Sandhya Chari Navigates Conflicting Emotions in Tamil-English Song ‘Manam’

Pairing electronic, cinematic and pop elements, singer-songwriter Sandhya Chari’s new song “Manam” sees her breathily traverse conflicted emotions in a relationship.

Questioning matters of the heart, “Manam” is a bilingual song, sung in Tamil and English with Chari aiming for a certain kind of seamlessness that dissolves boundaries. The Mumbai/San Francisco artist’s sublime voice shines through on the track, which stands at over 125,000 streams on Spotify since its release on September 1st.

Chari invokes a “realm of emotional depth” according to a press release that accompanies the launch of “Manam.” The artist terms it a “poignant journey of conflicted emotions within the grey area of a relationship.” Second-guessing herself and her actions, Chari tries to find her way through tangled connections on the song, her finessed English vocal melodies covering pop while the Tamil phrases add a sense of soul and seem influenced by South Indian film soundtracks of the early 2000s.

The press release says about the bilingual nature of the song, “[The] dual-language approach mirrors the dual-mindedness within, as one voice beckons her to hold on while another urges her to let go. This tug-of-war resonates with anyone who has found themselves caught between the relentless pull of nostalgia and the yearning for a brighter future.”

Chari also wrote “Manam” in a way to break away from the overtly fawning nature of love songs. She said in an Instagram video to promote the song, “Why are all the songs, ‘I’m literally dying without you’? […] Why not, ‘I don’t know how to feel you about you’?” In the works for one and a half years, “Manam” follows Chari’s equally successful single “Someone Special” from 2022 and her official debut song “My Roots,” which came out in 2021.

Listen to “Manam” below.