W.i.S.H: INDIAN POP GIRL GROUP UNVEILS FORMATION STORY, NEW HIT “THERAPY” & AMBITIOUS FUTURE PLANS. [EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW]
BY BRENESSA ROACH | JULY 23, 2024
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Introducing W.i.S.H, India’s first pop girl group in 22 years signed under Sony Music India and managed by the renowned producer Mikey McCleary. W.i.S.H consists of four members, Ri & Sim who are sisters, Zo and Suchi. They debuted on February 29th, 2024 with the single “Lazeez” (”delicious” or “tasty” in English) which is a fusion of Indian-Pop, Latin rhythms and afro-beats. Since their debut, the single has amassed over 690K streams on Spotify alone. Following their debut, they released “Galti” featuring MxRZI on April 4th, 2024.
On June 6th, 2024, W.i.S.H unveiled their third single “Therapy” which is an anthem that expresses how they are the key to their own happiness. Behind The Beat had the opportunity to talk to W.i.S.H to discuss their formation story, their new hit “Therapy”, their future plans and more.
Watch the interview here:
Brenessa: Thank you so much for meeting with me today to do this interview. I’m really excited to get to talk to you because I really like like your music, but also I love how you guys are a representation to young girls and also South Asian girls. Like you’re kind of like what I wish I had when I was growing up as well.
W.i.S.H: Awww thank you!
So you are India’s first pop girl group in 22 years, can you talk about your musical journey from your musical inspirations to how W.i.S.H formed?
Zo: To everyone else, we are very new, like we’re just like four months old. But actually, we’ve been prepping and planning for this for like about two and a half years now. So it’s been a journey, even though maybe not to the outside, but in order to actually be here today, we have been, you know, kind of just making sure we’re ready for this responsibility that comes with the platform that we have now. But at the same time to also give a really cool product that we’re very happy to show and showcase to our listeners, as well as it has been a crazy journey. And we all have different inspirations, but also similar inspirations.
Sim: So Mikey McCleary is the composer who brought us together, he can conceptualize the whole thing and we really wanted to start a girl group. So he’s the one who brought us together. But before that, we were all working separately as musicians. Me and Ri were in a duo called simetri. So we were singing, writing songs, releasing songs and performing together. And yeah.
Suchi: Yeah, I was just another girl on Instagram, uploading videos of me singing, dancing. And then suddenly, I was just like, called by Bay Music House to be a part of this girl group. And then I realized, Oh, wait I know you people from the group, so super exciting, I just had to say yes.
Zo: For me, I actually worked with Mikey before. So just for singing for some shows that he was producing. And I did see like the audition flyer, kind of all over Instagram so I was like hmmm should I and then a year later, I actually got approached by them to be like, ohh, come and try it out.
Sim: A friend of mine had actually sent me the post, but I didn’t really know if I’m going to take part in it or avoid it because I already had a pop act going on so I was like, oh, should I and then Ri got asked to be a part of it.
Ri: Yeah, at first when I was approached, I thought something of this magnitude, it’s not easy for it to really come to fruition so I had my doubts. And it also took so long for it to launch because I think it’s almost three years that I’ve been on boarded on this project and it was three years ago that I was called for it so there were a lot of ups and downs and wondering if this is gonna happen. You know, we were making songs, we were working on the choreographies to pitch to the label which eventually worked out great because here we are. But yeah, that’s how we came together. Mikey first reached out to me then Sim and Suchi and finally Zo. And he hadn’t really premeditated where it’s going whether it’s going to be a three member group or a four member group.
Sim: But I think he thought five also.
Ri: Yeah, yeah, there were a lot of these numbers that were thrown about, but I think when the four of us came together and he saw the way that our chemistry was and how we gelled together he was like okay, I’m gonna stop now. This is the magic number. So yeah, that’s how we came together.
Zo: In terms of inspiration that you also had asked, we’re all like it’s perfect for us because I feel like we’re super pop like all of our styles and influences have been popped like other girl groups like Destiny’s Child, Little Mix pop artists like Ariana Grande, Dua Lipa, Michael Jackson, Jung Kook so this is kind of like the perfect space for us to be in.
Brenessa: Yeah, that’s lovely and I was gonna say, it’s good that you guys all formed together because your chemistry is very well balanced and you all have different personalities that make it a whole. So yeah, and it’s also amazing to see how much you’ve grown since you’ve released “Lazeez”. So it’s very inspiring. And I just want to say I’m very proud of you all.
And I just wanted to say congratulations, as well, on the release of your new single “Therapy”, which just came out on June 6, can you talk about the meaning behind it, and how you learn to embrace the key to your own happiness with this song?
Ri: So “Therapy” was a song that was born out of our discussions with each other about, toxic exes, letting go, moving on, knowing when it is the right time to say, no, I need to start thinking and caring for myself without letting the other person be the priority in your life, you know, when you stop and say, okay, I am the most important thing to myself, and I need to nurture my soul. That’s kind of how therapy was born because we keep having these gossip sessions, where we’re talking about, you know, relationships, things that are going on in our lives. And that’s kind of something that happens every day before we start working.
Sim: A lot of the times, if something is happening in my personal life, and I really need to talk about it, I feel like I can talk to these girls about anything. So yeah, that usually happens in our studio kitchen while having chai. It’s a small space but we’re just like, oh, everything is coming out right now, this is the therapy session. I don’t have a therapist, but I have these girls, and this is the therapy.
Zo: Sometimes the producers from upstairs will come down and like catch us in the act of discussing something important. And there’s like silence for a minute until they leave and then we can continue.
Sim: But yeah, all in all “Therapy” is all about not letting that someone hold you down and just finally being your own boss.
Zo: Even with the music, the beat is just such an energetic beat, like it’s a banger song. In a sense, it’s also about channeling like, it gives the same feeling of like, you can just dance like nobody’s watching. You can kind of let out whatever you’re feeling or express in the way that you move with the beats of a song. In a sense, it could actually like it, you can just play it super loudly and just let it all out. And then feel better.
Brenessa: Yeah, I really like when I listen to your music, I love that it’s upbeat, but it holds like a deeper meaning. So it just like you said, you can just listen to it and let go of like when you’re dancing to it. And this is a specific behind the beat question. But if you were to describe therapy as a color, what would you choose and why?
And this is a specific Behind The Beat question, but if you were to describe “Therapy” as a colour, what would you choose and why?
Sim: It would be a mix of colours.
Suchi: Silver, Black.
Ri: Kind of the colors of the first scene of the music video. Like the combination of the neon blue and green. That was really cool.
Zo: Yeah, I guess obviously, we’re a little biased because we have a visual to the song. So yeah, something like that green blue.
Sim: Yeah. Green, blue and white for us.
Zo: Something that is strong. A bold colour.
Brenessa: A bold color. Okay, I like that. That’s good. Thank you. Before we wrap up I just wanted to know,
What are your goals and futures, your future dreams and goals for the future, or for the rest of the year?
Sim: First of all, we have a lot of songs that we want to release. So definitely maybe another single or music video and an album. Definitely we want a whole album so we can perform and go on tour and perform all of the songs. Because right now we have three songs out, but once we have more songs we will get to play a longer set as well.
Suchi: I hope we can visit many cities and Mumbai also and hopefully do a tour and meet our fans everywhere. It’d be great to meet them in person. So bringing our music to them is one of our goals as well.
Ri: And we love performing live. Just feeling that exchange of energy with an audience and then singing along with your lyrics. There’s no better feeling than that in the whole music space. But after that, we definitely want to come to Canada as well. So yeah, definitely a world tour and we want to perform at amazing award shows and festivals.
Zo: Also the sky’s the limit so why not a Grammy.
Sim: And the Jimmy Fallon show.
Suchi: and Coachella.
Zo: One more super important thing is, right now, pop music at least in the space that we’re in, like the dance pop girl group, boy bands or just pop in general. In India it’s not really its own genre, like Bollywood is or like independent music is. So in a sense, another goal is to actually be the artist or the artists to pave the way to actually create that as an entire genre in India. So that there are more artists like us in this space as well. And actually create that artist community.
Ri: Yeah because we have so much talent, the culture is so strong. So why not?
Brenessa: Yeah. It’s nice that you mentioned that because I have a friend here who’s also Indian and we bonded over your music, because we were talking about how there’s not a lot of representation in the pop aspect in India. So it was really nice. It was just really touching to be able to bond over you girls. And yeah, so I just wanted to thank you girls for that as well.
Ri: Oh that is very sweet thank you. You mentioned earlier as well, right, like, growing up even, we didn’t really have any pop icon in India who we could look to as a role model. And that’s definitely something that we want to be for the young girls and guys that are Gen-Z and younger.
Zo: We want our fans and the younger generations to look up to W.i.S.H and be like, oh my God, I want to be like them. I want to do what they did and also that I can do it, like they are showing us that they can do so now even I can do it.
Brenessa: Yeah, it’s definitely inspiring and I definitely think you will become a role model for everyone as well.
It was so lovely to be able to sit down and chat with W.i.S.H so early on in their career. We cannot wait to see their growth and continue to support and cheer them on.
Special thanks to W.i.S.H for taking the time to chat with us. Additionally, we extend our thanks to Sony Music India and Bay Music House for facilitating this interview.
Listen to W.i.S.H on Spotify:
Check out W.i.S.H on Instagram: @w.i.s.h.__official
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