Singer and songwriter Amanda Sodhi’s catchy new single "Behind My Sunglasses", which was released online recently, is creating waves. The song is airing on Channel V India and also on Pepsi MTV Indies. After the ‘The Acoustic Girls broke up, Amanda went solo and released her first song. We must say it was worth it!!
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The song is not just creating a buzz, it was even endorsed by Oscar and Grammy award winning composer-musician-singer AR Rahman, who tweeted about the song. Amanda describes the encouraging words from Rahman as ’the happiest moment of my life’.
“I actually cried with joy when I found out he tweeted about it.”
The song was created in Mumbai and the video shot in Chennai by DME. The music video has a nice stylized feel to it, with several moments which nicely capture the vibe of internal loneliness that the song deals with.
WATCH the video here:
We caught up with Amanda Sodhi and had a musical time. Excerpts from the interview:
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How has the reaction to your latest single "Behind My Sunglasses" been?
The response has been positive -- a lot of people have connected with the song and have also liked the video! And, I am super happy that the video has aired on MTV Indies and now on Channel V. It'll soon be out on VH1, as well.
Any overall theme of mood that you were trying to capture while writing the song?
The song is about how many of us pretend to be happy in front of the world, but the reality could be quite different from what the outside world assumes.
There are a few elements of the song which come from real-life situations, but the song is not exactly autobiographical. I feel every artiste draws from personal experiences to some extent, and it seeps through in one's work.
Amanda Sodhi On She The People
"Behind My Sunglasses" is the first song since you've taken the solo route, was it difficult in any way?
Going solo gives one more freedom, you are only answerable to yourself. The consistent challenge, regardless of whether one goes solo or is working in a band, is finding the right music producer. There are a lot of people, both new and seasoned, who are ready to take you for a ride and take your money without delivering any results. I had been going through a lot of bad experiences, until DJ Suketu connected me to Prateek Gandhi, who produced "Behind My Sunglasses".
He promised he'd break my music producer jinx, and he sure did (laughs). And, there has also been constant support from KJ Singh, who has always been a wonderful mentor and he's done a great job with mixing the track; I'm so happy he has released "Behind My Sunglasses" through his label, Asli Music. The DME team also did a great job with the video. I am planning to put up a few more originals next year, and hope I find a group of committed musicians for live shows, as I really miss performing on stage. It can be difficult to find the right people - often, people want to team up for the wrong reasons (laughs).
In an earlier interview with SheThePeople.TV, you had said that you greatly admire AR Rahman. Now that he has tweeted about the song, how do you feel?
That's true, I have always admired AR Rahman - he is extremely talented, innovative and humble. I am a huge fan of his work and really look up to him. I feel so blessed that he tweeted about the song - it STILL feels surreal. I actually cried with joy when I found out he tweeted about it. I was starting to lose self-confidence, because there were so many people who tried to bring me down in the past four years, so this really helped reverse things for me internally. I finally feel content and at peace, and even my close friends have noticed a change in me. I've printed out a screenshot of the tweet and pasted it to my wall to act as a reminder to never give up (laughs).
“I was starting to lose self-confidence, because there were so many people who tried to bring me down in the past four years, so this really helped reverse things for me internally.”
There is a Hindi original of mine called "Main Khaali", which is releasing in January. Malvika Sirur, from The Acoustic Girls, has recorded guitar sections and features in the music video. There are two English originals of mine releasing on Kukkii's Fresh Lime Acoustic series on YouTube -- these are jam sessions. And, I'm hoping to release a few more originals, Hindi and English, in 2017. I hope I get to collaborate with more musicians next year, and would really love to record more jingles, so let's see if anything comes my way -- fingers crossed! My documentary, Attention Please, which KJ Singh and I co-directed, is also going to make the rounds of film festivals in 2017. Damn, I can't believe 2017 is just a few weeks away.
At the moment, The Acoustic Girls is not active. But, maybe in future, we might revive the project.
Born and brought up in Washington DC, Amanda Sodhi has made Mumbai her home for the past 4 years. She is currently in post-production for a feature-length documentary about the independent music scene called Attention Please, which she co-directed with K.J. Singh, and is gearing up for the release of a Hindi single, "Main Khaali", slated for a release end of this year. Amanda had earlier released "Jigsaw Puzzle" with The Acoustic Girls. The song made it to the top charts of OKListen within a matter of weeks.
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