MUMBAI: After his headlining tour in India, and a slew of releases in the spring, Toronto based Tamil artist Shan Vincent de Paul returns with “One Hundred Thousand Flowers”. The lead single to his third studio album, proves to be SVDP’s most powerful work to date. Holding no punches, the song address the Tamil genocide carried out by the Sri Lankan government and the gruelling civil war that tore the country apart. Produced by fellow Toronto artists Yanchan and La+ch, the song put’s SVDP’s lyricism on full display while touching on themes of resilience, accountability, and identity. The production moves from haunting strings, mrithangam and trap drums to gradually exploding into a full blown punk anthem.

“This is easily the most important song of my life. I feel like I spent my life mastering my craft just so I can write something like this. Our community still has so much healing to do and still dealing with the aftermath of the war. There has been no justice or accountability for the genocide carried out against the Tamil people in Sri Lanka. This song was a way for me to channel the frustration and anger of feeling ignored as a people, and hopefully raise awareness to what happened in Sri Lanka”

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The song will serve as the centrepiece to Shan’s upcoming “Made in Jaffna” LP. His debut and sophomore projects have been met with critical acclaim from GQ India, Rolling Stone, BBC, Highsnobiety, Complex, DJBooth, Okayplayer, and several others. Born in Sri Lanka - Shan and his family fled the country due to civil war and arrived in Canada as refugees - his music forces listeners to ask themselves tough questions tied to fame, popular culture, identity, and humanity itself.