Anuv Jain: My songs have been taken from my real-life experiences

Winning hearts with his music is singer-songwriter Anuv Jain. In an exclusive chat with The Pioneer, the singer takes us through his music, song-making process and much more.

Tejal Sinha

Starting anything from a scratch is definitely not an easy job. And, if we look back at the journey of singer-songwriter Anuv Jain, he has had his own long way to reach the top spot that he is in now.

The Mazaak singer started out making music at the age of 16, at a time when most of us were more interested in having fun in life. But did you know, the singer, who has been winning hearts with his music, was once hesitant to sing in front of people?

Yes, he did! He says, “I was this shy kid who used to be hesitant to sing in front of even 10 people. From then to now, I can surely say for myself that I have come a long way as an artist. Obviously I’ve had a lot more experiences in the last 10 years that I can write about. So I feel like my songs, the lyrics that I write, have more depth to them which makes me feel that I’ve definitely matured as a songwriter over these years.”

Having made his professional debut with the single Baarishein in 2018, he has since then recorded nine tracks. Asked which one is super special to him, he says, “As cheesy as it may sound, but all of my singles are special to me. It’s really difficult to choose one. All of my songs so far have been taken from my own personal experiences in life and signify a moment that was special to me at that point in my life. I appreciate all of those moments, be it happy or sad as they’ve shaped me into the person I am today.”

From Baarishein to Mazaak, wanna know his inspiration behind these tracks? Hear it from him, “I take inspiration for all my songs from my life, the people in it and my surroundings. It could be from a simple object to the most complicated thought.

Baarishein was one of the first songs that I had written when I was 16. It talks about the feeling of being in love, something I wrote down on a rainy day for a girl I was in love with then. Every little moment in the song is based on something I’ve seen her do, or around special moments that we shared. Similarly, with Mazaak, the song captures a moment in my life that I most recently went through. It is a simple love story of a guy falling in love with a girl’s smile and talks about the absurd feeling of how when you least expect to fall in love, the universe finds a way to make you fall in love.”

Guess what? His process of creating a song is not the same as rest. In fact, his mom plays a very important role in this. Telling us more about it, he says, “It’s nothing too complicated. But how I do it is, first I compose the melody. And then, as I’m playing the guitar, I’ll string some random words together, create sentences and then weave stories around all of it. One ritual I follow while writing all of my songs is that I sit with my mom who notes everything down as I narrate it to her, gives me instant feedback on what works with the song and helps in removing any excess fluff. I also make it a point to keep a record of all my ideas every time an idea for a song strikes, so that I can refer to it later while actually sitting and writing the song.”

It’s not a surprise to say that Independent artists over the time have gained immense popularity, due to their own unique style of bringing out the music to us. Getting out their unique style brings its own challenges. Let’s hear what Anuv had to tell us about it, “As an independent artist, you really need to promote yourself.

This also means that you have to pay for everything yourself, including investing your own money in music videos, photoshoots, recordings, etc. As there is no label backing, an independent artist has to do everything by themselves which does become challenging at times but every job comes with its own set of challenges and I’ve learnt to embrace them with time.”

The Meri Baaton mein Tum singer had recently performed at the “SteppinOut” Music festival, which will also feature Grammy award-nominated Steve Aoki, Harrdy Sandhu, Offset, Solomun, TroyBoi, Divine, out of the many, in Bangalore. Apart from this, he had also performed at the Zomato’s Feeding India concert in Mumbai. On being a part of such a cause, he says, “I’m really grateful to be a part of Zomato’s FeedingIndia concert.

I think it’s a really great initiative and a step in the right direction towards addressing a very crucial cause of malnutrition in India. I’m truly thankful to be able to contribute in whichever small way possible to this cause through my music. It was a truly magical experience performing for a good cause and opening for one of the biggest international artists in the rap scene, Post Malone, is a cherry on top.”

While many of us have been waiting for his first album to come out, Anuv is currently working towards it. “I don’t want to make any promises as of yet, but releasing an album is definitely on the cards.”

Over the time, the music industry has changed drastically, be it the Indian music industry or the independent music industry. Being in the industry for quite sometime now,  what does he have to tell us about it? He says, “I’m fairly new to the industry – it’s been just over two years for me since I stepped into the music industry. But I feel the industry is definitely growing very fast. There are so many people coming into this space.

Especially with streaming platforms coming into the picture, distributing music has become much cheaper. A lot of independent artists are also getting their music placed in films, so that is hopefully going to increase even further. Live shows by independent artists are also witnessing a huge response and are getting bigger in scale. All of this does indicate that the industry is heading towards the right direction, eventually leading to indie artists competing with international artists as well in the future someday.”

Even after doing music professionally for more than seven years, there has been no transition to “mainstream”.We asked him about the reason and is composing or singing in films in his wish list, he says, “Yes, ofcourse. Singing for films is definitely on my wishlist, however, I believe I don’t want to rush into a project as soon as I get an opportunity. If a song comes my way that I feel matches with my vibe and excites me as an artist, I would love to take it up.”

In conclusion, Anuv signs off saying, “I am working on a ton of new music right now, channeling every idea I have into a song. You will get to hear all of it very soon. Till then, I hope you listen to more of my released music and share it with everyone around you.”