Q+A with MADHAVI DEVI
We got to talk to Madhavi Devi and ask her a little bit about her latest single, “Past Life”!
Stella Feinstein: So where are you calling in from today?
Madhavi Devi: I'm calling in from Hamilton, New Jersey. This is my little recording studio that I have!
SF: We're gonna dive right into the song, a little bit about who it's for, what it's for. Some of your songs are really introspective and inside of your own head, obviously, and this song is quite obviously for other people in your life to let them know, your feelings about them. Is there anyone in particular, the song is dedicated to?
MD: I don't think past life really has one particular person that it's about mostly because it feels like one of those songs that over time it kind of changes meaning. I think it's almost like a love letter to my friends in a way, like “I think I knew you in a past life”. You know when you just like have that connection with certain people.
SF: From the snippets that Instagram, I totally took it as like a friendship anthem.
SF: Was it easier for you to step out of your own head talking about a different kind of relationship than you usually write about?
MD: I wrote it with Connor Hansen. I love Connor Hansen. I love Connor. He's the best. I've been working with him for almost two years now. He kind of came up with the guitar part. Sometimes when I write songs with other people, I just go through my notes app because it's just a wasteland of one liners. I think the outro was really cool because it's like, let's place this feeling in different settings. “Old circuits we used to drive,” I pulled that one from my grandparents actually, because they had told me that they used to drive cars or on the racetrack in Freehold [New Jersey].
SF: Is there a specific place you picture people listening to this song?
MD: A convertible Mustang. I went to Colorado last month and my girlfriend and I rented a Mustang. We would drive it with the top down, and I made a TikTok with the top down just driving through the canyon, and it's just one of those songs where you’re driving with the windows down shouting it at the top of your lungs.
SF: Is this a standalone or part of something larger?
MD: I have been working with Connor for a long time and we actually recorded this song in early 2023. We actually had to recut the vocals because the other two songs that it's going to come out with, I recorded and I just sounded so much older. So it's almost like me in a past life singing the song. A little nerdy thing. We recorded two other songs and they're gonna come out in mid November and then late December, and the one in late December, the last one, we'll kind of like put the three together as like a little mini EP.
SF: Now into the more general questions, coming up on fall, what is your go to fall album, or what have you been listening to a lot lately?
MD: So my hyperfixation album is I'm Not Afraid of Music Anymore by COIN. I also recently listened to Carol Ades’ album. I feel like my music is really like similar to hers. Ginger by BROCKHAMPTON. Calico is a classic. Mika’s Laundry by Matt Champion. Kansas Anymore, duh.
SF: Final question — what is your favorite line that you’ve written and favorite line from someone else?
MD: Favorite line I've written is actually probably in a song that I haven't even recorded. It's “Angel Baby, Disposition, Pipeline, Bitch”. Off the top of my head, my favorite line someone else has written, I think Searows is amazing. I loved “Guard Dog” when it came out, and the line is “Guard dog with a death wish”.
Listen to Madhavi’s song “Past Life” out now, and follow along for much more of her work on the way soon!