As is the case with a lot of musicians, Mary Ann Alexander was also born into a family that appreciates music and art. From her grandmother preparing her for music competitions to her father — a playback singer himself — being one of her biggest influences, this Bengaluru singer had a lot of inspiration from within her home. She had already made quite the name for herself with singles like In My Zone, Superhuman, Take My Life With You and many more. But if you don’t know her from the above mentioned songs, you are sure to remember her for lending vocals to the now viral Malayalam hit number — Stuthi, from the movie Bougainvillea starring Kunchacko Boban, Fahadh Faasil and Jyothir mayi — the latter making her comeback to the big screen after quite the hiatus. Mary also recently sang Ulfat from Ananya Panday starrer CTRL. Now, she is gearing up to perform at the Kingfisher Octobeer Fest this weekend and we get chatty with her to talk about her career, what she has planned for her upcoming performance, being part of Stuthi and lots more!
You will be taking to the stage this weekend at the Kingfisher Octobeer Fest. What have you planned?
I have planned to perform a lot of my unreleased music. I have been writing a lot of songs for the past few months and I have added a few new songs to the setlist — that I haven’t even produced or worked on yet, but I still want to play them live and test and see how people feel about them.
Recently you lent your voice to the song Stuthi from the Malayalam movie Bougainvillea. The song is making waves across the country. How did this project happen?
One of my closest friends and the one who plays the keyboard in my band, told me about how he was working with Sushin Shyam. They had worked together for movies like Aavesham and Manjummel Boys. When it came to this project, he told me that they were concerned about this one song that they were doing for this new film. I didn’t know what film it was. I didn’t know who was being cast. I knew nothing. He just told me that there was this one song that he was working on and that they tried to get a singer on board, but it wasn’t working out. I was like, “What do you mean it was not working out?” Now, I was curious because he was talking about the singer not being able to pull it off. I asked him if I could listen to the song. It’s the kind of song that you won’t like the first time you listen to it but by the third time, it grows on you. The first time I listened to the song, it was like, “Dude! This is such a banger!”
It only had Sushin’s vocals and some places did not have lyrics as well. He asked me if I wanted to try it out and if Sushin liked it, he could propose my name for it. I went back home and recorded it with the mic I had. I didn’t hear from them for a few weeks but then they got back and asked me to record it in a studio. I never met anyone in person. I literally did it remotely. I only got to know the song was releasing when someone sent me a poster saying, “Hey, isn’t that your name?” I immediately called Sushin and asked him why he didn’t tell me the song was releasing tomorrow. Even he didn’t know the song was releasing the next day! (laughs).
How was it being part of a project which included Jyothirmayi, who is making her comeback to cinema after a pretty long hiatus?
To be honest, when I was going into this process, I had no idea of how big this project was or who was there. I got to know all the details as I was working on the project, that too bit by bit and even then I did not understand the gravity of it. Only when it came out and I saw the video as a listener and a viewer did I understand how big the project was.
How did your career as a musician begin?
It began when I was probably six or seven or you could say from the moment I was born — because I was born into a family where everybody valued art. I could see the difference between people who were around me — in my class and just people who grew up around me and how my upbringing was. For a lot of them, anxiety and fear was instilled into their lives by not being allowed to try things out or not being allowed to be bad at something. But in my household you always had to do something. You always had to try it out before you wanted to decide whether you wanted to do it or not. Everybody in my house was enthusiastic. If I had a music competition, my grandmother would sit me down and teach me. Everyone was very supportive — be it drawing, cooking, embroidery, singing or dancing. So, I grew up being a multi-faceted person, interested in everything. My dad was a playback singer and he definitely is one of the biggest influences I had. He used to take me to the studio. I would sit next to the sound engineer and observe everything. Slowly he started giving me projects. Whenever they needed a child’s voice in some devotional song in church, they would record my voice. I knew I wanted to do music but after school, I wasn’t allowed to take up a course or pursue music professionally. My parents weren’t really comfortable with that. They asked me to do something which would help me nurture this as a passion on the side and nothing else. That’s when I did visual communication from St Joseph’s University here, in Bengaluru.
How much of a role has Bengaluru played in shaping you as an artiste?
A lot! I don’t even know where to begin. I went to college and opted for a creative course. I met people who are photographers, people who are illustrators, people who had faith in their own artistry. I felt like I was in the right place and I couldn’t relate to anyone more. My mom, when she sent me off to Bengaluru, asked me to go and find my tribe and here I felt like I could finally relate. I met people who are like-minded. They stuck to what they think they should be doing. That itself changed my belief system and my self-esteem was back. If your belief system is in the right place, everything else will fall in place.
Where do you find inspiration for your music?
Sometimes, I’ll be sitting in an auto and thinking about this one particular groove in my mind. I’ll be jamming in my own head, making up stuff. I’ll just start singing and I would like the vibe of what I was just doing. I’ll take my phone and start singing into it and then later, I’ll go back and flush it out and make it up — if it’s an idea worth building. It sometimes starts from my imagination or sometimes it’s a very strong emotion. When I was a younger writer, 15 or 16, I used to rely more on emotions. Sitting down systematically and trying to come up with something. I used to rely on spots of strong emotions to connect to that side of myself. I would think that I would have to go through so much to write music. I have to have a heartbreak. It’s like my boyfriend said he would come see me and then he doesn’t come and I will get sad and I will start writing a song. Later on, I started putting more effort into collaborating and getting more reach with my audience.
What’s your dream collaboration?
I’d like to make music with Justin Bieber. He’s too talented. I had a crush on him when I was a kid and not even in a physical way. I was always in awe of his talent. To be in the same room as him would be surreal. Then, there is a singer called Nai Palm. She also inspires me a lot. These are the two names I could think of at the top of my head, but I’m sure if I sit down and think, there’ll be more.
When you are not working on any music, what does your routine look like?
I am very passionate about my food. Like if I get something to eat that is less than 8 out of 10, I’ll be sad for the rest of the day. I’ll keep on thinking about it. So, I really have to like to make my own food and get it right. I go swimming two times a week, I go dancing, I go to the gym. For me, there has to be some element of movement every day.
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