MUMBAI: Singer Jonita Gandhi who was born with music around her, shares a heartfelt story to Radioandmusic.com. Jonita who runs her own YouTube channel which has 795K subscribers. She regularly updates her fans with behind the scene stories and her songs. She even uses her channel as a platform to release her cover songs.

You started performing from a very young age to creating your own YouTube channel, releasing singles to now mentoring/Judge on a kid singing reality show. Did you see yourself achieving so much?

I honestly had no clue where my career as a singer would lead me. The 16-year-old version of me wrote in her diary about becoming famous one day, but I never really knew what that meant, and surely didn’t know how to get there. It seemed like a distant dream. Fast forward to today, I feel so blessed to be mentoring the kids on “Taare Zameen Par”, under the guidance and alongside Shankar ji, who I always dreamed of working with. Now to be able to sit beside him as a mentor to these talented kids seems so surreal. The journey from then to now has been humbling. I’ve learned so much so far and I know there is so much more to learn as I continue. I’m excited to see what the future holds.

During your musical journey, did you happen to pass a phase where you wanted to give up singing and change your career?

I think one of the clearest notions for me throughout life is that deep down inside, I know, and have always known, that singing is and will always be a big part of my life. There have been moments of self-doubt and fear of things not working out, and I’ve always been quite realistic about if things didn’t work out as a singer in the initial days that I would go back home and pursue a different career, but I’m really grateful that things worked out the way they did!

How did you learn to love Music, was it your environment that made you or was it something else?

My parents love music. I grew up with music playing at home all the time. My dad is a musician by hobby and has a band in Toronto. They rehearsed at our house and I’d often find myself singing and dancing along to those songs even when they weren’t rehearsing, but never where anyone could see or hear me or so I thought. My dad realized when I was quite young that I had a knack for music, so I started learning formally, but also worked on my own to learn songs I liked just by listening and trying. As I got older, I think we all knew that music was going to be a big part of my life. My dad even built a studio in our basement at home to help me be able to record and work on developing my abilities. I’m really grateful for all of that.

What are your upcoming plans for 2021 for your music?

I’m really excited about some of the projects I currently have lined up for release in 2021. I’m diving a bit deeper into the independent music scene and have a few singles that will be releasing over the next few months. I’ve collaborated with some really great artists and I can’t wait for you all to hear the songs! In addition to those, there are also a few film songs in the works, as well as covers for my YouTube channel. Stay tuned to my social media (@jonitamusic) to find out more about each project and when they’re releasing!

Is there any new thing you wish to focus on in 2021 and any old thing you wish to leave behind 2020?

This year I want to focus on doing things that truly make me happy and not just doing things because I have to do them. I want to be more intentional about the things I put my energy into. I’m also focussed a lot more on exploring song writing and getting developing some new skills along the way!