The last couple of months have been the most exciting for 22-year-old Soundarya Jayachandran. She had Vishal Dadlani (literally) sweep her off her feet, impressed with her rendition of Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black on The Stage.
Then, her latest release, Unapologetic made the cut on Vh1 alongside artistes like Coldplay. She’s also Audi’s youth ambassador for Bengaluru representing the city’s thriving music scene. Needless to say, Soundarya is on a roll and is showing no signs of slowing down as she gears up to perform at Phoenix Marketcity on February 14. “Nobody is always into music. Somewhere along the road, it just clicks,” says the economics graduate from Mount Carmel College.
She may have crooned her way into the college’s Western Music Association, but she confesses that it was always Indian classical music for her – something in which she trained since she was eight.
“My father played the guitar and everyone in his family has picked up an instrument along the way, although I’m the only one who took it up professionally,” she says. After a certification course from AR Rahman’s KM Music Conservatory in western vocals where she went the opera way, the singer and songwriter put out her first EP, A Girl in Black and came out with a whole album, Shades of Revival soon after. Picking up a string of gigs across Bengaluru and Chennai, the lass has been praised for being “powerful” by Monica Dogra and Ehsaan Noorani foreseeing a “bright future” for her. “I wanted to get into music full time after my 12th grade but there was diversion on perspective with my parents – they wanted me to have a basic degree first. But they’ve always been super supportive of my music,” she smiles about the people who help her create magic on stage.
Living in the present, spurred on by the moment and can’t seemingly get enough of her influences – Alanis Morissette, John Mayer, London Grammar and the blues, Soundarya continues to write her own music, something she tags as soul, ambient and pop. “I value my alone time and recharge by being by myself. Oh, and I also love cats,” she grins, recollecting a time when she was on stage and skipped a few lines all because she was distracted by a tabby! “I sketch and I also love food too much…may be I’ll write a song called Aloo Bonda someday,” she laughs, prepping for another show – the next one for a gallery opening in Ahmedabad.
