Singer Soha Narayanan's latest indie single is a take on one's struggle with society's judgment and opinion

Jhumka Sway is an Afro-pop dancehall song. It has empowering lyrics that put a spin on one's struggle with society's judgment and opinion. The song delves into the consequences of these opinions, such as feelings of self-doubt and insecurity and reflects my journey from being overwhelmed by these negative voices, and thereon, emerging from them with confidence and strength. In the chorus of the song, I say, 'nothing can stop how far I go,' emphasising the importance of pushing through those superficial barriers imposed by society. I added the elements of Jhumka Sway to reinforce my message of having that determination and pushing through all of this noise that you feel sometimes.

The main reason I chose the word Jhumka Sway was to add a cultural touch, and because a Jhumka Sway is also confident – you're not looking left or right, you're just walking in front. It's transforming something that once caused fear and uncertainty into a place of empowerment and belonging.

It all started when I was maybe like 12 or 13 years old. My dad would drop me to school and we'd listen to Radio Indigo; there's a lot of English music, and Bangalore does have a lot of traffic, so we would spend a lot of time in the car. I think that's where my interest in English music started. My dad's friend, Christopher Avinash, who is a singer part of Retronome, was looking for a kid singer. My dad referred my name, and I went in. I think I'd sung like a country song or something, and he was like, 'How come you've sung this? You have a good range.' He was telling my dad, 'Usually kids would sing Hannah Montana. It's so different that you've picked a song like this.' So, I think it all started then, my interest in music.

From then on, I used to go for a lot of band competitions, and we won a couple of them as well. It went on to just growing and making covers. Only recently, the past two, three years, I've fully taken it up as a proper career after studying, after doing my master's. In Bangalore, the city is amazing. They've got amazing musicians, and extremely talented ones. So many people that I look up to and so much inspiration that I get from them, for instance, Mary Ann is really good, Hanumankind as well. They're great. It's amazing being in the city.

In terms of genre, it's very different. Honestly, anything that sounds good is what I usually listen to. It used to be a lot of pop, but now it's a lot of R&B and Afrobeat. Jacob Collier's stuff with Varijashree, Ricky Kej is also really cool; it's a totally different mix of different genres and different musicians. I like to listen to songs that make me feel something. All of these people really inspired me, I guess.

All the people I work with in Hyderabad, a lot of them are winners from Indian Idol and other competitions. It's crazy; there's so much talent out here. There's also so much to learn from each person; if you open your mind enough, you can actually learn so much. Walking into the studio, they don't give you a song and a lot of time to sit with it and understand its emotions. You go in, they give you a song, and you have to learn it then and there. In a couple of minutes, they give you the tune and the lyrics, and you learn it on the spot. That's been crazy, a very, very hard learning experience because my grasping power needs to be next level to get all of that. That's really challenged me, and I've really grown from that experience.

There are so many different voices you can tap into: a deep voice, a really high voice, an opera voice for different scenes in a movie. If it's something scary, you need a certain voice. If it's something lovey-dovey, a certain voice. If it's an item song, it's a certain voice. It's crazy to know that your voice can even do this, and it's so versatile. It gives you a lot of insight into yourself as well, which is awesome.