alt-pop singer-songwriter, London
11.10.19
Dark is a song about loving everything that you are.
I wrote it after realising that, although some people may treat me differently based on what I look like, I couldn’t let that make me feel anything other than proud of my ethnicity, or let those perceptions dictate who I was. ‘Dark’ refers to skin, but also to the idea that people who are different – whether we’re of colour, female, LGBTQ+, or anything else – could somehow be bad, or evil, or lesser than those who aren’t. This song is for everybody, to say that no matter what the world may think of us, we should all embrace our ‘darkness’.
Dark is Saachi Sen's second solo release, the first of many leading up to a pure pop EP next year. Dark was part recorded at Abbey Road, and mastered at Metropolis Studios.
Listen to the complete track on Soundcloud, or check out a live acoustic performance at the Apollo Theatre , Shaftesbury Avenue (runner-up winner, Pride's Got Talent 2019)
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About Saachi
Saachi Sen is a Mumbai – born, London – grown, indie-pop singer songwriter.
She’s been a Resident Artist at the famous Camden Roundhouse, and is a past recipient of PRS for Music’s prestigious Lynsey de Paul songwriting prize. 2019 saw her reach the longlist of Glastonbury’s Emerging Talent Competition, and play the biggest gig of her life to 10,000 people at Pride in London in Trafalgar Square. Saachi is set to release several tracks over the upcoming year, with recordings done at Abbey Road and Spotify Secret Genius @ Metropolis, London. Read more at her EPK.
continued.
I wrote this song in 2015, but it took me two years before I had the courage to play it in front of anyone, let alone record it. That’s because despite the sentiments I express in the song, the fear of being seen as dramatic or overly sensitive is deeply ingrained in all of us who talk about race. When I finally did perform it, it was like I’d finally confirmed in myself everything that the song stands for; the reaction I had from the audience, almost a thousand people sitting in the darkened Cambridge Corn Exchange, completely blew me away.
Empowered by every person who’d ever come up to me after a gig, I started recording it in 2018. I struggled to get the sound right and wasn’t at all happy with the first mix I got; I even re-mixed at a different studio, but it still wasn’t there. Then, I met a girl my age, Filipino Indian who’d studied in Canada, in a queue for a music industry talk. As it happens, she was an engineer at Spotify Secret Genius, an alumna of Abbey Road Institute, and literally the best drummer I had ever met - and she loved the song. Together with her and another talented Abbey Road engineer, we re-worked it and ended up with the recording I have today, mastered at Metropolis Studios. I am incredibly proud of where it’s got to and so glad I shared the creative process, reminding me that it’s not all about me (the song, and life itself!)
Dark is currently being submitted to several blogs, radio stations and playlists, and has a social media campaign planned around powerful images with the song’s chorus lyrics painted on dark skin. I’ve teamed up with comedian Ken Cheng (Best Joke of the Fringe, “To All The Racists I’ve Blocked Before”, BBC Radio 4) for a pre-save campaign video, centred around our shared interest in race and tackling the subject in creative media. I’ve also created a playlist of music I love by artists of colour, many of whom I’ve met or worked with.
The song will be showcased live at upcoming Indian festival gigs and more.
Thank you for reading, listening, watching – I hope you’ve enjoyed the music and may want to help share it. I hope it helps every listener to be proud of who they are.
- Saachi Sen 2019