Hear Ananya Sharma’s Virtuosic New Single ‘State of the Art’

After the release of her band Funan and Gang’s exquisite debut single “Dear Felicity,” last year, Mumbai singer-songwriter Ananya Sharma spent much of her time focusing on her solo material. She says, “I made a lot of creative decisions for myself to push my limits as an artist and the ownership I claim over my music.” Now, the musician is out with a brand new solo single that comes in the shape of the calming “State of the Art.”

Sharma tells us that she initially began writing “State of the Art” in 2019 as a half-complete demo and only finished it earlier this year. Having experienced the full swing of the pandemic over the last 18 months, Sharma says, “The use of social media had spiked, and things had started to move more towards content creation for many artists.” She adds, “As someone who is used to posting on social media as a source of escape and connection, this change didn’t rub me off well and out of this realization came a very real narrative turned into song.”

According to the singer-songwriter, the new track explores the “imposter syndrome and internal conflict.” Sharma says, “As artists, we have a complicated relationship with attention and fame. There’s always a healthy balance between gaining attention and maintaining authenticity, but I guess this song explores the point at which the balance topples over into a loss of self.” “State of the Art” includes beautiful piano parts by Mumbai-based pianist Anurag Naidu while Rome-based artist Luca Petracca adds elegant string arrangements to the song. Sharma recorded her mellifluous vocals at Mumbai’s Studio Satya and electronic outfit Nothing Anonymous’ keyboardist-producer Nirmit Shah mastered the track.

Looking ahead, Sharma is keen on putting out more music and also collaborating with other artists. For “State of the Art,” the singer-songwriter has also teamed up with digital platform SkillBox and launched a month-long contribution campaign. She says, “This means, you can stream the song on SkillBox and if you wish to, also contribute a sum to support me in releasing more music.”

Stream “State of the Art” on Spotify below and on other platforms. Click here to contribute to Sharma’s campaign on SKillBox.