Inspired by artists like Sade, Corinne Bailey Rae, Minnie Riperton, and Indian singer Asha Puthli, Raveena is spiritual artist who aims to build fully-realized worlds within each of her projects: conceptual experimentations in sound, threaded together by stories of healing and self-realization meant to experience from start to finish.

The artist recently shared her single “Rush,” her first release with Warner Records. The upbeat single is a layered track introducing listeners to a new sonic world from Raveena inspired by Indian drums and 80s Bollywood soundtracks juxtaposed with modern R&B and hip hop. “Rush” was conceived by Raveena back in 2017 after experiencing a psychedelic acid trip while visiting an Eastern sound installation at the Rubin Museum. Raveena co-directed the accompanying visual with Munachi Osegbu. The video features Raveena dancing in a technicolor space with iridescent figures, floating in crystal clear water and swaying in lush greenery while wearing traditional Indian-inspired clothing.

Raveena shares the meaning behind “Rush”: “I wrote ‘Rush’ a couple years back and the song was the genesis of me exploring a more intense marriage between Bollywood sounds and the pop/R&B music that I grew up on in America. The song and video are centered around a character I created named Asha, a Punjabi space princess who is transported to a distant planet and learns highly advanced spiritual intelligence from the beings that live there. In the video that I co-directed with Munachi, I wanted to create a campy ode to the colorful 80’s Bollywood movies and 70’s Western sci fi movies that I’m obsessed with, complete with a choreographed dance sequence alongside Asha’s alien friends.”

“Rush” follows Raveena’s single “Tweety” released last year, 2020’s Moonstone EP and her 2019 debut album Lucid, which them. said, “established Raveena as an emerging star.” Lucid thrust Raveena further into the conversation and showcased her undeniable talent and multi-dimensionality as an artist by blending contemporary R&B with elements from the South Asian diaspora.