Kamakshi Khanna is an Indie singer-songwriter. Her magical lyrics along with her soul-touching voice have made her renditions a hit with her fans. We invited Kamakshi for a frank interaction as part of our new series, NewsX Influencer A-List. Below are the excerpts from the interview:
Speaking about her music journey, Kamakshi said, “I have been doing music for 10 years now, professionally. But, mostly, my journey started when was 12-13 years old.” Kamakshi continued, “I was performing with a choir which was curated by Pt. Ravi Shankar. We travelled all over the world, including Austria. So that was my first experience being a professional touring musician.” Kamakshi also told us that she used to be an active member of her school and choir groups and did the backup vocals for the band Euphoria.
When asked how she felt creating musical content online was different than performing before a live audience, the vocalist said “there’s nothing that can come close” to live performances. She stated, “Honestly, performing live is something that’s irreplaceable. You can never replace live performances but, when it comes to content creation, sharing your music and recording your videos, all of that is–it’s something where you put a lot more attention to detail. It’s less spontaneous than performing live.” She believes that spontaneity and ambience make live performances unbeatable when it comes to comparing them with content creation.
Talking about her journey as a content creator, Kamakshi told us, “I have been sharing videos of me singing, and sharing my music since 2015-16, but only during the lockdown is when I was–I had no choice and no other option but to really think of social media as a way to express myself and share my music meticulously.”
Moreover, she said, “There was a point when I was releasing something every Wednesday. I had a bunch of collaborations that I did. I also started this little series called The Green Room Session.” Ponting to the wall in her background, Kamakshi said, “As you can see, my bedroom is green in colour, and the whole idea was to share unreleased versions of my songs – stuff that I haven’t put out at all, and songs that I have written through the lockdown, and the emotions I have experienced and all the chaos in my mind because of the lockdown.” Kamakshi’s ‘Green Room’ is symbolic of the backstage space where performers wait before hitting the stage in front of a live audience. She is eager to go back to doing live gigs for her audience.
Our next question to Kamakshi was about what inspires her compositions. “As much as I like to overthink, I plan everything to the T but when it comes to music, it’s the opposite. When it comes to writing, it’s really all about being spontaneous and letting yourself flow with whatever emotions that you’re feeling.” She continued the thought by saying, “For me, all the music that I write is inspired by lived experiences.”
Check out the entire interview on NewsX YouTube: