Not Everybody's Girl

Lesbian singer/songwriter Jen Foster does not mind frequent comparisons to Melissa Etheridge. But her music is distinctly different than the work of the leading lady of gay music, and the only two things she and Etheridge ultimately have in common is being gay and being a woman, Foster says.

“I admire Melissa, and I have tremendous respect for what she has done for the gay community,” Foster says. “I see my image as a little bit more feminine than Melissa’s. My music is also different, and I’d like to appeal to an even broader audience than she does.”

Foster’s debut CD “Everybody’s Girl” is a heartfelt pop-rock album that covers a range of very personal sentiments. The record includes songs about falling in love (“She”), the struggle to conform (“Everybody’s Girl”) and failing relationships (“Superwoman’).

Foster is a singer/songwriter in the spirit of Sheryl Crow, Bonnie Raitt and Joan Osborne, but she has a unique lyrical style. She is able to translate big ideas and emotions into everyday terms.

A poignant song on the album is “In Between Poses,” on which Foster sings about how people are only themselves in between keeping up a certain image to others.

Foster was born and raised in Houston, but moved to Los Angeles for college. After class and homework, she played club and coffeehouses with a band she put together.

Most recently, Foster moved to Nashville, Tenn., to work with producer Glenn Rosenstein on her debut album, which is a collection of older songs and melodies exclusively written for the record.

Foster learned quickly during her short recording career that she can’t be “everybody’s girl” as an artist.

“There might be people that are not going to like me, but those people will be around anyway, whether I’m pretending or whether I’m being real, so I might as well be real,” she says.

Foster received attention for lyrics in the same-sex love song “She.” The song garnered critical acclaim as a finalist in the pop division of the John Lennon contest and a First Prize in the great American Songwriting contest’s pop category.

Foster made a conscious decision to be out as a gay artist. She says that she feels strongly about being a visible presence so that other gay people can draw inspiration from it.

“I think it is my responsibility to be open and to be real,” she says.