The Enduring Allure of Softness: Raveena’s unlikely rise, multi-dimensional artistry, and powerful reach

The universe we live in isn’t perfect. When listening to Raveena’s music, you forget that for a bit. Her honeyed voice, soulful instrumentation, and ethereal music videos envelop listeners and viewers in a dreamy and inclusive safe haven that makes the rest of our imperfect world stand still and to the side. The lived experiences in the now 26 year-old’s childhood and adolescence set the foundation for the beautifully healing art she has made.

Raveena might have understood too many of this world’s flaws at too young an age. After 9/11, which took place when she was just seven, she feared that her dad would be a victim of a hate crime. Living in the suburbs of New York City, Raveena’s Sikh family stood out at a time of growing intolerance toward South Asians. Men in her family wore turbans and patkas, and Raveena’s hair was past her waist and she wasn’t allowed to cut it.

Growing up an Indian-American girl in America included other challenges, as well. She told online publication gal-dem in May 2019, “I didn’t have that much self-worth because South Asian culture is so based in the patriarchy and has so many subliminal messages about how women are meant to serve men and are inferior. At the same time, in Western media, I didn’t see anyone of my color or heritage, which didn’t help. [That combination] was hard to overcome.”

As a child, Raveena escaped into her own universe, one a little less imperfect. She fell in love with the music of soul and R&B legends like Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Minnie Ripperton, and Sade and practiced vocal runs for hours alone in her bedroom. She also found refuge in the mystical and escapist images of Bollywood that she watched with her family. At her childhood home located completely in the woods in Stamford, Connecticut, she fell in love with nature. She admits that as a kid she started talking to trees, pretending she was Pocahontas.

For high school, Raveena moved from primarily black and brown schools to the private, predominantly white Rye Country Day School in wealthy NYC suburb Rye, NY. There, she experienced more implicit and explicit racism. She remembers other students grabbing her uncut hair and saying “how animalistic”. At 17, Raveena attended NYU, another institution “filled with rich white boys”, as she put it in a January 2018 interview with Rookie Magazine. During those years, she suffered many of the traumatic experiences she writes about in her music.

In the wake of those traumatic experiences, she learned to “give every inch of the parts of me that still felt alive to my music”, she wrote in a June 2019 blog post. She had stories to tell, and an angelic, lifelong trained, soul-inspired voice to tell them with. She had music videos to create, and training at NYU Tisch School of the Arts and inspiration from those old Bollywood films from which to glean.

Nature and spirituality also contribute to her work as an artist. Her music videos feature the singer in trees, entering lush gardens, and letting petals fall down on her. The references to nature are an unmissable theme in her lyrics, too. Some of her song titles include “Starflower”, “Nectar”, “Bloom”, “Petal”, and “Honey.” In her live performances, she leads a guided meditation to clear negative energy and to cultivate a sense of community and vulnerability amongst the audience. That aura of love, softness, and unity add yet another layer to her artistry.

Raveena’s catalog thus far includes a debut album, two EP’s, five singles, and six music videos — all released within the last two and a half years. With it she has created a whimsical, wildly colorful, nostalgic, and emotional universe to which listeners and viewers can escape and heal. She is a voice for other “brown weirdos”, as she put it in an April 2020 interview with them magazine, “for all types of outsiders, survivors, queer people, people with depression, people who just felt they didn’t fit growing up.” She has made mold-breaking art, and more and more people are starting to notice.

First project, Shanti (2017)

Her 2017 7-track debut EP Shanti’s jazzy instrumentation and uplifting lyrics provide a gripping introduction to the singer’s discography. The EP’s positive message of self-love, healing, and empowerment feels like Raveena is soothing herself after years of pain. The project focuses on moving past darker moments of her youth and into a new stage of her life: loving herself as a young adult.

The first song on the project, “If Only”, tells the story of overcoming the vicious cycles of a toxic relationship. It recounts Raveena leaving the person who once chronically manipulated her; Raveena sings, “I said I’d meet you off the freeway, you’re lonely / You still don’t understand, a woman is holy / Your fake apologies would work on the old me / I get into my car / Leave you where you are.” Those lyrics encapsulate Raveena’s take on the song from a November 2017 interview with music website TheFader; she said, “For me, this song is about recognizing your own strength and divinity as a woman and moving on from anyone in your life that doesn’t support that journey.” The song’s soulfulness and powerful words have made it the artist’s most popular track with over 20 million plays on Spotify alone.

The music video for the third track on the EP, “Sweet Time”, is the first of many instances in Raveena’s still young career where she uses her self-directed music videos to represent groups of people often neglected by mainstream Western media. The video shows the singer draped in traditional Indian clothing, flanked by a friend group of women of color, picnicking on fruit in a park on a spring day. Over a groovy bassline, Raveena sings about all the love in her support network: “I’m lost in melody / Harmony, new family / They wrap me up in a cocoon.” Raveena is fully aware of the cultural importance of those images. In a 2018 interview with Outlet magazine, she says, “I’ve always wanted to make music videos that represented minorities in a beautiful, pure light and counteracted how they are usually portrayed. I feel like it’s my duty as a child of immigrants and a woman of color to be an advocate in whatever way I can as someone creating media, because visuals and images (especially as young people) we see are so insanely powerful.”

Raveena’s lyrics about sex from a non-male view also contribute to the healing and empowering effect of the EP. That perspective sticks out on Shanti’s fifth track, “Spell”; Raveena sings, “All you in me, slow motion / Falling deeper into devotion / Slipping, drowning in your ocean.” Just as the visuals on “Sweet Time” counteract common portrayals of women of color, Raveena’s lyrics on “Spell” seek to upend the Western media’s backward sexualization of black and brown women from the white male gaze. When asked by Rookie Magazine about how she presents sex as a woman of color on the EP, Raveena responded, “I try to [present sex] as more of something that’s dreamy and soft…A lot of men in my past would talk about sex in really harmful ways. Some would have straight up master-slave power dynamics that they wanted me to bring in. Some wanted to make me this ‘spicy’, ‘fiery’ person that they wanted to control. I think combating that in my music is really important.”

Two 2018 Singles: “Honey” and “Temptation”

After Shanti, her next release was May 2018 single “Honey” and its accompanying music video. On “Honey”, Raveena further curates her escapist universe. The song’s sensuality — “Your milk and honey / A drink I drink before bed / Don’t you feel lucky / That we can end the day like that” — and sensual R&B sound serve as an ode to Sade and D’Angelo, two of Raveena’s biggest musical influences. In the video, intimacy is represented by decadent lushness: sunflowers draped in honey, honey dripping down Raveena’s face and onto her hands, and Raveena bathing in a milky, grassy tub. Like the video for “Sweet Time”, the video for “Honey” celebrates Raveena’s Indian roots. Not only are tabla and sitar mixed into the song’s production, but the video also features traditional Indian fabrics and jewelry. The clip also includes tender moments within queer couples and couples of color. Raveena juxtaposes R&B’s sensuality, dreamy Bollywood aesthetics, and the beauty of queer people and people of color; in so doing, she creates space for a more inclusive celebration of love.

In her next single and music video, October 2018’s “Temptation”, Raveena uses more Bollywood-inspired, surreal visuals, this time to embrace her own queerness. The video opens with Raveena in a typical Indian style room, lined with silk sheets, green and orange hued tapestry, and a painting of a woman wearing a sari. Raveena then enters a lush garden where she sees a beautiful woman, Kenyan model Giannina Oteto. As the two lovers approach one another in the dreamy jungle, Raveena sings, “Don’t hesitate if it’s something you want, love / Don’t let it wait.” The video then cuts to the two women lying in the beautiful garden, smiling and looking above as petals rain down on them.

The lyrics and visuals are extremely personal to Raveena, as she used the video to come out to fans and many family members. “Temptation” doesn’t just reveal Raveena’s sexual fluidity, but it also aims to radically normalize queer brown love. The nature motif and playfulness in the story portray queerness (and non-white queerness) as positive, organic, and beautiful. Also, the vintage Bollywood backdrop of the queer narrative puts Raveena’s South Asian culture in direct conversation with her sexuality. Raveena wrote about her cultural and sexual identities in an Instagram post the day after the video dropped: “growing up, south asian culture and queer culture felt like oil and water. something that just simply couldn’t mix. i come from a super repressive and oppressive culture towards LGBTQ people…i love people for their souls and something childlike and pure i might see in them first, the rest is really irrelevant to me. i hope that for lil brown girls in the future their queerness will feel nothing short of completely, 100% mundane and normal.” With “Temptation”, Raveena bravely spoke for queer people of color with a beauty that felt almost unprecedented. Raveena’s voice, and its special ability to tell the most personal and at times saddest stories, only got more powerful on her debut album, 2019’s Lucid.

Debut album Lucid (2019)

Lucid revisits Raveena’s trauma and abuse from a transparent, grown and healed perspective. She gives enough space to intense sadness to ultimately let it go. By the second half of the album, she finds clarity and joy. Despite some intensely sad stories, the slow R&B rhythms, delicate strings, and her signature vocals make listeners feel like we are being wrapped up in a sonic hug.

“Stronger” and its music video recount Raveena’s experience in an abusive relationship. The video starts with a contemporary dance sequence in which male dancers (artfully) strangle her as she continuously tries to pull away. While she is being dominated by male bodies, she sings, “I was so naive / To think a man could be / Stronger than me.” In the men’s grasp, then lying helpless on the ground in the dark, she details some of the more subtle realities of being abused: “You make me love everybody but me / You make me hurt everybody.” The tone of the video shifts after the hopeful lyrics, “I know you love to see me broken / You love to see me confused at my knees / Don’t talk too soon / I ain’t dead yet.” Raveena is then shown standing majestically in a tree surrounded by female dancers and then riding freely on a swing as the sun sets. Over the course of the song and the video, she articulates her intense pain and then finds the inner strength to set herself free.

On the next track, “Salt Water”, Raveena reflects on the trauma of being sexually assaulted: “A year lost in an hour / I cry into my limbs / I froze in a hot shower / I scrub away his sins.” Soothing R&B backs more heartbreaking lyrics: “Right when I started to lighten up / He took my bliss / I think my body’s had enough / going through this.” Raveena wrote a blog post about her assault a month after the album’s release in what seemed like a direct follow-up to this song. At the end of the blog post, she writes, “If you do listen to my music and have experienced similar traumas, I hope you can maybe feel seen and less alone.”

The album’s turning point toward joy begins on “Mama”. The song and video, released on Mother’s Day 2019, are a tribute to the singer’s mother. Raveena gives a snapshot of her mother’s life as a new immigrant in Queens: “1989 on 85th and Lefferts Ave / CVS lipstick you would go to school and work at the bank.” Her mother’s story certainly deserves praise. She fled genocide in India during the Sikh Massacre of 1984, started an entirely new life in the US, entered into an arranged marriage, and gave birth to Raveena, all by the age of 25. Raveena, the same age her mother was when she had her and living in the same neighborhood in Queens, wants to understand who her mother was before she started her family. Raveena sings on the chorus, “Mama, who were you before your man? / Know you had some of those / Bigger plans.” The video for “Mama” is also a tribute to all immigrant mothers, many of whom have similarly inspiring stories. It features scenes of black and brown families enjoying wholesome moments together — at church, at the hair salon, and at the table.

“Mama” captures the unique beauty and love in immigrant families, but it also speaks to the taboos and intergenerational traumas those families can have. Over the music video’s footage of her mother tearing up on her wedding day, Raveena sings, “What kind of tears did you cry on your wedding day?” The singer asks about her mother’s true emotions as a young bride in a new country and as someone who had lived through so much prior to her wedding. Raveena spoke about the complexity of being a child of immigrants with online publication gal-dem a week after the release of the song: “Generations before us were all about appearing perfect, and not showing the downsides of your personal life and not being comfortable or truly open with those closest to you. That perpetuates abuse, sexual assault, and intergenerational trauma.” As much as “Mama” is about appreciating immigrant mothers’ sacrifices and love, it is also about approaching feelings and traumas that might traditionally be swept under the rug.

The next three songs on the album portray Raveena emerging on the other side from trauma, finally able to feel clarity of mind, self-love, and joy. On the upbeat and uplifting “Bloom”, Raveena revels in her self-worth to the men who once hurt her: “No, you can’t control me / Subtle things you say to break me down / It don’t really phase me / Now I’m blooming 12 feet off the ground.”

Then, “Floating” (feat. Hope Tala) taps into life’s unsuspecting moments of unbridled joy: “Simple things / Always mean the most to me / Fruit stains / Mango in between your teeth / First ray of the morning / Shining on your hair / Mama greets the morning / With a simple prayer.” Raveena cherishes the beauty of her lover eating fruit and the morning sun on her lover’s hair. She also reminisces about her mother’s spirituality. It is as if the singer sees romantic love and childhood memories as petals on the same flower of existential gratefulness. Raveena spoke about the song in a May 2019 interview with Vice: “Using psychedelics I was able to access this childlike happiness again and this freedom from all my worries. I wanted to write a song about being in nature, being high, and seeing your lover and experiencing those really overly joyous moments.” With “Floating”, Raveena exposes her fans to Hope Tala, a UK artist who was only 21 when the song was released. Her gorgeous, melty voice earns the honor of being the only feature on Raveena’s entire discography. (Quick plug: the emerging artist already boasts two impressive EP’s and standout track “Lovestained”).

The next song on the album, “Still Dreaming”, captures another pocket of light from Raveena’s youth. She sings about a relationship that took place between her teenage and adult years: “I don’t wanna lose that feeling / Sleeping in your arms still dreaming / And if I froze time / Could you forever be mine.” She processed intense pain and betrayal on the first half of Lucid, and on the second half, especially on “Still Dreaming”, she relives some of the most beautiful experiences of being young.

2020 EP, Moonstone

This dreamy portrayal of young love carries over to her February 2020 EP Moonstone. The four-track project begins with “Headaches”, arguably Raveena’s best song and music video to date.

For the first two minutes and fifty seconds of “Headaches”, a gentle R&B beat complements the melancholic visuals and lyrics. The video begins with Raveena facing the camera with teary eyes and splotched make-up in front of a blurred technicolor background. It cuts to Raveena’s memories of a relationship with a woman played by YouTuber Hitomi Mochizuki. The couple goes on idyllically romantic excursions in New York. They eat at grandiose restaurant Jing Fong, shop for pet fish in Chinatown, and dance and cuddle on a paisley pink daybed in Raveena’s apartment. The video keeps cutting back to the image of Raveena reminiscing with teary eyes, shows her on a stretcher in front of a flashing purple background, and by the end of this first half of the song, she is on the same daybed, this time alone and with her head in her hands.

The lyrics on this half of “Headaches” similarly illustrate the intense lows that accompany passionate love: “It was kinda like a summer love / OJ and soda / So sweet it could kill ya”. The veiled reference to OJ Simpson is a clever yet scary depiction of addictive love. The second verse covers more troubles behind the fling: “She’s the kinda girl who will fuck you up / I’m the kinda girl who will love too much / Remember when I kissed all of the tears off your face? / You want endless care and infinite space.”

The dramatic beat-switch at 2:50 pivots “Headaches” to blissful indie rock. The drums come in stronger and the video cuts to a sped-up clip of Raveena and her lover kissing in the backseat of a convertible while riding over a New York City bridge. The only lyrics after the beat-switch are: “Lipstick on my neck, I won’t forget you / Eyes shut, I’m a wreck / There’s no sunset without you.” Shots of Raveena alone and pensive interrupt the joyful memories of her with her lover. The video closes with Raveena and Hitomi kissing in the convertible in slow-motion, a cinematic and hopeful last memory.

On the next two songs on Moonstone, smooth R&B and bright guitar strings back more stories about young love. “Close 2 U” is an ode to a fleeting summer romance: “One mattress, few boxes / You are moving too soon / Wanna jar up these moments / For the rest of my June / Your place is empty, so there’s / More room to dance / I haven’t kissed you enough / This is my last chance.”

“Heartbeat”, one of Raveena’s danciest tracks, tells the story of falling for someone on a night out. The song begins, “Walking into midnight / I am taken by your glow”. A few lines later, Raveena tells her crush, “Time is wasted when we’re not touching / Don’t you hesitate to pull me closer to you / When we’re sober it’ll be over / So hold me like you do.” She goes on to reveal the gender of her muse: “Heaven in your heart and / There’s a softness to your touch / Can a man be really like this? / Oh, I cannot get enough.” Desiring a man on a drunken night out feels surprising from an artist who has written songs about her queerness and about her traumatic experiences with men. That contradiction feels intentional. “Heartbeat” could illustrate Raveena’s growth as a person and complexity as an artist. Perhaps she has healed enough to look back on stories from her youth like the one on “Heartbeat” with nostalgia. “Heartbeat” might also be a way of not letting others pigeon-hole her — as a queer woman she can still write about liking a man if she wants.

Moonstone winds down with the last track, “Starflower”. The slow, mostly acoustic lullaby bookends Raveena’s discography (so far) with a touching message to women and about women: “Starflower has the weight of the world / Starflower sings just like the bluest bird / They will come to you for relief / They will all cherish you because you’re sweet.” Raveena tweeted about the meaning of the song: “i wrote starflower about how women carry the weight of the world in their bodies; how we often become vessels to hold space for other people’s traumas. the song is about letting all that go for a moment and remembering your celestial place In the larger universe.”

Next Project and Growing Reach

After just over two years of releasing more than twenty songs, self-directing music videos, and touring around the world, Raveena is seeing her fanbase and influence vastly expand. Her growing recognition could be summed up by the billboard she has in Manhattan. Spotify used her as one of the faces of their campaign to celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. In response, Raveena wrote on Twitter, “u don’t know how much this representation in music means to a lil indian girl like me.”

As for right now, Raveena is entering into another stage of growth. She moved out of New York, a city she had lived in for about ten years, to Pasadena. She told music publication Adhoc in March 2020 that she is going through heartbreak, is single for the first time in six years, and is writing more songs than she ever has for her new album. About her upcoming project, she told them magazine in April 2020, “I can say it’s a crazy album. I’d say it’s gonna surprise people.”

In this new stage, Raveena is also planning to help survivors and victims of trauma in ways outside music. She told vice i-d in January 2020, “I’ve been thinking a lot about how to give back to my community and causes that I care about…and how [I can] take all this new found privilege that I have and really give back.” She was more specific in her June 2019 blog post: “I have deep empathy for people who went through similar traumas with little to no access to resources for healing and education, and I think the bulk of the work aiding sexual assault and trauma survivors needs to be directed towards the healing of those communities.”

Raveena has already started to show her generous spirit during the pandemic. She sold items from her personal wardrobe and clothes she wore in music videos to raise money for black and brown women in the crisis. She has also shown support for organizations like @sakhinyc who help the South Asian community combat higher rates of domestic violence occurring during the quarantine.

For an artist who has achieved more than that little brown girl in the Connecticut woods could have ever dreamed of, what Raveena wants for her future is relatively simple.“My hope is that every day, I become further into this being that is the embodiment of love,” she told Adhoc magazine in March. “That’s my goal in life.”