By Vishnu Makhijani
New Delhi, Dec 25 (IANS) Nineteen-year-old London-based singer-songwriter RESHRICH, who has had two hit releases earlier this year and is ready with a third offering, says his Indian heritage helps him find inspiration for his music and he hopes to capitalise on the trend among Indian composers to experiment with Western culture and sonics.
"My Indian heritage (my dad is Indian) really helps me with finding inspiration for my music because I can use the samples and sounds from Indian music to make my sound unique and different," the musician, whose mother is a Serbian and who was brought up in northwest London, told IANS in an email interview.
"I think India is at a point in time where the music scene is really diverse and people are slowly moving away from the traditional sound and are experimenting more with the Western culture and sonics. In future, I plan to be the artist that brings that sound to life and make a lot of hit records," he added.
Does this mean he has an eye on Bollywood?
"I'm very open to Bollywood; I've loved it since I was kid. My grandparents always used to have it (Bollywood music) playing in the house whenever I would see them, so anything's possible," he explained.
How did the music bug bite him?
"I was inspired by musicians like Ed Sheeran, Arijit Singh and Drake. They influenced my career path to do music because of how singing and songwriting can change a person and make them feel. When I was a kid, my dad used to play a lot of Enrique Iglesias in the house so it was inspiration for what I wanted to become later in life," said the musician, who is largely self-taught.
"I am self-taught mostly, but have learned a lot about music through my college and other artists that I know and work with," he said.
How did he pick his present genre, that he has infused with elements of R&B and pop?
"My present genre has been inspired by the sounds that I like and vibe with when I'm in the studio with producers. I don't like to copy other artists or rip off a sound, I just make music that I enjoy because then I know my listeners will enjoy it too.
"I learned that music is a journey that you have to go through as an artist and it's really about trial and error -- so, eventually, you will find a sound that you and our audience can really connect with," he maintained.
What about his new releases?
"Currently, I have a couple of upcoming releases that are different to my first two releases. When they come out, people can really see the direction I'm heading.
"The first song is called 'Gasoline'. It's gonna be a lot more mature in sound and visual, so when it comes out next year, people are gonna be surprised. The song is about how in a relationship if you get everything you need out of it, there's no need to go anywhere, no need to waste that 'gasoline'," he said.
His previous singles -- "Buy My Love" and "Moonlight" -- were heavily supported by the BBC Asian Network, which labelled him an upcoming talent in pop music.
"The making of my first two singles was very different because I was inspired by two different situations for those songs. 'Buy My Love' is really inspired by girls that chase money in a relationship rather than love, and the second was about wanting to be with a girl in the moonlight and more about the experience and thrill of being with her," he said.
When making "Buy My Love", the singer said he wanted to make a song that would experiment with tablas in the percussion and also Indian vocal samples to give it something unique in addition to the traditional pop elements that were already there.
"The process of being in the studio for both of these singles was quite exciting because there is a certain feeling you get when creating something new that you can share with the world. It didn't take that long to get the songs created because once we had the musical direction it took only a couple hours from there," he explained.
(Vishnu Makhijani can be contacted at vishnu.makhijani@ians.in)
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