RAVEENA

You may know Raveena for her whimsical visuals and airy melodies. She’s back with a new track that’s surprised everyone, even herself, with its more upbeat and playful nature. “Tweety” is a nostalgic piece for her, that she says is inspired by the sparkly sound of 2000s R&B. We got to sit down with her and talk about everything from her time at NYU to incorporating her South Asian roots into her music. Whether you’re a lover of her discography or hooked on this new sound and excited for more, check out our interview with Raveena to learn more about the ethereal artist.

INTERVIEW

Interview by Bridgette

March 17, 2021

Today I have a very special guest: Raveena. Thank you so much for being here!

Thank you for having me!

It’s going to be a lot of fun to talk to you about all of the stuff you have going on, especially your latest track “Tweety”, which just came out. I would love to hear about that song!

Yeah, definitely! It was such a shift for me to make something so fun and upbeat [laughs] because so much of my debut album dealt with very heavy topics and I think that because I’ve been doing so much healing work, I’ve been entering into this space of lightness and joy. “Tweety” really speaks to this time in my childhood — and I think that a lot of people in this generation may relate — of that early 2000s R&B and hip hop. And just the incredible Black musicians that were making the most fun and whimsical songs, like Destiny’s Child, Aaliyah, Timbaland; and then the people who were inspired by them like Jojo and Nelly Furtado. So all of those songs were on such heavy rotation for me as a kid, and I was going back in the studio with my friends — a couple of us — and we just wrote it together with that whole era in mind. I think it’s just a really fun little offering into the world that is not like what I usually put out, so it was nice. [Laughs]

I think there definitely is something nostalgic about it. I love how you’re talking about who your influences were with it. More generally, who else are some of your influences?

My influences are so broad, but I think they are centered absolutely around Black music traditions like R&B, soul and jazz. Those are the genres I just fell in love with when I was nine or ten years old, and they’ve informed so much of my music-making process. And then, alongside that, I was also listening to so much indie rock, Bollywood music, and spiritual music from India. I was listening to funk, world music, and hip hop. I think because of the nature of music today, all of us are listening to everything, so it’s always such a huge task to really absorb in all of these influences and put out something beautiful in return that feels like it’s reflective of all of those things. So that’s just my task as an artist: to continue to do that as best as I can.

Yeah, I’m glad you brought up Bollywood, as well, because more personally I don’t even think I’ve ever had the chance to interview another South Asian woman.

Oh!

Yeah! So to me this is really awesome!

Thank you!

I just would love to know: is there something different for you when you come across an influence that shares an identity with you, as opposed to just general musical influences?

Yeah, absolutely! I think M.I.A. is such a good example of that, and Jai Paul, because I know that they were influenced by similar spaces: a mix of R&B, soul, hip hop, funk, and rock and you can hear that in their music, but there’s also that pull of their culture and their identities. So they have definitely been huge, huge influences on me and the way I am starting to approach music now. Yeah, they are incredible. They’re trailblazers. [Laughs]

Yes, for sure. In so many ways. How do you think your intersecting identities have informed your art?

I think that it’s something that I’m trying to reckon with ever further every day as an artist. I think that for me it was easier to approach it visually. Because I’d spent so much time listening to Western music and almost kind of being disconnected— obviously, I had all of this Indian music within and around me, but what I was focused on was completely sounds from the West. So in my first expression of that: my first album, that’s the main influence that you're hearing. We were incorporating bits of the South Asian influence, but it’s something that I’m even reckoning with everyday as an artist. Like, how do I get even deeper with that? Because I think I’ve done a good job of expressing it in the visuals and it’s something that I’m trying to explore further. And I think that it’s a very hard thing in particular in the music because it exists on different scales. The instrumentation is entirely different; the whole approach to music is entirely different, so it’s a lot to wrap your head around. Yeah, and I’m just trying to navigate it all.

Yeah! I’m curious, because you’re kind of diving a little bit more into that culture piece. I know at least in my experience, I was someone that also grew up very heavily in Western culture outwardly, yet still had a lot of my own personal cultural heritage really just centralized in my house. 

Yes. 

It’s almost like, there’s someone you are outside and someone you are inside with your family and your culture. Did you find it hard to consider crossing over and using more of those cultural elements in your music, whatever they may be?

Hmm, I think it’s something I’m still exploring how to do. I don’t even think I can say that I’ve really done it yet in the way that I want to. I’m still such a baby and young artist; I have so much more to find in that area. But I will say, being a Sikh American and having a very specific experience within being Sikh and coming from a history of genocide, with my mom being a survivor of that, it’s kept me very connected to my roots. I do feel very in love with it and proud of where I come from. I think it’s a lot for any immigrant to understand how to sit in between both identities and understand where you are in the mix of all of this.

For sure, especially when it comes to making art out of these experiences. So something else you touched on a little bit earlier was the visual component; there’s always a very strong visual component to your music. How do you get inspired to do that kind of stuff?

Visuals have become a bigger part of my life every year that I get more into it and every video that I have the opportunity to direct and be a creative spearhead on. It’s becoming one of my other favorite art forms and I think that it’s maybe what I want to do after music is said and done. [Laughs] But yeah, it’s such a beautiful space. I think it allows me this sense of imagination and freedom to play with— I don’t know, I just love the sense of whimsicality and psychedelia. I’m very in touch with my inner child and that’s always the main thing that I’m trying to express in my visuals: this sense of escapism.

I would love to hear a little bit about your experience at NYU and what effect you think it had on your music.

Absolutely. I’m so grateful to have experienced some years at the Recorded Music program and it really helped me get a really good sense of the business side of things. That’s an incredible privilege to have been able to learn about all of that because it’s something that helped me be able to have this career because I was able to understand it and navigate it in this way that many people who don’t have that training in the music industry and the business side of it can’t get. So I’m very grateful for it!

Yeah, I totally agree. It definitely can’t be overstated just how important it is for artists to understand the business side, as well.

Absolutely.

Awesome, so I know you’ve talked a little bit about this earlier and sort of throughout this interview, but more broadly, what do you want people to take away from your music?

Hmm, what do I want them to take away? I think maybe a sense of fantasy and calm. Yeah, those are definitely two huge assets of my identity. I’m such an air sign, I’m just not tethered to this Earth, so I feel like everything I make is very reflective of that not being tethered to this dimension. [Laughs]

Awesome, I think that’s what makes your sound unique, because I think that’s definitely really central to at least how it comes out to a listener.

Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to my work, I really appreciate it.

Oh my gosh, of course. I mean and thank you so much for taking the time to sit down and talk with me about it. Before we wrap up is there anything else you have coming up that you’d like to share with the folks listening?

I would just say— yeah, I’m so grateful to anyone who listens to my discography and the new songs! It’s such a privilege to be able to do this.

Well thank you so much again, Raveena, for sitting down with me! I really appreciated getting to talk to you.

Thank you so much!

This interview originally aired on WNYU Radio with Bridgette Kontner on March 17, 2021 on The New Afternoon Show at https://wnyu.org/archives/2021-03-17-the-new-afternoon-show