Faust Forward to Fame

Katherine Baek • November 4, 2024

Senior Faust Lapuente is a 17-year-old music artist who has already amassed over 28,800 Instagram followers and 2,273 monthly Spotify listeners with just two released singles. “Another One,” released on Oct. 25, and “Remind Me,” released on April 17, are songs that blend R&B and pop, drawing influences from artists like Justin Bieber and Brent Faiyaz. On his Instagram, @faustsongs, he has teased several more songs, including the songs “pyromania” and “out of focus”.

When asked what his inspiration for starting music was, Lapuente shared that Michael Jackson has inspired him since he was young, as he had watched several clips of Jackson performing on YouTube. Over time, Lapuente was inclined to keep pursuing music through encouragement from his friends and listening to releases from R&B powerhouse, SZA. Despite criticism from listeners, Lapuente has stayed motivated, continuing to create songs with support from his mom and followers. In the future, Lapuente aspires to perform his music on stage in order to better connect with his audience.

“My mom [has been my biggest supporter],” Lapuente said. “She has been a helpful person when it comes down to organizing everything and keeps me straight. She definitely does so much more [for me] than anyone else [does].”

Lapuente puts his own emotions into his craft so that his audience can better connect with his songs — it is important to him that he expresses what he is going through as he produces his music. His first single “remind me” entails the feelings of reminiscing about a lover; coupled together, the catchy lyrics and soft guitar instrumental have earned the song over 85,000 streams on Spotify. AP Music Theory, Orchestra and Choir teacher Dan Doctor noted that creating music often involves tapping into one’s emotions.

“Emotions affect the way that [one] sings or plays,” Doctor explained. “I try to tell [my] students that they should be feeling the emotion associated with each song during rehearsal and not just [while performing] because it affects the way the music sounds. Music is an emotion, not just science.”

Lapuente did not always make R&B and pop music, however. He began his career by creating rap music, but later started exploring other genres until he found one that suited him. Senior and Lapuente’s friend Aaron Lee has stayed with him throughout his career, supporting him by sending him beats and listening to his music. Lee never expected Lapuente to start making music, but after listening to his songs, he realized that Lapuente was a dedicated songwriter destined for an impressive career.

“[Lapuente] makes music every day, and I don't know how he does it, but it all turns out [well],” Lee said. “Right now I feel like he’s trying to go a little more mainstream, but from what he has shown me, I think he can [also create] unique [music, as] he is very versatile. In ten years, he is going to be [famous].”

Lapuente is also very active on Instagram, where he lip-syncs to snippets of his upcoming music and covers songs from popular artists like Mac Miller. He also films “Get Ready With Me” videos for studio sessions, thereby spurring engagement on his account and bringing more attention to his craft. Currently, Lapuente’s fans await new music to be released later this year.