Legacy scares Kumar Sanu's daughter Shannon

By RITIKA CHOUDHARY

NOIDA: Indian-American singer-songwriter Shannon K, daughter of Kumar Sanu, has released two new singles Retrace and Aajaa.

“While Retrace is a sad song written by me and my younger sister Annabelle, Aajaa has a party vibe and is completely different from Retrace,” she tells you in an email interview.

“Retrace spells out all the tragic incidents the world has faced due to the pandemic. It also talks about the talented artists who lost their lives during those times which made them think about the reality of the world and how artists get treated or pass away,” she says.

For Aajaa, Shannon sang in Hindi and says it is close to her heart but “Retrace is my soul,” she adds.

Shannon is thrilled to be working with Himesh Reshammiya “because I love his style of composing songs after the success of Duggi song.”

“HR was impressed with my singing but he wasn’t happy with my Hindi pronunciation as you can see I had just few lines in Hindi in Duggi. He wanted me to work more for his album if my Hindi was better, so I practised to speak casually. I am glad he liked the Hindi part sung by me,” she says.

Music, she says, is not a countable noun. “As an artist, I make sure to learn as much as I can from the artists I’m working with as they have years of experience and it’s fun to with their style,” she says.

Shannon’s first challenge was to prove herself as an individual artist without using her father Kumar Sanu’s name. Sanu didn’t allow her to keep his name and he asked her to make it Shannon K so she could grow without using his name.

Shannon is into Western music. She learnt English classical in school due to which her taste in music is different. “But I would always listen Sanu’s songs and loved Indian melodies,” she tells you.

The only drawback of being the daughter of a celebrity is that “you get judged before you even get started. You are always being watched and compared which is scary as they have to carry a huge legacy and responsibility on their shoulders. There’s no space for mistakes at all or else they get butchered on social media.

“I just want to say that I’m also learning while growing up so I can make mistakes too and I can never be compared with my dad because it’s impossible.

“If I can become even two per cent like my father, I will be really grateful to God,” said Shannon.

Kumar Sanu, she adds, was her first inspiration.

“I remember going to the recording sessions of my dad’s songs and watch him record.

“From there the passion of music grew within me. Some year later, I discovered some of the greatest legends out in the West such as Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Mariah Carey,” he tells you.

She then learnt music in school of London. She said her family gave her a new life, which is why she wants to make them proud with her work. She said they have always been supportive of her career choices. “They helped me and guided me whenever I asked for but at the same time, they wanted me to take my decisions independently and wanted me become my own person,” she said.