Formerly, a B.Com (H) graduate from Gargi College and today, a singer songwriter pursuing her passion for music in Los Angeles, Janvi Anand is an inspiration to all the budding musicians out there. She followed her passion for music, got admission in Musicians Institute, Hollywood and is also the proud founder of the ‘Crescendo Institute of Music’ here in India. Her meteoric rise in the music industry shows how talent, coupled with hard work, is always rewarded.
Janvi has been deeply involved with music ever since the age of four. She tried her hands at various instruments such as the guitar, piano and drums but with time, she realized that the acoustic guitar was her instrument of calling. Initially she started off with composing a handful of riffs and lines over the guitar and keyboard but did not know what to do with them. She built her identity slowly by doing cover songs and played them at various inter and intra college festivals. The turning point for her was when she created her own Facebook page as an artist and one of her videos from a performance at Mood Indigo, the annual college festival of IIT Mumbai got viral popularity. Offers for singing and making music started flooding in as she started getting recognized widely for being a singer. She never saw herself as a singer as she sang along very casually when she played the guitar but the overwhelming response she got began to make her reconsider her abilities.
This is where Janvi’s career as a singer songwriter started to pick up pace. Handling college and her life as an artist was not easy but she credits her friends and family for making it a smooth process for her. Even her teachers and co-society members in college were very understanding when she was not present and helped her maintain a balance. She admits to coming with the lyrics of a few of her songs while zoning out during lectures, much like most of us students.
“I have been caught a lot of times and I simply got by away saying ‘I am taking notes’. One of my teachers, especially has played a very important role. I have written the maximum songs in her class. No offence to her though.” Janvi says.
The biggest breakthrough for her was when all her efforts got rewarded and she got admission in The Musicians Institute, Hollywood in 2015. She had also got through to Berkley but chose to zero in on MI and believes it was the best decision she ever made. She describes MI to have a musically conducive environment, supervision of an outstanding faculty and the best possible resources. The cherry on the cake for Janvi however were the two scholarships she received when she first applied for admission.
“I have only been here for 10 months and yet I have already learnt so much.” says Janvi enthusiastically.
Janvi has also recently released her debut EP called ‘Inside These Pages’. According to her, the EP represents the story of how she became a musician and it is the result of all the people she has met on her journey and inspired her. The first person she gives credit to is her friend Ainesh. He often collaborates with her and helps her to pen down the lyrics of her songs. Two of the songs in the album are a joint effort by them. However, even though she had written a few of the songs in the album by 2013 itself, she had to leave them in the middle. But once she reached Musicians Institute, Hollywood, inspiration struck her again in 2015. She began to jam with some amazing musicians from school and one of them was Alejandro Garay, who is currently a drummer in the Trio, her band. She also met the multi-talented instrumentalist Alejandro Lopez, her current bass guitarist. After the formation of the Trio, everything fell into place for Janvi and she released her EP by the first week of October 2015 itself.
Janvi continues to live the fullest of her musical dream in Hollywood. She has already started working on the material for her next album by the Trio and plans on releasing it in fall this year, post her graduation. She has recently started with a video series with her band too, where they are posting a video every alternate Friday. She is currently also working with an EDM producer from MI, Anthony Arocho. They are recording our first album together and it is set to be released this summer.
