Hailing from Los Angeles but currently based in New York, singer/songwriter Janani Shankar is hard at work preparing to release his debut album “Black”. Janani comes from an entirely musical family and was trained in Indian Classical vocals and violin from a young age and picked up the guitar, keys, and bass later on in life. Janani's unique sound pulls inspiration from artists like PJ Harvey, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Oasis, and Amy Winehouse. Janani Shankar has a slew of singles and an EP available for streaming, but her latest release “Forgettable” serves as the first single from her upcoming album “Black”.
“Forgettable” features Swiss drummer Carlo Ribaux, Brooklyn-based musician Ernest Hampson, and was recorded by John Ried at Brick by Brick Studios. Brilliant acoustics start off Janani Shankar’s single “Forgettable”. Her angelic vocals are finely-calibrated well beyond her years. They echo and trail alongside the guitar with sweet precision and grace. “Forgettable” talks about the trials and tribulations of love but having the confidence to know it’s time to move on. An empowering anthem, “Forgettable” leaves room for the listener to interpret the emotive lyrics in whichever way feels suitable for their own life. Heartwarming and pure vocals give a calming and soothing effect on the meaningful message. Janani brings a natural and authentic presence to contemporary music. Stay on the lookout for Janani Shankar, with releases like “Forgettable”, we’ll be hearing a lot more of that name!
Check out “Forgettable” here and read more below in our exclusive interview.
Welcome to BuzzMusic Janani Shankar! We gave a listen to your latest single "Forgettable" and thought it was a spectacular production! Tell us how the overall process went?
Thank you so much! I basically wrote the lyrics, guitar, and melody for the song first and played with it until I got it to exactly where I wanted it. I recorded the guitar and vocals almost a year later at Brick by Brick Studios with my engineer John Ried. We sent the track to Swiss drummer Carlo Ribaux and Brooklyn based musician Ernesto Hex to write their parts, and then brought them into the studio one day and finished the track in Brooklyn. I picked out their parts which I liked and gave notes on what to change and eventually the whole song came together quite nicely in the studio. It was mixed by John Ried and mastered by Alex Saltz at APS mastering.
For us here at BuzzMusic, "Forgettable" had a very honest feel and delivered a genuine sense of tranquility. How were you intending listeners to feel when they hear this song?
Thank you so much. That is what I want to hear! I wanted it to have an honest feel and a genuine sense of, not only tranquility but of sadness and nostalgia as well.
“Forgettable” was truly an incredible song. What was the inspiration for this track?
Forgettable is going to be part of an 8 track album called Black. I gained the inspiration and wrote most of it last year when I was spending much of my time in London and traveling through Europe. I wrote Forgettable after I left. London has always felt like home to me and I have a lot of people who I consider family out there, so I felt really sad about leaving. I always feel sad when I leave there.
Do you personally express your own experiences within your music? On what level are you intending to connect with your listeners?
I do personally express my own experiences within my music. But sometimes I like to keep the lyrics vague. So if I'm talking about one thing specifically, I make it sound like I could also be talking about something else, Iike an ex-lover or something. I intend to connect with my listeners on a very personal level, but there are some things I would rather keep vague and not be so in your face about. Also, I feel like if you keep it vague, you have the option of connecting with more people because the lyrics could be taken either way or even both.
It was a treat having you here on BuzzMusic! Can you give us any hints towards when you’re releasing your upcoming album “Black”? What will the overall concept of this project be?
Thank you so much! I'm hoping to release Black by mid-2020. It will be my first studio album with a full live band and most of the songs were inspired by my time last year in London and traveling through Europe which I said before.