian College, where he excelled in his GCSEs but performed poorly in his A-levels; despite this, he maintained that he was a "good" student.^[7] He established a presence on YouTube and Myspace, the latter platform showing two uploaded tracks that are unplayable due to the website's 2019 faulty server migration.^[8][9] He expressed an interest in psychology and wanted to become an astrophysicist when he was older.^[f] He participated in the school's concert band and worked in retail for about three months, selling houseware.^[10] He studied music as one of his GCSEs and eventually decided to pursue a musical career over a post-secondary education.^[5] He had the stage name "Drew Lane" for a period in time before switching to simply "Andy Fowler". His nickname, Fovvs, derives from his surname where the 'w' looks like two v's.

Artistry

Songwriting

Contrary to popular belief, most of Fovvs' songs were conceptual rather than autobiographical. He was told to write in a certain way, but when he did create his original songs, they were for himself, based on personal experience or topics he wanted to experiment with.^[11] As he summarily put, "I'm sick of fucking writing ballads and cheesy shit".

His songwriting mainly featured high-concept storytelling and first-person narration, leading some fans to create a worldbuilding of his unfinished discography.^[12] The subjects in his music included divorce, alcoholism, prostitution, bipolar disorder, and redemption, that would've greatly diverged from previous work. Some songwriting techniques he employed included wordplay, double entendres, and extended metaphors. He tended to leave his lyrics ambiguous and gender-neutral, possibly for listeners to connect universally. He mentioned how he didn't like to swear in his songs, and that he even did research, such as finding background information on Robert Louis Stevenson's Gothic horror novella Jekyll and Hyde for his song of the same name. Instead of sampling, he recorded live instrumentation in his songs.

In an interview published to YouTube on 25 April 2020, he made observations regarding artists and perfectionism, personal happiness, and the music business and commercialisation that threatens artistic integrity. In response to the question about artists' music being posthumously released, and whether they would be happy, he said:^[13]

I think ninety per cent of the music industry, it's not about what the artist wants. I think it's more … their music is tailored to their audience, and their fans. And I think ninety per cent of the industry, although they have a direct involvement with their music, they're not writing stuff that they'd necessarily listen to. They're writing stuff that they know their fans would like.

So, would an artist be happy? Artists are very rarely happy, artists are the most feverish people on the planet. Even if you're a nice person, you still have perfectionist characteristics, and you still care about everything.

There have been noteworthy comparisons between Fovvs and the American rapper, singer, record producer, educator, entrepreneur, fashion designer, painter, writer, sword-wielding and martial arts practitioner, anime/car/Panda Express enthusiast and community activist Lupe Fiasco. While Fiasco's music is central to conscious hip-hop,^[b] including social commentary on gentrification, conspicuous consumption, planned obsolescence, and life for inner-city youth, Fovvs' songs leaned more toward introspective lyricism, focusing on emotion and self-growth. Both have explored topics like suicidal ideation, duality, and hypocrisy in their music. They have the portmanteaus AndLu, FovvsFiasco, and ChiMan.

Similarly, Fiasco found at one point that he had acquiesced to the whims of the public, though he no longer writes with a target audience in mind. As he put it, "even if I made something that was completely impossible, which is zero audience in mind, people would still take it and kind of interpret it and project into it things that they wanted to see anyway. So, at a certain point, […] it was more about I'mma do fifty percent, and then you're gonna do your fifty percent as the audience".^[16] He also made note of his negative experiences with his former label: "I was comfortable making pop records. The issue was who controlled those records and what the ownership and splits were. Atlantic would only promote my records if they owned a large portion of them or if I signed a 360 deal".^[17]

Fovvs' voiseys had incorporated rap elements blended with pop influences. He used autotuned vocals due to the sound quality of the mic. It's unclear whether this genre would have been one he'd have explored for his original music, or purely experimental as musical loosies.

Themes

Fovvs' lyrics frequently talked about the human condition, with his 2014-15 songs primarily focusing on mental health, abstractly disguised as love songs. His more recent work had taken a similar approach. "Jekyll and Hyde" interestingly uses bipolar disorder as a metaphor for wearing a mask – adopting a persona to navigate the music industry. He observed how artists often have to adjust to being in the spotlight, with their identity being shaped by the industry or fans. In this sense, they are two different people. He referred to a 2019 Instagram post that addressed duality, where he had penned in its caption: "There's always two sides to people. The side you see when everything is good, and they're happy. And the side you see when things aren't all that positive". However, he later retracted the idea that it was about mental health and the "lyrics won't be clear". Meanwhile, "Amsterdam" is entirely conceptual, narrating the story of two lovers who cannot be together because of social stigmas.

Influences

Eminem and Amy Winehouse have distinctive sounds and autobiographical songwriting. They have been named influences on many musical artists.

Fovvs' music tastes are eclectic, though he typically favours musicians who are not regarded as mainstream. He grew up listening to indie folk and rock, with artists such as English singer-songwriters Charlie Simpson and Newton Faulkner, the British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, and learned songs by Japanese fingerstyle guitarist Masaaki Kishibe and American acoustic guitarist Andy McKee. He surprisingly listened to Eminem, Amy Winehouse, Paramore, and Rage Against the Machine, and had his teenage angst/it's not a phase, where he listened to the Emo Trinity: Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco, and My Chemical Romance. During one of his Twitch livestreams, he played the recognisable emo anthem starting with the G-note.

Musicians who inspired him before entering the pop world included the early career of Ed Sheeran, Faulkner, Max Milner, Andreas Moe, and JP Cooper, all of whom he referred to as "a guy and a guitar, who wrote their music". He didn't believe UK's music landscape to be particularly exciting, where they "[basically] listen[ed] to whatever's on the radio, and whatever's in the playlist on Spotify".^[13]

He had incorporated the percussive style of guitar playing into his live performances and once said that Casey Abrams was someone he aspired to be like as a songwriter. He named Brendon Urie from Panic! as an influence both in terms of performance and vocals, remarking, "he's just so extrovert, and so… nonchalant with how insanely good his vocals are that I almost want that aura where I can just belt out some ridiculous falsetto".^[13] Other key influences included Freddie Mercury of Queen, known for an impressive vocal range and flamboyant stage presence, and Jon Bellion, known for numerous high-profile songwriting and production credits. He found the Bellion song, "Guillotine", to be brilliant with the following lyric: 'There's bones in my closet, but you hang stuff anyway'.

Personal life

Public image

Fovvs maintains a private personal life, and can be regarded as enigmatic, introspective, forward-thinking, didactic, and at times possessing acerbic wit, which can polarise those he comes across. He stated how he viewed his public figure role, where "[Y]ou can influence someone to wear something, or you can influence someone to be anti-discriminatory, or accepting of races, and genders, and sexualities, and stuff like that. And I think that I made the decision very early on that my social media will be 'I'm a musician, not an influencer, and I accept everyone, and I'd love it if everyone else did, as well'".^[13] He once said, "I'm a lad. 'A supposed lad'. I like football. I like a whiskey. I like going to the bar with my mates, and putting the sports on. … And then I come online, and I am PG, and extrovert, and flamboyant. So, am I a lad? No, not really. Does it matter? No, not really". In support of breaking gender norms, he began to wear nail polish since 2018.

He has consistently expressed disapproval of cyberbullying, including platforms like Curious Cat that "advertises and encourages anonymous hate" with no consequences.^[18] During a January 2018 livestream, he discussed online influencers and hate comments, believing that it "collect[s] people who are easily manipulated" to participate in "spread[ing] that hate".^[19] On 15 February 2020, he criticised reality television, where TV presenter Caroline Flack committed suicide by hanging, attributed in part to being the focus of online vitriol. (Flack had struggled with long-term mental health issues and self-harm attempts). He opined, "regardless of her private life, if people push someone to end their life as a result of online abuse, we have failed as a species".^[20] This issue also opens a broader conversation on celebrity culture, including parasocial relationships; the distinction between genuine, meaningful intentions versus toxic tribalism; and how fans can project expectations onto public figures that, if not met, may escalate to ongoing harassment or defamation, which are often rationalised to ease cognitive dissonance.

In January 2020, he launched a social experiment of posting everyday for one year, hypothesising how people tend to engage more with glamourised versions of ordinary lives. Several flaws to this experiment included him announcing his intention, which could skew results, and having no control group. In March 2020, he called out the hypocrisy of a portion of the band's fanbase who wanted transparency. When the band actually shared personal things, those same fans would attack/hate on the band members' girlfriends or complain when the news wasn't what they wanted to hear.^[21] In May 2020, a few individuals visited his mother's home address during the COVID-19 lockdown, who is of high-risk. Fovvs politely requested fans to refrain from invading his personal life.^[22]

Near the end of May 2020, amid the George Floyd and Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality and systemic racism in the United States that mobilised worldwide, Fovvs showed support for the movement and shared a link to resources.^[c] He also stated, "how we still live in a society that discriminates against the colour of people's skin is sickening. it's fucking 2020, the time for change was centuries ago, let alone tragedies happening as we speak".^[23] He extended this to other identities, "no one s[hould] be at a disadvantage in life because of who they love, what body parts they have, what colour their skin is, how much they weigh, how old they are… the list is endless. we're all born with equal rights, how we act chooses if we keep them".^[24] In August 2021, he donated to Stockport and District Mind, an independent charity in his hometown. He cited how having access to mental health services has personally helped him.^[25] The same year, he played on one of the rotation teams for Hashtag United's 24-Hour Football Match, in aid of Movember.^[26] The event was to help raise awareness of men's health issues, where the organisers reportedly raised £19,000.^[27]

Family

On 28 May 2016, his grandmother passed away.^[28] On 4 April 2019, his father died. Following this, Fovvs went quiet on social media and did not attend the funeral. Growing up with an absent father, he confessed that they never tried to reconcile; nevertheless, he tweeted out on 14 April, "rest in peace h, thank you for the life you helped give me x".^[29] Near the end of that month, on the 22^nd, he paid tribute through music. The song "For My Father" by Andy McKee was one he learned on the guitar when he was younger. McKee responded to the post, saying, "My condolences to you. You played this beautifully. 🙏🏻"^[30] In January 2023, Fovvs stated that his uncle had passed away in December 2022.

He and his longtime homie made their public debut in the early 2020s, whom he called the "love of his life" and take a bullet for. They live with their two cats and one dog (plus virtual two horses, three ducks, and four foxes).^[31]

Health

Fovvs is asthmatic and has claimed to be dyslexic.^[32] He seemed to be accident-prone growing up, where he had a near-death experience at the age of seven. In another year, he broke several of his bones. When he did his SATs, in the middle of his English exam he had to be rushed out to the hospital. He was the only person from his primary school who did their maths exam from a hospital bed in Year 6. During secondary school, one of his injuries was a slipped disc that occurred when he sat down in a chair. The next day, he played football, and it felt as though his leg came out of the socket. He had to take physiotherapy for an extensive period but didn't follow through properly because he didn't listen. His hip occasionally acts up as a result.

Around the age of 17, he was diagnosed with depression and took psychotherapy. He explained how he underwent spells of depression and manic episodes; although this is usually characterised as bipolar disorder, he verified that he was not and did not know anyone with the mental health condition. He relapsed after six months but chose to overcome it on his own without medication, taking two and a half years to battle it.^[33] Between 2015 to 2016, he developed an eating disorder, stemming from a previous band he was in. He reflected in 2019, "[S]omething in my head told me you are not allowed to eat. 'Cause you've just done all this work and no matter what you eat is healthy, you can't put food into your body because your body is just so exhausted that you can't ruin the work you've just done. […] You should never put yourself through that to conform to any sort of constraints that society has".^[5] His heaviest weight was at 11 stone (~154 pounds).

Trivia

• His western zodiac sign is Aquarius and his Chinese zodiac sign is the Dog. He does not believe in astrology (see:
  Barnum or Forer effect

  The tendency to believe vague characteristic descriptions are true for them when in fact, they could be applicable to anyone.
  ).
• His three main favourite things in the world other than music are football, Harry Potter, and Pokémon.
  • He didn't like football until he was seven and saw the England v. Germany match in 2001.
  • According to a Pottermore quiz he took, he was in the Gryffindor house. He would later say he was half Gryffindor and half Ravenclaw.^[34] The Hogwarts houses themselves are postulated to correspond to the
    Big Five personality traits

    These traits are Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism.
    , though Jakob et al. found moderate to no correlation.^[35]
  • For his audiobook narrator audition, he read the first book of the series, The Philosopher's Stone.
  • His favourite characters were Fred and George Weasley.
  • His favourite Pokémon is Charmander, which is somewhat heartbreaking considering its origin story.
• In Valorant, he usually selects playing as Raze, being a grenades type of girl.
• He admitted that if he had been born a girl, his name would've been Jessica.
• His favourite animal is the penguin.
• He refuses to go to zoos because of animals in captivity.^[d][36]
• His favourite colours are green and pink.
• His favourite ice cream flavour is vanilla, he doesn't like white chocolate, and he likes chocolate cake.
• He likes Chinese food.
• He would get his clothing at Niepce Inc and Korean-based websites, opting for streetwear fashion.
• He (somewhat) knew breaking, having done the 6-step in a 2019 RT vlog.
• He had the finsta account, 'phovvs', where he posted miscellaneous content. It later got removed for impersonation.
• In a 2018 livestream, he stated that his ideal lover was ambitious, able to work their schedules together, and kept him on his toes.
• He talked about wanting a family someday,^[13] and wants to be there for his child(ren) the way his father wasn't for him, breaking a generational cycle.
• Two of the three things he wants to do before kicking the bucket:
  1) Write and perform on a number one album
  2) Attend a championship league final that Manchester United are playing at.
• He joked that one of his life goals was to collaborate with DJ Mustard, for the producer tag, "Mustard on the beat, ho!" (said by American rapper YG).^[37]
• In a 2020 livestream, he revealed his lucky numbers to be 1, 7, and 16. 16 because of his and his mother's birthday, 7 for football reasons (possibly because of professional footballers David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo, who wore the numbered jersey), and 1 for something he stands by.^[38]
• At around the age of five,^[e] his cousin showed him the 1999 film The Sixth Sense, and to this day he doesn't like horror films.^[39] Luckily for him, his significant other enjoys them.
• He named Tokyo as his favourite city, Los Angeles as his favourite U.S. city, and said he would like to visit Rome, Italy, someday (possibly for his honeymoon).
• Sometime in 2021, he went to Argos to buy a pair of gardening shears for his mother, since they were short people. The retail cashier asked for his ID, as they couldn't sell weapon-like items to anyone under 18. Fovvs had to drive back to get his ID.
• On 28 August 2021, he shared a life update. On Tuesday, he collided on the football pitch with someone he dubbed "George", who was 6'2". As a result, Fovvs was kicked in the ankle and "George" ended up in a cast. On Wednesday, he went to badminton, taking C₁₃H₁₈O₂ so his ankle was okay. On his way over, someone close to him ended up in a serious accident.

Notes

• ^{^[a]} Fovvs said he was around six years old; however, Busted started releasing music in 2002, meaning he would've at least been eight.
• ^{^[b]} This article follows the grammatical rules set by KRS-One in 40 Years of Hip Hop, where "Hip Hop" refers to the culture and "hip-hop" refers to its products. Other genres created by Foundational Black Americans are country, jazz, techno, and rock and roll.^[40] Because of systematic exclusion, much of popular culture (e.g. slang, music genres, fashion) are Black innovation but popularised by white people, who rarely acknowledge the history or may profit off of it without giving back to the community.^[41] Hip-hop in particular suffers from commodification, where many rappers are signed under predatory contracts,^[42][43] paid less than their white counterparts,^[44] normalises brutality against Black bodies and being spectacles for white audiences, and exploited even after their death.^[45]
• ^{^[c]} As a complementary to this, we suggest The Evidence of Things Not Seen (1985), "Supreme" (2015), and Black and British: A Forgotten History (2016). Dasia Sade creates a variety of video essays on YouTube, including the examination of white American suburban youth identifying with subcultures that created solidarity among the lower middle-class, rather than turning to extremism/supremacism.^[46]
• ^{^[d]} Indeed, zoos pose several ethical concerns. While they serve to educate the public, prevent extinction of endangered species, and protect from habitat destruction and pollution, animals may not be released back into the wild and held captive for public exhibits, develop zoochosis, as well as die in their enclosures (lack of sustenance and/or inadequate living conditions).^[47][48] Protecting wildlife habitats is seen as a better option for spending resources (e.g. wildlife reserves, restoration projects).
• ^{^[e]} Fovvs said he was around four years old; however, The Sixth Sense was released in August 1999, meaning he would've at least been five.
• If interested about the universe from a scientific viewpoint, I recommend these texts: "'Can There Be Nothing?' and Other Questions You Never Would've Asked" (2014) and "The Universe Revealed" (2015).

References