Indie artistes Iqlipse Nova and Anubha Bajaj have released a track titled Savera (Sony Music India). Apart from making strides in the indie pop music scene, they’ve gifted the audience with a soul-soothing number with heartwarming lyrics. Savera is about that one person you share your good times with. A t2 chat with Iqlipse and Anubha.

How was your experience collaborating with each other?

Anubha: I’ve had a great time working with Iqlipse; it was a balanced collaboration.
Iqlipse: I discovered Anubha on Instagram and I’ve always loved her work. One day she went “live” and I joined in. I asked if she was up for a collaboration and she said she’d love to jam with me and see if something good comes up. We sat with each other for three hours, and nothing came up... the moment I was about to leave, she came up with a melody that made it to the final song.

What’s the concept of the song?

Iqlipse: Whenever there’s something happening in our lives, especially something good, we call up this one person who is very special. It can be your mother, father, friend or partner. One cannot imagine life without this person. That became the hook of the song, where this individual is like sunlight in your life.

How would you define your journey as indie artistes?

Iqlipse: I started in college, which dates back to 2017. I wasn’t good at all and faced a lot of criticism. Then I trained and released a song called Mera safar, which went viral on Instagram. I think things change when you focus on yourself and your craft. If you do it well, things fall into place.
Anubha: I’ve always loved music since I was a kid. I’ve been curious about how to play a bunch of instruments. I was just 12 years old when I started to learn how to play the guitar. I used to watch a lot of YouTube tutorials to find out how things work. I never had a clear idea about how I’d build my career in music, but I always knew it was my passion. Eventually, I started taking formal training in both guitar and piano and fell in love with production as well. Then I started to sing, and one thing led to another and I got into songwriting.

What about individual projects?

Anubha: I’m working on a bunch of projects. Savera has been a pretty good motivation. Whenever a song does well, you feel motivated to make more music, as you become more confident about your work and art.
Iqlipse: I’m working on a lot of songs and a lot of them are collabs with artistes people love listening to. People I have admired my entire life, so I’m looking forward to these. There are some solo projects as well — I will release three or four songs before the year ends.

What about live music?

Anubha: I’ve not done too many live acts because I suffer from stage fright. I’m working on it and it has become a bit better than before. There are a few shows that I’ve played and my favourite one has to be in Ludhiana. It was the Sneak N Street Fest and that was the first time I felt the high of a musician standing on stage and everybody was repeating the words of Lamhe (one of Anubha’s biggest hits) back to me.
Iqlipse: In the last six months, I’ve performed in more than 35 live shows. I love performing in small towns and cities because in places like these, people are more welcoming and encouraging. In my case, one memorable show was when I performed in Assam, and I was wondering if people knew me there, but when I reached, they greeted me with so much love.

What kind of music do you like listening to?

Anubha: I listen to indie pop, hip-hop and English pop, but one thing I’m very happy about is whatever I create is similar to what I listen to. There’s this one artiste who is my inspiration — Zaeden’s Genesis. From songwriting perspective — Anuv Jain has to be my songwriting hero. Currently, I’ve fallen in love with Suniyan suniyan by Juss (and MixSingh).
Iqlipse: I like variety; at times rap, at times very old songs by Mohammed Rafi and then indie, like Anuv Jain.