ASHWARYAHeader image by Gadir Rajab.
By this time next year, we're guessing that ASHWARYA will be an act that no longer needs an introduction. She's been quick to establish herself as one of 2020's most spectacular new artists, making a stark introduction with her debut single PSYCHO HOLE a few months back - and what an arrival it was. PSYCHO HOLE is a song that would give you whiplash with its forward-thinking and adventurous pace, switching between influences spread across entire cultures as she married them all to create something distinctly ASHWARYA, and absolutely brilliant.
Her second single BIRYANI proved it wasn't a one-trick affair, re-energising a demo initially shared earlier in the year by transforming it into a fluttering two-minutes-thirty that felt partly like an ode to her heritage - in both its celebration of the Indian dish, and in her usage of bhangra drumming - and partly an ode to a future of pop music that like shown in PSYCHO HOLE before it, moves between genres at a pace that makes it hard to keep up, but keeps you coming back and back for more.
Now, with her third single - making it three songs in a matter of just four months - it's become more clear than ever that ASHWARYA is a face destined for the future; one set to carve out trend lines for herself, rather than follow behind. COMIN@ME is perhaps the most adventurous thing ASHWARYA has put out to date, leaping between her wide-ranging taste levels as it twists and turns between bursts of hip-hop and pop that's brought together by a production that warps between styles, unable to be pinned down whatsoever.
It's a song that has its every next move feel unpredictable. One second, it'll sway with the grace of subtle ballad-like pop and the next, descend into manic chaos that flips between beat-switches and lurches forward with distorted energy; its cycling between complete different sides of the musical spectrum reminiscent of the excitement of her earliest debut, but brought to life in a bit of a different way than what it was before.
It all ties into the single's theme, too. As ASHWARYA explains, the track's churning cycles of musical experimentation mirrors the cycle of going back to someone who has hurt you in the past, moving between the subtle euphoria of your emotions at their brightest, right back to the darkness that underpins them messing you over once again. "COMIN@ME takes you through the toxic cycle of constantly coming back to someone who betrayed you and continues to hurt you," she says. "The song calls for confrontation, which eventually leads to the downfall of the relationship. The end of the song is me at my most vulnerable, showing that regardless of the pain this person has inflicted, it will always be challenging to let them go for good."
COMIN@ME sits perfectly with everything ASHWARYA has given us to-date, and as she continues to lurch forward and offer us snapshots of music we've never heard before, it's clear that she's a face reckoning with a bright future ahead. In the meantime, take a dive into COMIN@ME below:
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