MUMBAI: Arunaja Nalinakshan who was one of the top three contestants of Stage 2 and who always gave goosebumps to the audience with her every performance is all set to release a tribute song this Independence Day.

Speaking about her song she says, “It is going to be fun this time because I have something for all of you. I have been working with shark and ink and one of their producers, Joshi. I’ve got a little patriotic recording for Independence Day. It’s our National Anthem, and Joshi who is an amazing producer has done a great job in it. I really hope you like it.”

She also spoke about her upcoming project: “I’m writing music. I’m down with few of them. I surprised myself there too. Never thought I could ever write a song. I’m very blessed to have a band which is way ahead in experience and knowledge than me. All of them are from very well known indie bands from India. Roop Thomas my bassist is from the band called Black, Mayank Sharma my drummer is from the hard-core metal band Zygnema and my guitarist Vignesh Venkatraman is from the band called Albatross and demonic resurrection. I’m the least experienced in the lot, that’s again a very comfortable place to be because you are safe with the experienced hands. I’m expecting to put my single out by this year end. I’m excited.”

Known as a gospel singer to The Stage finalist she has evolved as an artist. Looking back at her musical journey she says, “The Stage Season 2 is the most amazing experience of my life so far. It gave me so much clarity in my life regarding myself as an artist and more importantly as an individual. I used to be a competition artist that means I only used to perform once or twice in a year and it’s mostly the same song every year. I used to be so comfortable with that one song in my life that I sing it everywhere, wherever I go, whenever someone asks me to sing.”

It was The Stage that pushed the artist. It helped her break walls of comfort and gain confidence.  “I was given songs I never heard of, songs that I didn’t really like. It really helped me to recognize my own strength and qualities hidden inside. All the judges were very encouraging at the same time hard to me; it helped me to outdo myself every time I was on the stage. I was so scared when I came to Mumbai; I took the first flight of my life to audition for The Stage. Everything was almost like gambling for me.”

She further adds, “Now my mind is more open, like an open WiFi connection! Just kidding. The biggest change that I saw in myself is that before The Stage I used to be behind the mic, but now I move around it, I jump into the crowd. I’m surprised at myself.”

Arunaja who is well known for her voice that rings loud and powerful says, “For the audience, I might be a gospel turned RnB like a singer. But for me, I just see it as music. I’m a trained Carnatic classical singer, who happened to like gospel music a lot with lots a Whitney Houston influence. I think every artist has some kind of hybrid theory going on inside of them. Mine just happens to be very diverse and different. But at the end, it’s just music. But I’m glad it fancies a lot of people. I never meant to break any stereotypes, as I told before I was a very scared individual but if I like something I will do it anyway, I will find some way to. So listen to your heart, and follow. But don’t forget you got a brain too. And everything happens for a reason, I strongly believe in that. I believe in God.”