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Kharesma Ravichandran – the superstar 

03 May 2020

By Mahika Panditha If you watch Tamil films, I am 100% sure you’ve heard of the stunning and talented Kharesma Ravichandran. If not from Tamil films, you might have even seen her perform when she was in Colombo! Kharesma is currently in her second year at university studying music. She also makes YouTube videos of her covers, and you can even find her covers with her friends on her Instagram (@kharesma). Apart from music, Kharesma’s passions are community service and cooking. She hopes to be a successful musician and do stadium tours, and one day win a Grammy (we are rooting for you!). Her main goal, however, is to be educated enough to take care of herself as the music industry is unpredictable. Kharesma’s guilty pleasure is binge-watching TV shows and she recently got Disney+ where she could relive her childhood and belt out karaoke. She is also obsessed with stationary and fun facts, and gets scared when a plane takes off (same though!). Today, The Sunday Morning Happinez had the chance to talk to her about her music and her new single. Here is what she had to say! You have a beautiful voice. Tell us about what made you want to be a singer. Thank you so much, that’s very sweet! Well, I started singing at the age of four; my parents have always loved music themselves (my dad claims he can sing but…), so I think they were very keen on transferring those interests to me, especially because they figured out that I was too lazy to adopt their sporty genes. So they got me a toy keyboard and a mini microphone to “practise on” and that was where my love for performing stemmed. Thanks to my mum, I developed a love for Disney music and the first-ever song I properly sang was A Whole New World from Aladdin and after that, my parents enrolled me in singing classes. Then I started to enjoy singing more and more as in each lesson I got to learn different songs and perform for my parents at the end of each class, which made them happy and, more importantly, made me extremely happy. As I grew older, I realised that singing is my way of calming myself down or expressing my emotions. So I want that to be something I do for as long as I can. What is your favourite performance you have done so far and why? Ooh, that’s a tough one. I have been so fortunate to perform in front of some of the coolest crowds over the last few years. One performance that will always be my favourite is a show I did in Sri Lanka in 2018 for Shakthi FM; it was an adrenaline-packed performance and audience. It was an insane experience watching and hearing thousands of people sing as loudly as they could have to my songs. Definitely one of the most memorable nights of my career. You have worked with a lot of talented and legendary people over the years. Other than them, who is one artist you would want to work with in the future? Sir Elton John. Who are your top five favourite artists and why? (In no particular order.) . Ed Sheeran – I mean he can sing, write ballads , play a million instruments, and now rap . Lewis Capaldi – his voice is astonishing; his voice relays his emotions and all of his songs have great meanings to them . Beyoncé – they aren’t lying when they call her Queen B. I am still trying to master the art of singing Listen and she was one of the first artists I listened to in the pop/R&B genres . Billie Eilish – she has revolutionised the sound of pop and I admire anyone who has achieved as much as she has; especially at her age, it’s incredible . Ella Fitzgerald – at university, I mainly sing jazz standards as that is my main vocal study. Through this, I’ve learnt so much about vocal quality and control, plus jazz puts you in a good mood Any tips for young artists who want to choose music as a career? The main thing is to never expect anything – that is the only thing that will disappoint you.  I strongly believe in working your hardest but don’t force anything. Push yourself as much as you can, tell yourself you can achieve it, and try your best to network. Also, find someone to hear your music, but never expect.  Another tip is try not to be negative and NEVER give up. I have gone through episodes in life where I’ve felt like everything I was doing was getting me nowhere (and I’m only 19...lol), but then I think about everything I have achieved so far, even the minor things, and that’s how I hype myself up to continue pursuing my dreams. I constantly tell myself that each song I sing is only helping me improve myself for whatever comes next. The last thing I would say is to trust your gut; don’t let other people influence your sound. Take advice but the correct advice. Never doubt yourself! You recently released your debut English single Moved On. What’s the story behind the song? Yes! Moved On is the first English song I released. It’s a song that has many interpretations to it. This song can both inspire and comfort anyone when faced with challenges, regardless of what the challenge is. I wrote this as a lesson for myself, seeing through the lies people have told me and stopping it from affecting my self-worth. It was a way of telling myself and others that we are strong enough to deal with reality. What was the process like writing/recording it? It was an incredible and educational process. I started writing Moved On a year-and-a-half ago, but I wasn’t happy with the sound; I felt like there was more I could say but it wouldn’t come out then. So towards the end of last year, I went through the songs I wrote and found a half-written song and thought it worked very well with the stuff I initially wrote for Moved On. So I combined the two and started figuring out chords and the feel for it. I then spoke to a friend at university who introduced me to a producer who then made my ideas a reality. The recording session was fun as it was the first time I was recording my “own” English song and working with Glen Hartmann (the producer for this track) was great. He brought a different element to the song without compromising its meaning. The process really taught me a lot about music production and the intricacy of creating a song. You studied at Elizabeth Moir School right here in Colombo. What is one of your favourite memories from school? Yes, I did! My time at Moir will always be one of the best periods of my life as the good and bad experiences have moulded me into the adult I am today. Mrs. Moir is an incredible principal and gave me a platform to experience so much. It is hard to pick my favourite memory from school as every day, someone in my class would do something interesting to keep us all entertained (that is not even an exaggeration!). However, if I had to pick, I would say sitting under the mango tree during every break with my friends and talking about the strangest things – that always made my day (hiding from our librarian or teachers during free periods was also interesting; thankfully, I’m not in school anymore so I can say this and hopefully not get in trouble!). Do you have any advice for the youngsters in school right now? ENJOY EVERY MOMENT! I often wish I wasn’t stressing out too much when I was at school. Education is so important, so please don’t take that as a joke, but it is equally important to have fun. Trust me when I say your school years are the easiest years of your life, so try your best to enjoy every bit of it. At times, it may seem like schools are being “unfair” , but I guarantee you that it’s only to help us for the future. If not for the intensive history exam prep my history teacher would give us, I would not be able to manage nor write the number of essays I get at university. There’s one more thing – whatever drama you have with your friends right now is not worth it. You will look back on it two years down the line and laugh, so don’t waste your time arguing now. As a young girl yourself, what are some of the biggest lessons you have learned so far in life? One big lesson I have learnt is that people will always have something to say – you cannot satisfy everyone. I have learnt that as long as I don’t waver from my priorities or diminish my integrity, then there isn’t anything to worry about. Another thing I have learnt is that not everyone you meet is genuine; you will find out that so many people around you either change, have a motive, or just aren’t what you expect them to be. I have learnt to keep a lot of my thoughts or discussions to a very limited group of people and to just accept that not everyone has your best interest at heart. Last but not least, the importance of family and friends. Without my immediate family and some of my close friends, I know I wouldn’t have come this far. I go to them for everything as I know they will always tell me the truth, even if it isn’t what I want to hear. What is one mantra you carry with you every day to push you to do better? I’m about to sound like my 72-year-old grandmother, but I tell myself every morning, “if there is a will, there is a way”. You are releasing a single soon. Tell us about it. I am currently working on more songs and releasing more material. Next month, I’ll be releasing my next single Dear Future, which is an acoustic track one of my friends from university and I have worked on. I wrote this song as a letter to our future selves and I thought now would be the best time to release it, given the current situation. This is my way of attempting to shed some positivity, so I can’t wait for everyone to hear it! PHOTOS Sansy Rewatakar and others 


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