South Asian Artists Reframing the Desi Success Story
The 21st century marks the long-overdue arrival of new South Asian musicians breaking ground in music, providing hope for brown kids just like them.
Written by Dhiren Wijesinghe
Photo courtesy of 101.1 WKQX
Previously overlooked, the rise in popularity of new South Asian artists means a lot for Desi communities and representation in music. Underrepresented and underheard for years, artists with South Asian roots have long been missing from the commercial music industry. But the climb to fame for a mainstream Desi musician isn’t without its challenges.
Raveena: Tackling Stereotypes and the Taboo
Photo courtesy of NPR
Managing stereotypes within the music industry is just one of the many hurdles that South Asian musicians face. Being a Desi in America is often associated with being some form of engineer, doctor, lawyer, or business professional. It’s a sad, false, stereotype that first-generation Asian-Americans are uncreative and incapable of succeeding at professions involving the arts and humanities. Raveena expands on this issue on her Twitter:
But through her hard work and talent, Raveena has been breaking down the idea that being South Asian means you can’t make good music. She now has millions of listeners to attest to the quality of her full-length album, Lucid, and her EPs, Moonstone and Shanti. Her niche sound that combines smooth R&B basslines and Rhodes keyboards with traditional sitars has normalized brown culture in music by proving that Indian instruments are complementary additions to western ensembles. Her song, “Nani’s Interlude,” even contains an inspirational soundbite from her grandmother about making the most of one's life. Not only does this let brown kids everywhere relate to her album as they nostalgically think of their own grandparents, but her track also casts India’s English dialect as a beautiful form of art rather than a source of humor that popular media often portrays it as.
Raveena is also addressing social issues that are often taboo subjects within brown communities. Her music deals with her own struggles with sexuality, mental health, and sexual abuse. She has also come out as a queer woman in the last year, and even muses her single, “Headaches” to a woman. By talking about these issues in her music and reaching South Asian audiences, she is starting the conversation about topics that are usually pushed under the table. Raveena is normalizing queerness and mental health in South Asian communities, and allowing brown kids to identify with her struggles when they are usually discouraged from doing so.
Jay Sean: Crossing Racial Lines
Photo courtesy of Billboard
Across the globe, British R&B star Jay Sean is another artist who has been fighting South Asian stereotypes. Dubbed as the first Indian pop star, Sean has gained international recognition for his hits including “Down” and “Do You Remember.” In a 2014 Evening Standard interview, he talks about his single “Ride It” crossing racial lines, stating, “Not only did the Asian community love it, but the black community and the white community got to hear about it. The song became such a big hit for me and got me noticed by the CEO's of Cash Money in America.” Pushing these boundaries is important for Jay Sean because it proves that audiences listen to his music for its content, not his ethnicity. In addition to creating a devout South Asian fanbase, Jay Sean has shown his non-Desi listeners that he and his community are able to produce popular art.
Sameer Gadhia: Redefining Desi Success
Photo courtesy of Music Foundations
Some of the biggest deterrences from art Desis face come from within their own communities and families. The pressure that Asian households and communities place on higher education is indisputable. However, the discouragement of pursuing the arts and humanities by brown communities stems from good intentions. In fear of facing the same hardships and financial struggles that they faced, brown parents usher their children to study medicine, law, business and other professions of similar status. Good intentions or not, the communal pressure to follow jobs in the STEM field not only perpetuates the stereotype that maths and sciences are the only things brown kids are good at, it also creates the harmful notion in brown communities that the only definition of success is through educational and financial endeavors.
Young the Giant’s frontman, Sameer Gadhia, is helping to redefine what success means as a South Asian. Gadhia was a pre-med student at Stanford University when Young the Giant began getting an increasing fanbase. He explains in a 2016 NPR interview that the conversation he had with his parents about dropping out of school to become a musician “made them sad and made them worried… they didn't want me to fail.” Despite his parents' fears, however, Gadhia soon put their anxiety to rest. Since the band’s formation in 2004, they’ve produced hit after hit, including “Cough Syrup”, “My Body”, “Apartment” and “Superposition.” Gadhia also sheds light on his parents’ Indian immigrant story in the band’s 2016 album, Home of the Strange, showing that first generation Desi-Americans can accomplish great things in ways other than higher education.
Sameer Gadhia is just one of many South Asian artists excelling at their craft and setting a positive example for brown folks. No longer do brown communities have to look for inspiration solely in doctors and lawyers. Seeing a South Asian musician achieve success in an industry that has been discouraged for so long reimagines the possibilities for brown kids and parents — proving that you can be South Asian and still excel at your passions.
Through overcoming their challenges, brown artists are proving that South Asians are just as capable as anyone else at succeeding in the arts. They are making the music industry more inclusive by increasing representation of a large population that’s been previously excluded. In Raveena’s challenge of taboos, Jay Sean’s journey across racial boundaries, and Sameer Ghadia’s break from the mold, these artists are paving a way for brown kids to expand their horizons.