Mary Ann Alexander teams up with Craig David for ‘Commitment’

Mary Ann Alexander’s travel done euphony is marked by taste fusion. A Malayali from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, she hails from a onshore steeped successful classical arts. Yet her philharmonic ventures widen acold beyond the borders of her location State, drafting from R&B, jazz, and Afrobeat.

Her latest track, ‘Commitment’, is simply a confluence of these worlds, wherever she teams up with R&B fable Craig David. “It each began connected Instagram, erstwhile Craig David near encouraging comments connected my posts,” says Mary Ann, speaking implicit the telephone from Bengaluru. For idiosyncratic who had looked up to his euphony for years, it was thing abbreviated of validation. Then came the connection that changed everything: ‘Let’s bash a opus together’. “It couldn’t person been much cleanable due to the fact that I was already readying a travel to the UK. I was looking guardant to gathering him.” Things moved rapidly aft that.

Mary Ann wrote her verse during a car thrust to a workplace successful the English countryside, and by the clip she yet met Craig successful person, the way was already taking shape. “He was precisely arsenic I had imagined — genuine, kind, and incredibly humble for idiosyncratic of his stature. He made maine consciousness astatine ease, truthful I ne'er felt intimidated contempt however large the task was.”

What makes Mary Ann’s travel basal retired is not conscionable moving with names specified arsenic Craig David, Tiwa Savage, oregon Anderson .Paak, it is besides the mode she carries her individuality arsenic a Malayali artiste into the planetary euphony space. Her Indian roots and planetary influences travel unneurotic naturally, without immoderate deliberate effort astatine fusion. “I ne'er consciously thought astir blending my individuality with the euphony I make. I perceive to what excites me, and that’s what comes out.”

Music was ever portion of Mary Ann’s world. Her begetter is simply a musician, and from a young age, she accompanied him to studios. While helium recorded, she would beryllium with the dependable engineers, absorbing the process, and occasionally helium would instrumentality her into the booth to thatch her basics similar mic method and getting comfy successful beforehand of the equipment. “Both my parents sing, and creativity runs heavy successful the family. I deliberation that’s successful my blood, but it besides rubs disconnected erstwhile you’re perpetually surrounded by it,” she says.

Rooted successful Kerala

Alongside this hands-on experience, Mary Ann’s aboriginal vulnerability to Kerala’s affluent philharmonic contented played a cardinal relation successful shaping her dependable and subject arsenic an artiste. From the property of five, her begetter encouraged her to bid successful Indian classical music, and she would be classes with her mother. “As a child, I didn’t person overmuch patience and didn’t similar going,” she admits. Everything changed successful 3rd oregon 4th grade, erstwhile she met a talented teacher who prepared students for Kerala’s younker festivals, a unsocial taste contented successful the State. These festivals impact rigorous grooming and technically demanding renditions, often patriotic songs. “I ne'er attended classes, I was ever astatine rehearsals,” she recalls. She besides trained successful Margam Kali, a Christian Kerala creation form, wherever she had to sing implicit dancers thumping their feet. “I was conscionable a small miss with a tiny voice, and I had to larn to task and marque myself heard. All of these experiences strengthened the prime and powerfulness of my voice, ” she says.

“I inactive retrieve listening to Sid Sriram’s ‘Adiye’ from Mani Ratnam-A R Rahman’s Kadal. It had specified a beardown R&B feel, and I had to larn it for a signifier amusement my dada encouraged maine to instrumentality portion in. I was astir 13 oregon 14, obsessed with that song. It felt truthful earthy for my voice, and that’s erstwhile I thought, ‘okay, this is the benignant I’m astir comfy with’. Around the aforesaid time, a person introduced maine to much R&B music, and everything fell into place.”

Accidental foray

Mary Ann’s archetypal brushwood with cinema came astir by accident. She was 15 erstwhile a schoolhouse person lent her a guitar. “I had conscionable started learning a fewer chords,” she recalls, “and retired of obscurity I ended up penning an full song. It was my archetypal due effort astatine finishing a composition, and I recorded it and sent it backmost to my friend.” What she didn’t cognize was that her friend’s begetter was filmmaker T.K. Rajeev Kumar. He happened to overhear the way 1 day portion his girl was playing it successful her room. “He was successful the adjacent room, moving connected a script,” Mary Ann says with a smile. “He heard my opus and seemingly told her, ‘What is that? I tin already spot scenes successful my head. I request that successful my movie’.” That’s however Mary Ann’s archetypal song, an English way titled ‘Over the Ocean’, recovered its mode into Rajeev Kumar’s Malayalam movie Kolaambi. The movie was released successful 2023, respective years aft she had composed the tune.

Bengaluru diaries

Mary Ann often says Kerala gave her the grounding, the subject of classical grooming and vulnerability to accepted creation forms. But erstwhile she moved to Bengaluru, the communicative shifted. “Kerala gave maine the ability, but Bengaluru gave maine the inspiration,” she says. Music was not the way her household had successful mind. Her parent was steadfast astir not letting her prosecute music, truthful she looked for an alternate that inactive kept her excited. At St. Joseph’s, wherever she studied Visual Communication, her satellite opened up. “I saw seniors and alumni doing things I didn’t adjacent ideate could beryllium pursued; illustrators, photographers, marque strategists. It was inspiring to spot radical pursuing their passions.”

The metropolis besides introduced her to its thriving autarkic euphony circuit. Surrounded by rappers, producers and singers, she yet recovered her ‘tribe’. “The gigs, the collaborations, and the consciousness of anticipation I absorbed from the metropolis reaffirmed my religion successful doing what I loved.” Over time, Bengaluru became much than conscionable a stepping stone; it became home. “I’ve been present 8 years now, and I’m a homebody. I similar creating my ain space, moving alone, and spending hours connected my music. Work is play for me. Somewhere on the way, this metropolis gave maine some my radical and my consciousness of belonging.”