Singer-songwriter Thomson Andrews is here creating his own niche and opportunities. In an exclusive conversation with The Pioneer, the maestro spoke about his working experience with A.R. Rahman, singing in a Michelle Obama produced web series and much more.
K. Ramya Sree
Thomson Andrews: Indian Contemporary Pop, RnB, soul singer, entertainer, and television host Thomson Andrews has recently released his latest tracks in two Hollywood for-themed films Scrooge – A Christmas Carol and Matilda.
In conversation with The Pioneer, the artist says he has now entered a beautiful level of creativity and innovativeness in creating his own opportunities and IP’s. His Bollywood projects include him singing Sanskrit Shlokas in the Blockbuster film Brahmastra, along with voicing a children’s web series on Apple TV’s Fraggle Rock and singing for Character Wembley in the series.
Thomson spoke to us about his working experience with A.R. Rahman, singing in a Michelle Obama produced web series and much more.
Excerpts from the interview:
You don many roles that of a singer, writer, recording artist, host and more, which among these do you feel gives more happiness and satisfaction to you and why?
Well, Music is in my veins and being an artist is a way of life for me, a blessed career that I’m grateful to God for. I’ve always been a person to adore many hats and be versatile with my voice, talents and skills. Being a singer, songwriter and performer gives me a soulful satisfaction to my purpose on earth and my being.
It’s my identity and nothing can replace that ever. However, being a public figure over the years has given me so much to learn and grow that being a host and now an entrepreneur brings me added joy, to explore myself in newer horizons and still be rooted as a musician in my DNA. I think growing and exploring my own potential, all my talents and skills is what gives me more happiness and satisfaction and I discover so many aspects of myself when I take on new challenges and readily embrace the opportunities that come to me.
You have worked with A.R. Rahman, could you share with us your experience working with him and what’s your major take away working with him?
Working with a thorough professional and mastermind like Maestro A.R. Rahman is always so inspirational, musically, emotionally, mentally and also spiritually. I have learnt so much from him and have also adapted many theories of how to stay true and excellent in your craft. One major take away from working with AR sir is that he once said to me that humility comes with experience, achievements and growth; over a conversation early morning after my overnight recording session at his powai studio. The analogy he gave me was more like a parable from the bible of sorts, but it’s stuck with me for life and has helped me evolve and grow as an artist and human being. I love his music and respect his journey and contribution to my life.
Can you enlighten us about your Christmas songs in 2 Hollywood for-themed films Scrooge – A Christmas Carol and Matilda?
Singing for Netflix’s Hollywood projects as a South Asian Artist has always been a blessing and honor. I’ve sung in 2 Hollywood Christmas Themed films – Scrooge A Christmas Carol and Matilda. My song Thank you very much in Scrooge is a fun satirical song on the life of Scrooge the central character. In the Children’s film Matilda released on Christmas day, I’ve sung the songs I’m Here and The Miracle.
You sang on a Michelle Obama produced web series. Did you ever imagine you would one day be doing such brilliant work as an artist with such renowned global icons?
Well, I’ve sung on Michelle Obama’s produced Children’s web series Waffles and Mochi, singing the Banana Rainbow song. Singing for animated and children themed content films is always fun and it’s so adorable, nostalgic to relive childhood, as I sing behind the mic dubbing to cartoon characters and actors.
When I started singing in my early days professionally, I never knew where I was going and had no clue what life had in store for me. However, I can surely say the journey has been brilliant and I am ever grateful to my colleagues, mentors, acquaintances who have encouraged me and at times recommended me to film studios to be part of such iconic projects. I am a huge fan, admirer of former president Barack Obama and Michelle Obama and to have this opportunity to sing on their film project as a South Asian artist is something like a dream come true; one of the many wow moments in my wonderful array of accolades over the years.
What’s your song writing process like? Where do you drive your inspiration from?
My process of songwriting is super simple, it’s always the moldy first, followed by the lyrics. The toppling, aka – melody of the song, is what is the most important to lay down as a foundation for me as an artist. I believe once the melody is sticky and is something that has recall value, sonically unique and fresh; it’s ready to be baked into a song and then the embellishments like lyrics, music production, instrumentation and genre based treatment comes into play. My inspiration is usually derived from real life incidents, stories that move me or practical thoughts and perspectives of life.
What has been your favorite performance or tour so far and why?
My favorite has been the 14 city USA or Canada tour I did with my favorite singing star and friend Sunidhi Chauhan, as I got the opportunity to perform as an opening act at Madison Square Garden, which is the holy grail of music venues in the USA. I’ve also performed in other iconic live music arenas like Wembley Arena and O2 in London, Lusail Stadium in Doha Qatar, to name a few.
How do you manage to maintain musical integrity while being commercially successful?
By being true to my musical roots and inspiration as an artist. Growing up, my musical diet included songs from genres like RnB, Funk, Soul, Neo Soul, Gospel, Jazz, Pop, Hip Hop, Sufi and Bollywood film songs.This became my singing personality and over the 13 years I’ve worked in this industry as a professional singer, I’ve been known for my musical flavor owing to the genres I’ve been inspired by, and I’ve sung on 150+ ads, many playback songs across languages all within these genres itself.
I always believed in bringing myself and singing like myself and not sounding like anyone else, however strong the demand or trend maybe. Singing, performing and recording with stellar music composers, producers and songwriters, I’ve learnt to be excellent and nothing less, excel in my craft as an artist and evolve and reinvent my talents, which has made me more confident, settled in my identity and also become versatile within my vocal styles and strengths.
Do readers or listeners take away different things from your songs than you intended? If so, what do you think your songs are about?
Each music enthusiast has a different viewpoint and emotional takeaway from a song and I find it intriguing at best to know different opinions about my music. It tells me my art and creation is unique to each person’s experience and how they absolve my craft, understand my music based on their own musical influences. Music and Art can always be interpreted in various ways and is subjective to the listener.
At times, I’ve had people telling me they love my romantic and soulful songs and some say they love hearing me best in dance songs that they can vibe too. I’m always open to feedback as it helps me evolve as an artist and I feel it’s absolutely healthy to have varied experiences of an artist’s songs, as even have my thoughts about other artist’s music.
How did you manage to sing your debut Nepali song, being a non Nepali speaker? Was it hard and how do you manage singing in so many languages?
I’ve sung my debut Nepali film song Dum Dum in the film Harry ki Pyari for music composer Yug Bhusal. This song is a dance song and has a peppy funk groove and is perfect for the dance floor. The music video is picturised in a club with vibrant dance moves and high energy by acclaimed Nepali actress Samragyee R L Shah seen grooving along with model R.A Suraj. I am very happy and thrilled to be associated with such an iconic Nepali film and project and feel blessed to have sung this dance pop song, beautifully composed by Yug Bhusal, who gave me this fantastic opportunity.
I’ve sung in many international languages like Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Arabic and Swahili in past projects along with songs in various Indian languages like Tamil, Marathi Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu, Gujarati and Punjabi to name a few; but singing in Nepalese for me has been such a fun and learning experience and I’m so glad the song is being appreciated and loved so much. For me, music has no boundaries, just emotions and those emotions are conveyed via languages and dialects, but really the core of the emotion of the song and the singing approach required is pretty much common across languages for the specific type of genre or track.
What’s 2023 looking like for you? Tell us about your future projects.
I’m looking forward to a fantastic 2023 with almost 7 new singles soon to release, collabs, my Spanish song in a new Web series on Amazon Prime India starring Nawazuddin, called Tiku Weds Sheru, releasing soon. I’m very excited and thrilled to have recently worked with iconic Indian Director Sanjay Leela Bhansali on his newest Project releasing in 2023 on Netflix.
My entrepreneurial media venture ‘Throan Of Art’ is also making bigger progress with our own iconic entertainment and lifestyle projects and events on the way to fruition in 2023 so it’s gonna be work-mode full throttle with my fantastic team with tons of drive, passion, love, dedication, excellence and hustle to keep growing!
