Shannon K, who was born in India and moved to London at the age of 6, is the 14 year old daughter of Bollywood legend Kumar Sanu. She debuted with her first solo single in 2014 at the tender age of 12 with a song written by her younger sister, Annabel K. Shannon’s father Kumar Sanu knows talent when he sees it – a glittering career as a vocalist in Bollywood has seen him win a total of 69 awards including 64 in his native India, plus 5 internationally – and he has no doubt seen it in his daughter.
Shannon K now unleashes her brand new 2016 single entitled “Sapphire”, which she says, “is about your beloved who’s precious like a Sapphire to you and you never wanna lose it.”
Shannon K has set herself apart from the many boring entries in Pop related musical subgenres. I was surprised to find a multi-textural song layered with breathy, sweet edged vocals, tantalizing electro influenced hooks, insistent electric guitars and a lot of different – albeit awesome – influences.
She packs a lot of atmosphere and musical gravitas into this release, and listening to it is a little bit of a head and heart trip. She has that same cinematic and atmospheric aura that surrounds Lana Del Rey.
Shannon K is phenomenal. Her voice is both quiet and breathy, and then it’s powerful enough to melt the paint off your walls. She can sing like a force 5 hurricane if she wants to and then she forges a vocal so sweet and so delicate you wonder how you’re so moved. You wonder where this young girl can draw up such a voice.
Shannon is young growing woman with a seeming maturity that belies her age. The songwriting on “Sapphire” is lusciously sharp and always emotional; you’ll hang on every word. And everything she does highlights her talents.
In recent years we’ve been greeted with a king’s court full of female singers. I don’t review their music too often and when I do, I can only draft a few terse sentences. For my part, I find many of them want to be stars, not artists. Stars often merely recite their compositions brilliantly and after a few repeat plays, I’m left hollow, finding little of themselves, or the vulnerability in their work.
The artists, however, paint, weave, and sculpt with words and music, and you know what attractive creatures they can be, cleverly lacing the notes with their aspirations, their fears, their essence, their love.
You can sense it in their voices, every syllable of the lyrics, as they draw you in. Shannon K sounds as if she belongs in this latter collective of artists, as she has crafted an outstanding and bravely personal sounding love song that is very relatable.
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