Saanika Mahashetty’s musical journey

Ever since she was two years old, Richard Montgomery High School junior Saanika Mahashetty has been in love with singing and music. Performing in everything from school talent shows to large-scale competitions, such as the televised Sa Re Ma Ga Pa Kannada North America, Mahashetty has established herself as one of Montgomery County’s hidden musical talents.

“Honestly, what happened was when my mom was pregnant with me I would always react to music, so that’s why they named me Saanika because it means flute in Sanskrit,” Mahashetty said. “My parents have always been nurturing this passion for music in me since the beginning.”

Just a few months ago, on September 8, Mahashetty released her long-awaited single “Toy,” on numerous streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Google Play, Amazon Music, Shazam, and iHeartRadio. The song has already garnered over 22,000 streams on Spotify and Mahashetty currently has over 200 listeners from several different countries. The single marks the first song that Mahashetty has released publicly.

Making “Toy” wasn’t an easy feat. Mahashetty had to do everything from writing the lyrics, composing the melody, making the instrumentals, recording the vocals, mixing the song, and facilitating its release; creating such a song usually requires a ten-person team. “Up to the release date I had been working on it, but it took me five months to get to that finished product that I wanted,” Mahashetty said.

This “finished product” featured Mahashetty’s exceptional musical talent and broad vocal range, with various adlibs and harmonies scattered throughout the song that gives it an air of professionalism. “I’ve done instrumentals since I was in 7th grade, but all of them were pretty tentative and bad,” Mahashetty said. “But after I came to high school I was exposed to a lot of different types of music, and I was able to pick up different styles. I was more inspired to make music on my own.”

Evidence of these different styles lies in the carefully composed instrumentals of her song. The two instruments that Mahashetty believes are the most integral to her song are a bass tone, played out by a bass guitar and synth, and a series of bells in the form of a melody. “Bells typically in minor key produce a more eerie tone so that was definitely the choice for what I wanted as the key element of my song,” Mahashetty said.

Through her lyrics, Mahashetty aims to touch the heart of teenage-audiences and reflect the challenges that young people face. “Toy is mainly about the stress and anxiety that a teenager feels, especially in these middle and high school years where you’re under a lot of judgment from the people around you,” Mahashetty said. “It’s like everything you do you feel like it’s not enough. I feel like a lot of people can relate to these types of lyrics that I wrote and I want to channel that type of energy.”

Mahashetty accredits her success to her father and supportive friends, who have been streaming and promoting her song on their social media. “My family was very proud and my dad especially, who has been my mentor in music ever since I started singing, was so proud of me and honestly I’ve never felt happier to have made him proud,” Mahashetty said. “I could not have done any of this without them and I just cannot emphasize how much I owe them for everything.”

Although she just released “Toy,” Mahashetty is already looking ahead in terms of releasing new music. “My next step is to work towards an EP,” Mahashetty said. “Obviously, it will take a lot of time as I will be writing, composing, and producing the song on my own, but it is totally worth it.”

Article by Vismaya Mohindra of Richard Montgomery High School

Graphic by Katherine Hua of Robert Frost Middle School