Exclusive 'New Era' Interview with Amar Sandhu & PRANNA
After 3 years in the making, North American sensation Amar Sandhu has teamed up with his long time friend, the talented North American producer, PRANNA, formerly known as 2NYCE to bring fans the much awaited album 'New Era'.
If you think that 'New Era' is the only thing these two have planned, there's a lot more where that came from, this is just the beginning! Simply Bhangra's Trisha Arora got a chance to catch up with the two artists and here's what they had to say.
To start off, how did you come up with "New Era" as the name of the album?
"New Era" is more than just an album name. It's a sound, a vision, and ideology that we hope will live on past this album. We kept listening through the tracks and realized we had a product that no one has created before. In such a stale music industry, we hoped to spark the beginning of a new reign of talent and music, truly a "New Era"
Your fans have been eagerly waiting for years, any reason for the long wait?
To craft and develop something that hasn't been done before takes a considerable amount of time. For this album, we created over 40-50 songs which may never see the day of light, and narrowed it down to the 10 best ones we wanted to finish. As we progressed as artists, our talent and sound evolved as well, which is reflected in the final product.
Which song would you say is the most meaningful to you, or which is your favorite and why?
To pick one favorite is extremely hard, but we would have to go with "Nasha" or "Studio." Nasha was a fun song to create and allowed us to use our creativity in ways to make the listener feel like they're inside the mind of the character. Studio is the story of our lives as artists and shows how difficult it can be at times in our personal lives.
?Which track would you say was the most difficult to make in terms of lyrics and beats?
The hardest part of the album was coming back to songs we made 4-5 years ago and trying to get in the same mentality to polish and finish them up. One in particular that stuck out difficulty-wise was "Nasha" because we had to craft it to a tee to make sure every part shined.
What made you take this different approach to the music you've done in the past?
We grew up in North America and had heavy influence from mainstream music here. People always try to achieve East meets West sounds, but fail to realize that they are forcing two things to fit, rather than building songs from the ground up with an international appeal mentality.
We've already seen the videos for Tonight and Double Addi, are there any more on the way?
We have tons of videos and dope content planned for the album! We'd definitely like to make a video for 'Rooftop Party' with Mickey Singh, 'Replaceable' with Fateh, 'Sanu Bhulgi' with Zeshan, & 'Nasha'.
From your social media posts it seems like you've been doing a lot more traveling recently. Has this effected your personal life with your family and friends?
Traveling definitely takes a toll on us physically, mentally, and socially. However, our family and friends understand the industry and the profession we are in, and we are blessed to have the support they have constantly given us for years.
This one is for PRANNA- 2Nyce had become an established name for you over the years. Why the change?
I started off the "2NYCE" project as a hobby, and I had no idea what I created would eventually catch on so widely. After DJing for so many years, I felt like the next progression as an artist was to move onto music production, artist development, and the challenges they bring. I saw the "New Era" album as an opportunity for a new beginning, and that is how I came about PRANNA.
Why did you decide to make this album free to download rather than putting it for sale on iTunes or other outlets?
At the end of the day, we want our music to be in the hands of anyone and everyone. We used to be those young kids that sometimes didn't have money to support all the artists we loved, so we wanted to look out for those that might be in the same predicament. The album will be available on iTunes & other major outlets in the near future for those fans of ours that want to support our vision and sound.
What else can we expect from you in the future in terms of music?
More barriers broken. More boundaries pushed. More "New Era" sound.
Oh, and CRAZY live shows that we have planned out. We hope all of our fans get to come out and experience the New Era.
If you could work with any other artist who would it be and why?
We constantly look for other artists that we think fit the "New Era" sound. We have tons of pride in establishing a North American identity for South Asian music. People from this side of the world bring a flavor and sound that can't be found anywhere else, and we only hope to work with and grow with these artists in the future.
Thank you SimplyBhangra for your all support - Thank you to all the readers/fans for your love.
Amar Sandhu and Pranna team up with Urban Asian for their debut album, New Era! These talented Punjabi artists have truly created an album with a unique sound worth listening to. Each track pushes the boundary on what South Asian fusion music should be.
The album covers all aspects from dance party tracks, to traditional bhangra, to that soulful song you need to jam to during a heartbreak. After three years in the making, this album has a stacked lineup of collaborations and was entirely worth the wait!
The album features artists such as Mickey Singh, Fateh, Jasmine Kara, Zeshan, Christian Plenty and more.
New Era features the hit song
