Some time ago, I went through her EP, ‘Mood’, and came to the realization that this was somebody that had very specific and focused ideas to explore in her tracks. Sanjana Devarajan, in our conversation, explains that the specificity in exploring an idea still exists. Now, additionally, it is also tempered with her own sense of personal growth and, dare I say it, mood. Bad pun, I know. However, if you take the time to listen to her latest track, ‘Leher’, you would see the difference from her previous style. ‘Leher’ is a beautifully ambient track that focuses on being lyrical and is unlike anything that Sanjana has done before. What’s more is the fact that, deep down, ‘Leher’ is all about Sanjana’s own journey of growing into the artist that she is today.
Before we dive in a little more into ‘Leher’, I wanted to talk about Sanjana’s journey up until now. This is critical because, as we talked, I understood that ‘Leher’ is sort of a culmination of everything that Sanjana has experienced so far. Born in Coimbatore but raised in Mumbai, Sanjana was always inclined towards art. From dance to painting, she kind of did it all. Up until the age of twelve, she was, in her own words, obsessed with Bollywood music. Not much later, when she discovered the world of Pop music, Sanjana was absolutely hooked. This was a completely new world to her and nothing would stop her from soaking in as much as she could from it. In point of fact, she actually began writing her own music at the age of thirteen.
When she decided to finally pursue music professionally, Sanjana saw that music was something she needed to pursue parallel to something else. Add to that the fact that there is no structured guide into establishing one’s self in the music industry and you kind of understand the scope of challenges that she had to face.
With ‘Leher’, now, Sanjana builds up to this wonderful high where she flows from one thought to the next, with it all coalescing into how transient things really are. I cannot stress this enough when I say ‘Leher’ is wildly different from her previous tracks. And that, by no means, is me dismissing Sanjana’s previous work. No. It is, in fact, me celebrating her growth from one part of her life to another. ‘Mood’ was Sanjana gloriously twirling into the sea and ‘Leher’ is her gracefully floating amongst the falling tide.
As if to prove all that I have said, she talks about growing into the artist that she wants to be. And, like the rise and fall of the sea, she may falter at it at times. However, as Sanjana Devarajan puts it aptly in ‘Leher’, the not-so-pleasant things will eventually just wash away, leaving nothing but happy memories amongst the sand.
