Shakthisree Gopalan feels she is returning to her roots with her recent independent single, Old Friend. The singer, who began her journey as an independent artiste before establishing herself as a sought-after playback singer, turned film composer last year with Test. In a chat with us, she talks about the indie music scene and the different worlds of playback singing and independent music.‘OVER THE PAST YEAR, I’VE BEEN FOCUSING ON MY INDEPENDENT MUSIC’I started as an indie artiste. So, I’m happy to see independent music finally having its heyday in India. Even while doing playback and touring, I’ve released music independently. I took a sabbatical to study at the Berklee College of Music, and after returning to India, I spent two years composing the album for Test. Over the past year, I’ve been focusing more on my independent music. To me, it feels like I’m going back to my roots as a singer, songwriter and independent artiste. I’m starting with Old Friend. That’s the first of many to come.
Indie music has always been around and active in Chennai. It’s now coming to the forefront. The current Tamil indie scene is booming. Perhaps during the lockdown, when more independent music and less film music were being released, the audience started paying attention to it
Shakthisree Gopalan
‘EVERY TIME I PERFORMED OLD FRIEND, IT MADE ME HEAL’I wrote Old Friend during the lockdown. It’s about me figuring out how to deal with my inner demons. Earlier, my way of coping was to be in denial, keep myself busy or not acknowledge what I was going through. Over time, I realised the healthier way was to process and make my way through those emotions. Whenever I performed Old Friend while studying at Berklee, people would tell me that they felt like it was their story too. Every time I performed the song, it made me heal.‘SINGING FOR FILMS FEELS ALMOST LIKE ROLE-PLAYING OR ACTING’Singing for films is exciting because the character is already defined. It feels almost like role-playing or acting. I’m being the voice at a moment in a character’s journey. Film music allows me to put myself in situations that I may not have experienced. Independent music, on the other hand, is more about processing my own experiences and emotions. When concepts or ideas fascinate me, I end up wanting to ruminate on them a bit more, and it comes out in the form of a song.
A lot happens when you perform live, no matter what you plan. I’m constantly vibing off the audience’s energy. Sometimes, during improvisation, things happen on stage that we can never recreate
Shakthisree Gopalan
‘COMPOSING FOR A FILM MADE ME REALISE THE POWER OF BACKGROUND SCORE’ When composing for films, there’s the director’s vision of how they want the audience to perceive the characters. Background score plays a huge role in shaping that. Composing for a film made me realise the power of background score. It tells you things that the shot, characters, or dialogues don’t. The same scene can feel completely different depending on the music. If we put on funny music, you feel everything’s good. Tense music can make you feel that something is about to happen. Similarly, a song is an additional tool to tell more of their story without dialogue.On Shakthisree‘s playlisA song that’s currently on top of your playlist – Fragments by Airmow. It’s hardcore electronic music, but also has a super cool groove.A song that always puts you in a good mood – One of my all-time favourites has to be Rahman sir’s Naan Yen. It’s feel-good, but also about finding purpose in life.One song of yours that you constantly listen to – Neel Vaaname from Couple Friendly.Hardest language to sing in – Maybe a language I haven’t sung in yet. I’m curious to sing in languages I haven’t sung in before.One underrated artiste you would recommend – Definitely Aditya Ravindran. I couldn’t stop listening to the entire Couple Friendly album.All-time favourite independent artiste – Pradeep Kumar