Indian girl band W.i.S.H, who debuted on March 1 this year, dropped a new single Headrush that explores a playful and whimsical side of romance which is a stark contrast to their previous songs like Lazeez and Therapy. The spunky quartet consists of Riya Duggal, Simran Duggal, Zoe Siddharth and Suchita Shirke. A Telegraph chat with W.i.S.H who talks about the playful number, being a K-pop fan and more.
The song has a cool and infectious vibe. Tell us about the genesis of it.
Riya: We wanted to do something different with our fourth single Headrush. Since the first three songs were more in the upbeat boss-girl attitude zone, our hearts were yearning to do a love song that people of all age groups could relate to. Mikey and our producer Parth began working on the track and then we came in and brought our own flavour to it.
Tell us about the composition of the song.
Zoe: Headrush is a feel-good romantic song about when you have a crush on someone and how that feeling completely overwhelms you. The little things that you notice about someone you really like because they’re all you think of. You create scenarios in your head in hopes that they feel the same way about you. You find yourself in situations that make you do silly things to catch that special someone’s attention. The music video sets off in Goa with the four of us arriving on a boat. We all meet and end up falling for the same boy. Throughout the music video, there are super fun and playful individual moments with our love interest whether it’s surfing in the sea, riding on a motorbike or sunbathing in a cabana. It also features our signature hook step in the choruses.
W.i.S.H is four songs old now. Do you want to keep exploring the indie pop genre or explore more?
Suchi: Pop is at the center of our early influences and music that we listen to so it’s only natural that the music we write reflects that. But music is everchanging so we’ll always keep exploring how we can use elements from different genres in our music to keep it sounding fresh and different each time. That’s something that we’re currently doing as well, for eg, Galti draws elements from disco. But our music for the most part will always be something you can dance to and let your inhibitions go.
India has had girl bands but they disintegrate after a point. How do you plan to stay together and create an example?
Riya: Right now because of so many groups around the world that have been created, the Indian music fans are looking forward to homegrown music and groups. The time right now was perfect for a girl group, enter W.i.S.H. The sole reason for us not disintegrating is literally the love for this act and how each of us has the same aim to make this a global sensation.
K-pop bands are hugely popular in India. Have they inspired the band in any way?
Zoe: Our fans use K-pop words to describe us and are avid fans themselves. The minute we launched they swarmed to us and it was so surprising but it felt like they were waiting for something like a pop group to come to India! A group that they could really be proud to support coming from their own country. So it definitely felt really good.
We like K-pop too! I am quite the fan as well, but I wouldn’t say that’s where our inspiration comes from. We’ve all grown up listening to Pussycat Dolls, Destiny’s Child, Spice Girls, Backstreet Boys and hence those are more so our inspirations. Nowadays we follow the music of Lil Mix and BTS as well.
What are the other plans of the band?
Simran: We are looking forward to making more interesting and exciting music, doing a lot more shows in cities across India, meet our listeners and supporters. Picture: W.i.S.H
