AIRINNA NAMARA knew what she wanted to do after her stint in school. “I had a talk with my mom and told her that I had decided to pursue music, specifically, songwriting,” she said.
The singer-songwriter began music studies full-time only three years ago.
After just a year at the International College of Music, Airinna began posting cover songs on Instagram and YouTube.
“I was taking song requests and building my profile on social media,” Airinna explained, as she slowly racked up what is now a decent-sized audience.
As it was never her plan to be stuck in the realm of cover songs, the songwriter began working with music producers to release her original songs.
She even joined Open Mic Malaysia to discover future collaborators and friends.
Shaping an identity
Currently, Airinna is more into songwriting than performing.
“It is something that I am passionate about. I also write for other artistes and musicians”.
As a child of the MTV era, Airinna grew up watching pop music videos.
Her taste in music matured as she entered young adulthood.
“Ever since I started going to college, I became exposed to other genres as well. Mostly, I am inspired by songs from the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘80s – all the oldie music,” Airinna said.
She cites musical influences from artistes like Regina Spektor, ABBA, The Smiths and also rappers like NF.
“My sound is more indiepop. That is what I’ve been working on for the past few years. I have worked with genres like EDM and Lo-Fi, but these were under other artistes.”
On a high note
Airinna is trying to stay cool, despite the challenging situation for performers right now.
She points out that she depends on royalties, as an independent artiste who releases music on her own.
“Usually, the income can be from gigs, but now I can’t go out to perform,” she said.
”Before the pandemic, after I release a song, I could perform the song live and it would help promote my music.”
“I usually have a goal for the number of songs (like how many songs) I should put out in a year, so that I have it all planned beforehand. I usually plan a release three months ahead.”
She tries to stay motivated and gets her inspiration from reading.
“Even before the pandemic, I was working from home on my songs alone,” she said.
“After I’m done writing, I’ll get in contact with a music producer.”
As there are several months left before 2021 draws to a close, Airinna said she has plans to release a new single in this month.
“I’m really excited about that. There will probably be one more song after that.”
On whether she’ll be done for the year with six singles in total, Airinna laughed and said: “Maybe. You never know.”
