Page 4 - Hawaii Island MidWeek - June 30, 2021

4 HAWAI‘I ISLAND MIDWEEK JUNE 30, 2021
“For me, things have to happen naturally, organical- ly,” explains the never-in-a- hurry Fuga, who took eight years to gather the right songs for her debut album, Liliko‘i — a 2005 project that ultimately netted her the Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award for Most Promising Artist.
“I never force myself to write anything; I’m not that kind of person. I feel like there have been times where I tried to force things and it just doesn’t come out right.
“But here’s the thing: My whole life I’ve always fol- lowed the signs. I believe in divine timing. Everything happens for a reason.”
F ew things make Paula Fuga as uncomfort- able as the heat. It’s why she carries soap, extra clothes and a towel just about everywhere she goes, and why she’s always ready to shower at a moment’s notice. “I’ m just a very hot per- son,” the musician acknowl- edges. “I did a gig once and people were greeting me ev- ery few feet and wanting to take a picture, wanting a hug. But in my head I was think- ing, ‘I’ m so hot — please,
this way. Even as a child, her temperature ran uncomfort- ably hot.
else all over again — that is, taking hot lyrics and putting them to oh, so cool melo- dies. Following a decadelong pause in album releases, her long-awaited project, Rain on Sunday, was finally re- leased last week. It features not only her soulful vocal stylings and elegant ‘ukule- le playing, but the notable voices and instrumentation of Jack Johnson, Ben Harp- er, J Boog and Natural Vibra- tions as well. In addition, the deft production work of Mike Love, whose leadership Fuga credits in bringing the project to fruition, is on full display.
album’s standout musician- ship — will strike a familiar chord with her listeners.
and I believe in you”; and the album’s lead single If Ever, a bittersweet duet with John- son in which he muses about the loss of his father while both he and Fuga (whose fa- ther passed away in 2019) cry out to “hang on every word, hang on every moment ... if ever I could see you again.” Not surprisingly, the song has already been streamed more than 3 million times.
Nothing illustrates her re- liance on timing and the di- vine better than her decision to release Rain on Sunday on Brushfire Records, which is owned by Johnson. Although the two have a longtime friendship and have per- formed together many times over the years, Fuga did not want to take advantage of that relationship. From her perspective, any potential business partnership with Johnson would have to hap- pen naturally or not at all.
stop touching me!’”
To her credit, Fuga chose
side from reflecting Fuga’s maturation as a singer and sto-
to stick around despite the sticky situation.
Like a proud mama, Fuga glows when talking about birthing her latest composi- tions. Many of the album’s 12 tracks promote ideals of love, hope, freedom, progress and perseverance, and the song- stress believes the wisdom in the lyrics — along with the
“I just told myself, ‘Calm yourself down, Mary!” re- calls Fuga, chuckling at her moment of self-reproach. “‘You’re going to be in the shower in 10 minutes. Just be nice. You’re fine.’”
Now, 42 summers later, Fuga is doing something
The duo then went on to record the album’s final track, If Ever, and everything in Fuga’s divinely timed world was right as rain.
Truth is, she’s always been
SEE PAGE 5
Paula Fuga gets ready to shower fans with a hot new project, Rain on Sunday, her first full-length album in more than a decade.
Born in Fort Polk South, Louisiana, in the winter of 1978 (her birthday is Dec. 30), she soon found herself in warmer-than-ideal con- ditions after her grandpar- ents moved her into their Waimānalo home.
“I think that this album really shows my growth and maturity in the songwriting process,” says Fuga.
Fortunately for Fuga, the signs for a union with Mr. Upside Down-Better Togeth- er-Flake were clearly there.
Reflecting on that first summer in Hawai‘i when round-the-clock efforts by her grandparents to control her fussiness were often in vain, Fuga says, “I’ d sleep for a little while but then wake up screaming bloody murder because I was so hot. My grandparents would wipe me down and take me outside in the breeze where I’ d fall asleep, but then they’d bring me back in the house and I’d do it all over again.”
Among the tracks she showers fans with on Rain on Sunday are the reverse lullaby Too Hot Mama, in which she croons about her aversion to heat and how she was “born in the winter ... made for the cold”; the ultra hopeful ditty Just A Little Bit, which was written for her nieces caught in the middle of a parental battle, and who she encourages to “sing just a little bit sweeter, close your eyes it gets a little easier”; the smooth empow- erment anthem You Got This Girl, in which Fuga reminds those caught in an abusive relationship that “you’re strong, you’ re beautiful ...
A
ryteller, Rain on Sunday also represents her first body of work since her 2010 EP Mis- ery’s End. In explaining the long delay between studio al- bums, the singer simply says, “It sort of just happened that way.” In her world, there’s no such thing as compulsory songwriting, and no project is ever finalized until the signs in the heavens say so.
“I knew that if I recorded a good album and did my best with it, I would be able to say, ‘Yo, Jack, you wan- na sign me to your label?’ ” Fuga explains. “But lucky me it didn’t have to happen that way. Jack heard that my album was being mixed and asked to hear it himself. After listening to it, he asked me to sign with his label.”
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