SuPra is going to be an extension of us: Sukriti and Prakriti

If twinning is a trend, the Sukriti and Prakriti might well be the OGs in the real life sense! Their journey, that started almost 12 years back, has taken a newer shape with the announcement of their own label by the name SuPra, backed by Virgin Music. Their first song ‘Saath Tere’ has everything that we have not yet seen from them in a long time. A melodious track, ‘Saath Tere’ marks the beginning of a sound that Sukriti and Prakriti would like to showcase through their new venture. We had a conversation with them recently, here are the excerpts:

Why your own label when you were anyway working with labels?

Prakriti: We have been grateful to have labels back us for a long time. Initially it was T-Series and then it was Universal Music for an extended period, they have supported us a lot. But then comes a time when you have to take a leap of faith and try something different. We are still working with the major labels but SuPra (music label) is something we wanted to work on. It’s a big step, needs a lot of efforts to pull it off, but does give you a lot of creative liberty. There are many songs which haven’t seen the light of the day, with SuPra we can push our content out a bit more.

Sukriti: As we are progressing, we are not always pressed about having music videos for all the songs. We can just have audios being released, can have collaborations that we want to work on, create music in our own sound. This is where Virgin Music came into picture, and we hope to make this work and make everyone proud.

How did ‘Saath Tere’ come about as the first song from SuPra?

Prakriti: When we are starting this journey, with label SuPra, decision making was vital to select the first song. ‘Saath Tere’ came up with a cozy sound and comforting vibe. We thought it could be the first song to come out of our label, being a tad different from what people have been used to hearing from us.

Watch the song here:

Tell us about more about ‘Saath Tere’, the song and the video

Sukriti: The story of ‘Saath Tere’ is pretty cosmic even for us. We had finished our New Year show and we decided to take a holiday, as we hadn’t taken any for a long time. We went to Vienna, a place we hadn’t been to. On the third day of the trip this beat came to me when we were at Mozart Café and that was all it was at that time. We decided to shoot all the fun that we were having during the trip through our phones, and it had nothing to do with a song at all.

Prakriti: We came back after the trip to our studio, wrote a song about how we exactly felt at the moment (holiday). We called our editor home and asked him to create a music video out of the 200 plus random videos, in vertical as well as horizontal formats, some boomerang shots, etc. He did create a video out of it and that’s what we have used for the song.

What are the plans for the progression of the label SuPra?

Sukriti: We will actually find out as we go. How much ever we plan, I don’t think it is ever going to be enough. We are more excited to learn. We have had so many phases in our career starting our music at the age of 16. We grew up when Indi-pop was a big thing, when we started, independent music was not at its peak anymore and now again it is taking a new and bigger shape. It’s a great time now when the audiences are building and rebuilding, the scope is much bigger. We will be taking one step and one single at a time, rooted into our strengths, be it classical music, dance music, Punjabi music or something like a ‘Saath Tere’.

Prakriti: It is going to be a mix bag of all the genres. Something that we haven’t been able to tap yet, SuPra is going to be an extension of us essentially. It is going to be a platform where we will get in touch with us, as artists, a bit more and for audiences to see us in the way they haven’t seen us before.

How many songs do you plan to release this year with SuPra?

Sukriti: We plan to release about 6-7 songs this year. Our next one is planned to release in the month of June, which will be purely an audio song, no video. It will be a dance track, which people generally know us for. We will be releasing a music video after that and keep shuffling as we go ahead, learn along the way and adapt ourselves.

Prakriti: We plan to do music videos if the song does well on streaming platforms. There is no charted-out plan as such. You can’t predict which song can be a hit or a miss. But, with the label, there is so much information available at the backend which will help us understand what is working and what is not working a bit more.

Do you believe in the power of data?

Prakriti: Having statistics is a big plus. Data helps to understand, to an extent, what didn’t work and why. You can analyse who is streaming, age group, a lot of demographics that are available to assess. But then there are some songs you feel instinctive about, and you go ahead accordingly.

Sukriti: I think numbers don’t lie, however, for me the biggest validation is also when we travel for shows and the audiences sing along with us. Data can be overwhelming and for me what works is the real time assessment by touch and feel, be it via shows or through other forms.

How do you bridge the paradox of Data and Creativity?

Prakriti: Everyone is trying bridge the gap between data and creativity. There is no recipe for a hit song. Magic does happen with special songs, few that hit it out of the park. Data helps only in the initial assessment, but then the quality of the music, marketing, etc. make a song become a success.

Sukriti: Many good songs don’t reach bigger audiences due to lack of marketing. Having said that I do think that some songs are blessed, but at the same time it is important to be consistent, keep trying and something will click at some point.

Well, if randomness can bring about this kind of a beautiful track, let everyone be random then! We are hooked on to ‘Saath Tere’ and we look forward to what’s to come from SuPra going ahead.