See Arunima Wali’s Moody Black and White Video for Debut Single ‘Can’t Breathe’
The singer-songwriter’s first release is a melancholic ballad filled with ambient soundscapes
New Delhi-born and Faridabad-bred singer-songwriter Arunima Wali. Photo: Courtesy of the artist
While she functions as a financial consultant by day, New Delhi-born and Faridabad-bred Arunima Wali moonlights as a singer-songwriter once the sun sets. The artist – who is trained in Indian classical music as a vocalist – has been juggling between her day job and music for a few years now and most recently released her plaintive debut single “Can’t Breathe.”
According to her, the new track was written in mid-2020. At the time, Wali tells us that it initially began with her just stitching words together from her personal experiences as well as encounters her friends have been through. She says, “I thought I wanted this to be my debut single and I spent months working on it, perfecting it however possible.”
“Can’t Breathe” opens with lush keyboard and acoustic guitar parts before various sonic and ambient elements aid the track as it grows, while Wali’s poignant vocals float with ease over the instrumentation. The song also includes a raspy guitar solo. The singer-songwriter says, “The lyrical imprint included mostly about the closures we often don’t get from relationships or people in general that walk away from our lives.” She adds, “I just wanted to give it a personal touch so that a lot of people, whose stories that I don’t even know of can relate to it because I’m sure we’ve all faced the issue of non-closures at least once in our lives.”
Wali recorded the song at Faridabad’s Noisy Gates Studios with producer duo VAN Music aka Vicky Uttreja and Nayan Jaiswal. The pair even mixed and mastered the track. The singer-songwriter also released a moody black and white video to accompany the song. In the clip – directed by Gurugram cinematographer Rahul Sharma – Wali is seen performing “Can’t Breathe” in a contemplative fashion in a room. Currently, Wali is working on more of her own material. She says, “I look forward to releasing more personal and heartfelt music.”
Watch the video for “Can’t Breathe” below and stream the song on Spotify.
