Vasundhara Vee is back: Releases a stunning pop-soul video single titled Run

Vasundhara Vee, one of the best voices to command awe and admiration in the country’s western music circles. She is versatile and absolutely ear-pleasing. And this time, she is back with a breathtaking pop-soul video single named ‘Run’ after a brief interlude.

Her recent release, Run, which was produced by the famous music composer Dhruv Ghanekar, serves as a bridge between Vee’s previous work and her future style. Run, a song created with the artist’s genuine “notes to self,” was released worldwide on September 15, 2021. We got a chance to have a word with Vee on the release of the single and here’s what she said.

Vasundhara talking about her new release ‘Run’

VV: Run is my life coming full circle. It’s me going back to my first instincts as a soul-pop singer. As a woman, it’s a story of taking authorship over our own lives. Taking our self back. Owning ourselves fully and finding our real place of peace, power and beauty. There’s nothing like an empowered woman. And empowerment can manifest in so many beautiful ways.

Here are the lyrics of one of the parts of the song

Reanimate and give myself a new name

For my come back, for my claim back

I’m letting go of all I knew for sure coz

Every step forth, will build my way back

So let me just run run run run run

Let me just run run run run run

With all of me, to a place of peace

Yea just run run run run run

Vasundhara’s Music Journey so far

VV: I’ve been singing since I was 3 years old. My first 19 years were spent in choirs.

My work as a professional began as a sessions singer for radio and ad jingles in Delhi. And my first long job was dubbing character voices for Sesame Street. Soon after, I began to feature in bands. In 2008, the French Embassy curated my first few international performances. They were mostly in the pop and soul space. At the end of that year, I formed my first band and began the gruelling clockwork of travel and non-stop performance. We toured, wrote and played for 5 years and eventually recorded an album at Yash Raj Film Studios. Most of the music I did around that time began to veer towards jazz and jazz-rock fusion. That was something I enjoyed tremendously at the time.

Vasundhara’s Music

After the band parted ways, I began to book shows as a bandleader and worked in the corporate and fashion circles. I also began to travel to Mumbai and work with Louiz Banks, Sanjay Divecha, Loy Mendonsa, Ranjit Barot, Dhruv Ghanekar, Gino Banks. In 2017, I moved to Mumbai and also began to train professional singers and actors in vocal technique as part of my School of Voice.

My main musical projects here are, Merkaba (with Sanjay Divecha), my own ensemble with musical director Saurabh Suman and the music that I write with Dhruv Ghanekar.

Vasundhara talking about the process of making ‘Run’

Vasundhara

VV: Run was written 2 years ago, mid-2019. Dhruv (Ghanekar, famous advertising legend and music composer who also gave us BlueFROG) and I worked the old school way, spending work hours at the studio, selecting, crossing out, reworking, refining ideas. The music video was co-created by Karan Takulia and Jason Vaz. Powerful colours and symbolism are central to the video. They were a dream to work with and I feel I’ve found my video soulmates in them.

How Run is different from her previous releases

VV: Over the last 10 years my work was more focused on Jazz and Jazz-oriented music. This helped me grow a lot as a singer and push my own boundaries all the time. I also got a solid on-stage education by working with the greats here.

With ‘Run’, I chose to move back to my core. And I chose to speak about self-love, self-integration and power. We have to lose ourselves to find ourselves and this song is about the tough process and the eventual joy of finding oneself fully.

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As far as challenges, Run was a bigger project with a bigger team of individuals in it. I had lots to learn but now I’m ready to do it all again.

Vasundhara’s take on how has the music production industry been for women?

VV: I’ve written about this and various inside things in my book ‘Big Dreams, Bold Choices’. It’s important to know that whenever a person’s role is unclear, the person becomes vulnerable to exploitation, discrimination, bad booking terms and all kinds of malpractice. Women and all artists in general, have to hold a high standard in order to bypass the crap. They have to be competent and clear so that they work with the better people in the industry. Gaining a solid reputation based on merit and skill is the biggest protection any artist can have.

Vasundhara’s expectations with the song Run

VV: I want RUN to be a symbol of strength, joy and healing for all women. There are more songs lined up… this new phase of my work has just begun. My long-term plans also include growing the independent music community, nurturing artists and constantly pushing the standards of live music performance in India.