Rain-kissed Wings and Butterfly Hugs
WITH RAVEENA
Photos By: Anisha Patil
Interview + Written By: Shei Marcelline
A butterfly spreads its wings and floats from petal to petal. The sun is out, spirits are high and the butterfly knows who she is; an orb, a byproduct of metamorphosis. When the rain begins to fall, pattering on her wings, she retreats to the leaves. Frantically, she seeks cover for the wings that have reshuffled her identity, tucking them in so they don’t crumble under the weight of a raindrop. She’s reminded of her life in the leaves and the caterpillar she once was. The rain will go away, and it will come again, but the butterfly will forever live in this situational nostalgia.
Where do butterflies
go in the rain?
Raveena Aurora
has the answer.
As we sit down in her dusk-lit living room before the release of her third studio album, a sandalwood-like incense permeates the air, its smoke dancing in the sunbeams. There’s a sense of calm and comfort. Her patterned purple curtains and burnt orange pillows with textures of velvety silk mimic her soft-natured speaking voice. Across the room, a dark-wooded piano commands the space. I sit down on her piano stool, right where she played new music before our chat, and notice a record collection to my left. My eyes immediately draw to the Asha Puthli vinyl sitting atop her record player, a reminiscent ode to her sophomore album, “Asha’s Awakening.” When I look back at the R&B soul singer, her gaze is fixed on the rustling tree leaves outside the window. “A billion leaves exist on that tree,” she says. “That's an example of abundance right there.”
Raveena was raised in Queens, NY, and fondly labels her childhood self as a goof with an inherent sense of awe for the world around her - a second nature she still embodies. “I was super goofy, and I still am. I think that's a part of me that a lot of people don't know,” she shares. It’s this paralleled sense of child-like wonder the 30-year-old funnels into her polyphonic sound, captivating listeners' ears and transporting them into a subliminal naturescape where fear and joy harmonize in natural frequency. Raveena views her ‘being’ as an orb, an existence that transcends human identity. This essence has been mirrored time and time again in her lyrical vulnerability. The Indian American singer finds that composing music not only heals her physical being, but her spiritual being as well.“I feel like it's my purpose to write from a place that has a bird's eye perspective, or a more healed perspective. So I'll wait until that healing processes a little more; it's not complete. But I'll wait until I have a little more insight from an outside perspective on what I'm feeling about the situation to write about it.”
Her newly released album, Where the Butterflies Go in the Rain, conveys the artist’s journey towards insight, which can only come from years of inner work. For the artist, this can look like practicing Vipassana meditation or simply hiking in the mountains behind her home. The 14-track anthology features pre-released single “Pluto,” a groovy yet meditative R&B bliss that sets the rhythmic flow for what listeners can anticipate for the rest of the album before seamlessly weaving in soul-warming tracks like “Baby Mama” and “Rise.” In classic Raveena style, Indian instruments like the sitar are woven into the melodies, merging an Eastern sound with a Western genre. “Honestly, I'm just scratching the surface with how to integrate Indian instruments into the sound and do it seamlessly,” she shares. “But if I'm doing music that's so rooted in another culture, like R&B and soul in Black culture, I have to bring something new to it. I have to infuse some new energy. So as much as I can pay homage to these two things that I love so much, that's just an honor for me.”
Just as Raveena plays every note with intention, she writes every lyric in the same fashion. The singer wrote 120 songs for Where the Butterflies Go in the Rain, each one necessary in the songwriting process to uncover parts of her being that could only rise through music creation. “[This album]'s been my biggest growth spurt. It's a return to self,” she says. “I think it's a return to parts of me I forgot about, parts of me I am a little embarrassed about. It was this process of letting go of every single fear and doubt.” After pausing with emotion in her eyes, she continues, “I think that I had a fear of my true nature. I have a fear of my true nature being seen, which is this very sweet inner child essence…I think that quality is really smashed by American society. Even though so many women artists are celebrated, I think the way the music industry [moves], the way the business moves, and shakes us, they want us to be hardened. They want us to be tougher. I think I was concerned with being the best or the most pretty. I had all these doubts on how my face showed up, how my voice showed up. I'm just part of this earth. I'm just a channel for love. That's all I am. And if the sound is too sweet, if the sound is too soft for someone, then they're not ready to receive it. And that's okay.”
Read the rest of our exclusive interview in Santulan Magazine Issue 03: All About Music
PHOTOSHOOT
Talent: Raveena // Photographer & Co-Creative Director: Anisha Patil // Co-Creative Director: Ashvini Navaratnam, Max Miyake // Stylist: Rumsha Hassan // Makeup: Ali Scharf // Hair Stylist: Jaime Diaz // PA: Jaya Kang, Jimi Cartagena, Emily Chan // Lighting Tech: Zach Arquilevich, Mei Kobayashi // Production Designer: Jaya Kang // Floral Artist: Amber Tseng // Henna Artist: Sanjana Sinha // On-Set Producer: Nile Brown, Javari Hunt // Lead Producer: Ashvini Navaratnam // Visual Effects: Emily Chan // Primary BTS: Mary Osunlana // Additional BTS: Jaya Kang, Emily Chan // Print + Visual Design: Kerishma Nara // Mixed Media: Anisha Patil // Studio: Bravo Studios // Production Company: Santulan Creative
INTERVIEW
Talent: Raveena // Interview By: Shei Marcelline // Director: Anisha Patil // DP: Ujjwal Chande // Lead Producer: Ashvini Navaratnam // Assistant Producer + BTS: Max Miyake // Editor + Colorist: Camila Noriega // Makeup: Mia Dondero // Fashion pieces contributed by: Morni // PA: Angelica Yeleshwarapu, Theo Hargis // Production Company: Santulan Creative