Today we’d like to introduce you to Katyayani Krishnan.
Katyayani, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My relationship with art began very early on in my life. I had many phases – I wanted to become a painter, a photographer, a ballet dancer, a jeweler, a musician, an animator and the list goes on. Being an Indian born in Singapore allowed me to experience many different cultures all at once – the city is brimming with art and heritage. Both my parents were very encouraging of my little artistic endeavors, enrolling me in lessons, buying me beads, googling the perfect ballet bun and whatnot. Whatever album my dad played in the car on the way to horse riding lessons was my jam. Pink Floyd, Sting, Bryan Adams, The Eagles were our go to’s. Though music had always been a part of my life since I could remember, I only discovered my true passion for it when I was 13, when my father’s old friend gifted my older brother a Yamaha guitar. As suspected, it remained untouched by the young athlete for many weeks until I finally picked it up.
My parents enrolled me in lessons for guitar and piano, but singing was my one true love; something I cultivated and taught myself. High school was the first time I performed in a public place, shocking all my classmates. Taylor Swift back in the day was a personal favorite, a real inspiration to me as a young girl dealing with self-esteem issues and depression. I began writing songs about depression and bullying and I found that through music and art, we can create infinitely, and bring to light the societal issues that are overlooked daily. I really wanted to become a musician to share my love, connect and bring people together. Living in a city full of people truly showed me how lonely we really are. But performing was otherworldly to me – being able to look into someone’s eyes and know exactly how they’re feeling, only because you share the same feeling – it made me feel so naked, so human. It was the only moment I felt at the right place at the right time. The only time all my inhibitions finally took the back seat and let my heart drive.
When the time came to apply to colleges I was torn. I had never studied music being a mostly self-taught musician, and I was doing the IB, studying higher level Business & Management, Biology and English Literature. My parents had big dreams of me becoming a neurologist or a CEO since I got good college offers, but I knew if I didn’t give music a chance, then I’d really regret it for the rest of my life. So, I took a chance and applied to the Berklee College of Music.
Being accepted to the college of my dreams on the first try was indescribable to me. I was more shocked than anyone else! Never studying music prior to Berklee really meant that I had to play major league catch up – which I’ve been doing the past 4 years. It’s definitely difficult when you are surrounded by such pulsating talent – people who have been living and breathing music since they were 3! Imagine me starting at 13. I decided I would do a double degree, Music Business/Marketing for my parents’ peace of mind, and Contemporary Writing & Production for my peace of mind. A little business and a little music making – no complaints!
Alongside my music, I began another little endeavor – photography. I began using my visual skills to help artists around me create content for the sake of their own art. I love helping people bring their visions to life. You connect with more artists and you learn a lot about yourself and people in the process. You can work with anyone, and can create anything. Free rein, nothing to lose.
A year ago, I applied to the Berklee Popular Music Institute (BPMI), a highly selective course at Berklee that takes music business students from the classroom to the festival stage. Being accepted meant that we would find and develop artists, promote, book and plan their summer 2018 tours to multiple North American festivals such as Lollapalooza, ESSENCE, Osheaga, Outside Lands etc. My team worked with Emilia Ali, an amazing Berklee artist recently signed to Capitol Records. Not only was I working with her on her social media and content creation, but she had also asked two of us to perform her Lollapalooza set with her as backup vocalists and dancers! Rehearsing for a show at Lollapalooza was just crazy to think about, and I don’t think it hit me till we got to Chicago early August of this year. The set was a total success and I was so happy to return to Boston with a suitcase full of memories, lessons and sprinkles of body glitter that I’m still trying to wash out of my clothes.
As of now, I am completing my double degree, and will graduate in 2019. I’m also planning to release a new RnB/Alt Rock EP by the end of this year under my artist name Katyayani, and will be actively performing around Boston, so do come say hi!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It has definitely not been a smooth road! There were many things I struggled with over the last few years:
First, I feel that artists aren’t taken seriously, even though our profession is not a 9-5 work day. Our day neither starts nor ends, its just a continuous cycle. Our work is our oxygen. We are a self-motivated breed, and a lot of our hard work goes unnoticed and unacknowledged. Working as a vocalist and a photographer, I don’t see enough appreciation for the amount of work that is done, which is seen in the way we are treated and paid. I highly recommend any young artist out there to take a few music business classes to really learn how the industry works and how to ensure you are receiving what you are putting in. I see way too many artists out there tripping over unfair contract clauses and losing valuable work and time to selfish people. It is way more worth it to be informed and aware of every situation you enter. Always be extra prepared and always be professional.
Second, the feelings of insecurity returned quite quickly after I enrolled at Berklee, since my perfectionist mindset made me so self conscious of releasing anything or even performing around campus for years. I got into a bad head space for a while and had a dreadfully long period of writers’ block, which lasted most of my Berklee life, ironically. Coming from being a big fish in a small pond, to Berklee, where the talent is an endless flow of technical ingenuity and artistic brilliance, was really difficult! My distress really blinded me from remembering why I came to Berklee in the first place. My advice for anyone in this position would be to really seek help if need be, but also consciously remind yourself everyday why you started this journey. Practice self-love, because I surely didn’t, and it really scarred my self-esteem for years.
Third, if you want to enter the entertainment industry, be prepared for rejections galore! Every successful person has been rejected exponentially more than they have been accepted. Over the years I found it super hard to push through my constant pessimism since I would just shroud myself in self-doubt. It became comfortable to me! I learnt that being negative is the easy way out. What’s a challenge is staying positive through it all. To me, a challenge is way more worth doing than an easy task. One door closes, another WILL open. With the abundance of rejection, the abundance of opportunity balances it out – there are always opportunities, just be persistent.
Please tell us about your career so far.
I work as a musician and freelance content creator, and i basically live the role of a creative designer everyday. I am super grateful.
The music that I am currently working on is for my debut EP, and one could characterize my sound as RnB/Rock with Indian classical elements, alluding to my Indian background. I have recently begun to release music on all platforms under my artist name ‘Katyayani’, which is my full name. Katyayani is a powerful warrior goddess in Hindu mythology, so you can guess where I draw all my strength from! The music I will be releasing will be very genre-splicing in nature, from RnB Pop to Alternative Rock to Indie Folk to Indian Classical, we’ll go full circle; and I believe that is the future of music. Musicians have one of two choices, sound like everyone else, or sound like yourself, and I aim to do the latter. As a South Asian woman in the West, I am watching women of all colors blossom into the most well-informed, empowering, fearless figures in society and am optimistic about the future.
My other work consists of content creation through photography and videography for myself and other artists. I major in Music Business Marketing, as well as Production at Berklee, so I am constantly creating visuals to music, and vice versa. I am very passionate about telling stories through art and media and capturing my artists message, vibe, image and communicating that appropriately from a marketing standpoint. I’ve worked with a range of artists of different genres and really strive to understand their true essence; my job is to do justice to it.
Do you think there are structural or other barriers impeding the emergence of more female leaders?
Most of it comes from the fact that women never had the same rights as men did from the beginning. This transition is so painful because we are in the process of changing the perspective of half the world’s entire population, one by one – globally, we are awakening to the fact that a woman can do a man’s job perfectly as well as he can: though we’ve known this forever!
However, there are populations all over the world that are matriarchies, such as in South India, and Ghana – where the women in societies have most of the leadership positions and are very much looked up to by entire communities. I find it crazy that India has had a female president AND a female prime minister, but the USA hasn’t had a female president yet!
But I am so excited to see that the feminist movement in general has really fought hard over these years, with a lot of persistence and passion.
Contact Info:
- Website: open.spotify.com/track/6XS4djnVBsteBxMOXoD3Xf
- Email: katyakrishnan96@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katyakrishnan/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katyayaniofficial/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/_katyayani_
- Other: https://www.flickr.com/photos/katyakrishnan/albums
Image Credit:
Alissa Lise Wyle, Lillian Seibert, Rachel Singh, Patrick Gdovic, Jeremy Green, Stacey S. Hamilton, Tara Chopra
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