‘It feels amazing to be recognised for your work’: Anish Sood

Black Eyed Peas has just dropped an über funky single, Be Nice featuring Snoop Dogg, which is will.i.am’s tweaked version of last week’s winning track from NBC’s songwriting competition series, Songland. One of the writers on the song is music producer, songwriter and DJ Anish Sood, who has written the chorus of the track. The Hello World (featuring Ramona Arena) hitmaker is obviously stoked about the honour  and working with will.i.am. Quiz him how he landed the number and he enthuses, “It’s a pretty crazy story! I met songwriter Adam Friedman at his studio in June last year and Be Nice was written in one session. I worked on the funk synth and drum samples. This 

February, Adam hit me up about participating in Songland and a few months later, Be Nice had won the episode.” The guest judge will.i.am picked up the song to be the lead single on the next BEP album.

Apart from this release, Anish states that he has three singles in the pipeline, which will release this year. “I’m not rushing into releasing any of them until I am fully satisfied with the overall product, so I don’t want to set deadlines at this point,” Anish explains. The artiste, who has been spending a month in Los Angeles every year writing music, looks forward to working with more international and Indian musicians.

(Anish Sood, Pic: Priysha Rajvanshi)

Another big moment for the Castles (feat Jonita Gandhi) creator was being the first Indian to win Best Electronica/Dance Single at the 16th Independent Music Award in New York last year. Talking about it, the musician says, “It always feels amazing to be recognised for your work, but it hasn’t put pressure on me. I believe it’s important to find internal sources of motivation rather than external ones such as awards and peer pressure. It leads to a more fulfilling and organic creative process.”

Anish catapulted to international fame after supporting David Guetta for his maiden Indian tour for the Invasion Festival in 2012, and has since shared the stage with Martin Garrix, Kygo, Armin Van Buuren as well as Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike among others. “It’s incredible how professional and dedicated they all are to their craft. Their work ethic is definitely the biggest learning lesson,” says the 29-year-old about the greatest take-away from these associations.

Along with all the adulation, the music producer is aware of burnout, stress and other struggles that musicians face; for instance, Chris Cornell of Soundgarden and Audioslave, Chester Bennington of Linkin Park and the much-loved DJ and music producer Avicii. “There’s definitely a very challenging mental aspect to being a musician, especially if you’re touring a lot,” Anish agrees, adding, “Personally, I have a strong connection with my family as well as close friends and that’s what really helps me stay grounded.”