Vocalist Arunaja Nalinakshan, popularly known just as Arunaja, has the voice that is so memorable that you will recognise it the instant that you hear her. A couple of years ago she captured the imagination of her listeners with the stint on the second season of reality music show, The Stage. Her debut single Broken had crossed the 1.5 million mark on YouTube, putting her on the map, and now the musician with myriad influences is back with her new solo track Cyanide.
The song advocates the need for good old self-love, wherein Arunaja asks people to stay true to their authentic self. She explains, “I wrote the song a while ago on a train. I had the idea at the back of my head, that I want to write a song with a great hook word. So Cyanide just came into my head and everything flowed.” She reckons that it was one of her most satisfying experiences as an artiste, as the entire song was written in 30 minutes. She later got in touch with music producer BlueNucleus aka electronica producer Sourabh Pateriya to get the song ready. But that’s not all! The launch of this single apart, Arunaja was also busy collaborating with musician Benny Dayal on the mellifluous cover of the Malayalam track Uyiril Thodum (from the film Kumbalangi Nights ) with Benny Dayal, Joshua Satya and Allwyn Jeyapaul.
Talking about the experience of working with benny, she recalls, “Benny is like a brother to me, I call him chetta (brother). We always wanted to collaborate on a project together and quarantine was the best time. We all shot in our own houses Benny pushed me to get out of my comfort zone as a musician.” Arunaja tells us that she would really like to work with Indian-American musician Raja Kumari one day and likes the work of her contemporaries and The Stage alums, Raghav Meattle and Hanita Bhambri. She also counts Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston and Freddie Mercury, Ariana Grande and Jessie J as her inspirations. As of now, Arunaja is busy exploring the various sides of her artistry - her collaboration with a Finnish producer and a few singles apart, she is also looking to create covers for a few of her favourite Malayalam classics. “Once I feel like I have grown enough as a singer, I would like to come up with an EP,” says the vocalist, promising that the video of Cyanide will be out soon.
Cyanide is now out on online music platforms.