Anumita Nadesan

Singer-songwriter Anumita Nadesan is, among several other indie artists, proof that one can hold an audience captive with creative cover songs and then make them stay and become fans of your original music. Since the release of songs like “Khwaab” (2022) and “Katputli Ke Dhaage” (2021, with The Yellow Diary’s Himonshu Parikh), Nadesan’s dulcet vocals have become her calling card of sorts.  

Since then, Nadesan has gone on to working with producers and composers ranging from Shashwat Sachdev to OAFF, Sez on the Beat and Pina Colada Blues. Although a lot more persevering with her song releases in an era where artists are expected to capitalize on a hit song and put out a bucketload of singles in a year, Nadesan has been working on her debut album. After a few years of putting songs out via labels, this one marks an independent release for what she describes as her most ambitious project yet. Read our interview with Nadesan below. Excerpts:  

Rolling Stone India: How’s everything going in terms of navigating the music industry so far? 

Anumita Nadesan: It’s going really well, and I’m really excited about what’s yet to come out. I’m working on my first album and that is very, very exciting for me. So far, I’ve only done singles. So it’s been quite difficult, working on it song by song and also because I was introduced to that kind of a culture [of releasing singles].  

That’s definitely there but it kind of broke my train of thought as an artist who’s writing music. I’m really excited to put an album out. It’s mostly going to be out a couple of months later. I love storytelling, as in, making it more visual, so there’ll be a lot of visualizing and images. Even with the songs that I’m writing, I would want to imprint a story into head of the listener, with colors with light and all of that. 

Have you been chipping away at it until completion for some time now? 

I’m also [releasing] it independently. So far, I’ve only worked with labels, so that’s another reason it’s taking a lot of time and effort. Plus, I’m working with like really cool collaborators as well, in terms of the composition and all that. Really looking forward to that. 

Speaking of the fact that you worked with labels for your singles, what was it like?  

Most of the songs were with labels and I think they take complete control of things when you’re working with them. I’m a control freak, basically [laughs]. I start freaking out if something is not in my control or if it’s going wrong. But I’ve not faced that much of an issue with anyone – most of the labels are very pro-artists. I think was quite lucky.  

As an artist who first blew up online during the pandemic and then began seeing audiences come out to shows, what was it like seeing that on-ground conversion?  

What happened with me was I started doing covers, so that conversion from covers to originals was a huge task, personally. It wasn’t easy, but then going out there and performing in front of people was a completely new experience for me. My heart is always full when I see people singing along to a new melody or anything like that.  

People have always been so kind and I’m a person who very much enjoys intimate setups. I’m kind of nervous when there’s a lot of people but I’m hoping to change that. I look forward to the intimate gigs especially.  

You recently had a Malayalam song out for a film, “Maarunna Kaalam” from Nadanna Sambavam. What did you want to get out of a project like that? 

That’s my first Malayalam song and I’m from Kerala, I’m a Malayali so that was really special to me. I did it last year and it came out this year. It is definitely a long term vision – being a multilingual artist. I really enjoy singing in different languages. So that was just I’m considering that as a starting point and that I’ll get to do more.  

I think that comes from… I love singing in Hindi. But then the thing is, I also love singing in other languages, like English, Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi… any of these languages. I can speak in these languages, so it would be really cool if I can write – sooner – and sing my own songs in my mother tongue.  

How did your collaboration with hip-hop artists Sez on the Beat, Lit Happu and Yungsta on “Nirvana” come about? How do you think about these cross-genre experiments?  

This collaboration was like an experiment for me. These people were really cool and they were such nice people also. They were asking me, if I would like to do a song and they sent me the track and I literally sent them a voice note and they liked it. I was quite surprised but then it turned into a song. I definitely learned something from that.  

I definitely want to experiment a lot with other genres and artists. That’s definitely there.  

What’s something that excites you about the future of music and one thing that worries you about the future of music?  

Okay, that’s a tough one. Something that really excites me would be a lot of artists are putting out music. I’ve been exploring artists who are not too big or anything, but it’s just very exciting when you find a new artist, especially when they’re more from the same country. That’s something I’m always excited about.  

I’m not sure what I would be worried about as such. As long as people are being honest about themselves while putting out music, I think that’s a good way to take it ahead.  

Anything else you can say about your upcoming album?  

I’m really excited about it because I’m working a lot of other artists in the industry. Getting collaborators on board has been exciting. The album is still a work in progress – the sound is being planned as organic with electronic soundscapes as well. I would want to make it more visual, that’s the vision behind it. I also paint – so I’m taking something from all the other skills… I wouldn’t say skills, the hobbies that I have.. and putting it into this album.