Christmas Spirit Quote by Siobhan Fahey

There is something quietly radical in Fahey’s admission that she has to warm herself up with other people’s songs. In pop culture, we’re trained to believe artists are perpetual motion machines: inspiration on tap, confidence always camera-ready. Fahey instead describes mood as something you build, not something you simply have. Singing becomes less a performance and more a private ritual: she sings to herself before she sings for anyone else.

Her playlist isn’t random. “Old Motown” signals craft, groove, and emotional directness: songs engineered to move bodies and land cleanly. Patti Smith brings punk nerve and literate grit, a permission slip to sound imperfect if the feeling is true. Edith Piaf and Billie Holiday carry the opposite kind of authority: voices marked by history, ache, and a willingness to let vulnerability be the point. Put together, it’s a map of what “getting in the mood” actually means for a working musician: aligning with lineages of singers who treat voice as character, not just technique.

The subtext is also about identity. Fahey, known for shapeshifting across projects and eras, frames her own voice as something she enters through communion rather than isolation. She’s locating herself inside a tradition of women who didn’t just sing well; they made persona, pain, and presence inseparable. The intent is practical, but it lands as philosophy: you don’t wait for authenticity. You rehearse it, alone, with the ghosts that taught you what a song can hold.