Pina Colada Blues aka Kevin Shaji releases his first single in Hindi
The Hindu
Titled ‘Kyun?’, the ballad by the Kochi-based electronic composer infuses styles and sounds from various genres
A year ago, an independent Malayalam single ‘Thennale’ composed in Indian and western notes made waves, making its debutant composer Kevin Shaji a name to reckon with in the regional indie music firmament. In the fourth year of BTech degree, Kevin, at that point had no intention of pursuing a career in music; ‘Thennale’ was meant to be a one-off thing. Constant enquiries and accolades on his IG for the song made him realise a musical path was inevitable and prompted him to change his name to Pina Colada Blues. “I didn’t want to use my name; instead I chose the name of my favourite cocktail and colour,” laughs Kevin.
A series of singles in the last year saw Kevin experimenting with various sounds and styles. He created his niche by infusing styles from dream, electro-pop, hip-hop, RnB, Carnatic and western notes.
Launched by Sony Music India's new label Day One, the Kochi-based composer recently released his first single in Hindi ‘Kyun?’ — crossing language and genre boundaries. “Right from my first song, I have never seen language or genre as a barrier to my music. If I can understand the words or the language, I then try my best to figure out what it is trying to convey. I improvise on the tune and melody and compose,” say Kevin over the phone from Kochi.