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Producer, composer and singer-songwriter, Karan Nawani talks about his song, Mera Dil, his love for creating music, experimenting with every creation, and more!
Karan Nawani is an Indian pop artist based in Dehradun, Uttarakhand who began his journey in the world to music in 2017. In only three years, Karan has earned over a million subscribers on YouTube, creating a global community of music lovers who enjoy his songs. He is a self-taught producer, composer and singer-songwriter and Karan Nawani’s approach to music is impressive and certainly gives him an edge over the others. We recently spoke to him to understand his process and everything that goes into creating songs with such mass-appeal.
Here are some excerpts from our conversation...
How is the lockdown and unlock period been for you?
"It has actually been the same, I usually stay at home. I am not much of a traveller or something so it is more or less the same but it has given me more time to work on songs lately but also because of the news everywhere it was quite disturbing too but yeah, it is getting better.
You recently released your song, Mera Dil. What kind of reactions have you been receiving from your fans on social media?
"Yeah, they are really liking it. See, the people who follow me know that I do a lot of experimentation when it comes to songs, you know?! Even when I used to do covers I used to experiment. I always try to make it different, so the people who follow me know whatever I will provide won’t be the same as before. So, I think they like that about my songs.
You mentioned you like experimenting with your songs. Can you tell us what makes Mera Dil different?
"I have been listening to a lot of hip-hop artists lately like you know Jay Z and all those old school hip-hop songs. So, the production of the song is inspired a lot by hip-hop. So, when I started writing as well, I kept that in my mind like I will make this into a hip-hop kind of a track. You can say that inspiration is more from hip-hop."
How involved are you in the production of your music videos?
"For most of my songs, I am 99 percent involved in all the things. Even if it is the editing of the video or you know pre-production stages, I always try to sit with my video team. When we decide on how we are going to film this and everything. So, I like to provide my point of view on what can be done, what I feel. I believe when artists provide what they think to their crew or you know people involved in the project, the result will always be more on the artistic side than just the professional crew's POV. So, I always try to put in my points on things that can be done. Even if it's music or whatever it is, I always try to put in my ideas."
What do you enjoy doing the most - Singing, writing lyrics, or composing?
"It has to be composing. I don't know, I really enjoy the moment whenever I have to compose something. It is really amazing how the mind can amaze you every time you compose a different thing. So, it's amazing."
How do u think the digital evolution and content-focused platforms like Youtube and Instagram have helped artists such as yourself?
"It definitely has played a big like a major role in that. Even if you talk about people who have reached a certain point you know, Justin Beiber, for example. He also started with covers and even several artists from India like Darshan Rawal also started with covers. So, through covers, I think YouTube has provided a really good platform through which you can project what you think can be a version of that song. It can be different from others. I think that is one major point that's helped in my career as well to gain popularity."
Your song, Mera Dil premiered as part of youtube’s foundry fest as well. How was that experience for you?
"Yeah, I was very excited when I heard the news that youtube is involved in this project and everything. So, I actually had a couple of songs that I was planning to release so it has been like a blessing for me and a great push to my projects."
While creating music do you feel the pressure to do something different every time or do you only focus on staying true to your voice?
"It's very important to stay true to yourself. I actually don’t get carried away and plus the one thing about me is that I don't push myself. I have seen people you know who push themselves a lot like, "gaana nahi aaraha hai, zabardasti likhna hai". All the songs I've written so far have naturally come to me. Even if you talk about Mera Dil, one day i was scrolling through Facebook and this melody came to my mind and then I started writing the song and everything. So it's never like you know, 'ki aaj baithke main gaana likhoonga'. it is never like that. It happens automatically and then I go with the vibe. Yesterday also I made a beat and then I started writing the lyrics and by the end of the day, I had a song. It's all about the vibe only. I always like to work with the vibe."
How your life has changed from starting out with Covers to having over a million subscribers today?
"Yeah, definitely it has changed a lot. When I started with it, I had no intention of getting a lot of fame and you know a huge number of subscribers or something. I just wanted to release some songs and covers. I just wanted people to hear my voice that's all. But then people started subscribing, started texting me like we want more songs and stuff. So, initially, I never planned anything like that. I used to see my fellow YouTubers plan and put out songs but I just went with my heart. The songs which I made were all a part of my childhood. Like the songs which I used to listen to when I was a kid. But then later on when people started praising tab thoda pressure ban gaya and I started planning things a little. Because when you reach a certain level you have to see ki joh agla product ho woh isse better ho. Earlier I used to do two covers in a row now I can’t, I have to keep quality in mind. If it is good then only I release it."
Social media is a huge part of every celebrity's life. Do you also stress over constantly keeping your social presence active?
I was actually earlier like a year ago i had my .. like this is my new instagram account. The earlier account got banned due to some copyright issue or something. But at that time i used to stress a lot like i have to post something on istagram..engagemen badhani hai ...but one night what happened i tried to log in to my account and i could not login.. I was like what is happening then i contacted my team and then they told me that it has been banned due to copyright violation or something and we can’t geti it back so at that moment..woh joh ek week tha i realized that it is nothing . just ek finger ka snap hai and it is al gone. So after that i started taking easy. Now i post like in a week or maybe whenever i want to so like so i dont care about anything now ..i just do what my heart says
Okay, lastly, can you tell us what you're working on next?
"I have 2-3 songs which are like almost ready but then we have to plan accordingly like how we are going to shoot keeping the lockdown and everything in mind. So, I don't know exactly when because I have released a song with just audio and the response was not that good. So now I've realized that we have to make videos because visual engagement is important. So yeah, maybe by the end of January. Plus there are a lot of things happening in terms of my career which I cant tell right now, so yeah, people will see soon."
Here's how Karan Nawani responded to out Quick 5:
Top three songs on your playlist right now
"One is 24k Golden Mood, Perfect by Ed Sheeran and then there's Saathiya by Sonu Nigam."
What genres of music do you enjoy listening to?
"Pop music."
One Indian or international artist you want to collaborate with?
"Ed Sheeran."
One social media guilty pleasure?
"I actually like watching funny videos of fail compilations. I always end up watching 1 and then keep watching for hours."
One song you wish you had sung?
"Chale Aana by Armaan Malik."
Check out Mera Dil here:
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