Prithvi making waves in independent music scene

Prithvi Prajosh, singer and songwriter from India, is making waves as an independent musician. Currently living in Los Angeles, one of Prithvi's achievements include writing a song on star India batsman Virat Kohli which was featured on the cricket website 'ESPNCricinfo'. 

So how did a computer science graduate transform into a musician? Well, it's an interesting story. Born in Kerala, the 28-year-old lived in Bengaluru in his early years before moving to Dubai. 

During his days of planning his career, Prithvi, like lakhs of Indians, chose to pursue engineering. He completed his degree in computer science from Manipal Institute of Technology in Mangaluru but he realised his passion lied elsewhere.

“It was a fun experience”, he tells DH. “But at the same time, it was not something I was very passionate about.” He was drawn to music. “One of my most memorable experiences was taking part in the Utsav Cultural Fest”. He then started working in a sales job for a cyber security firm in Dubai. Even as he worked, he began doing music on the side. He also attended many open mics. 

Prithvi told himself that his future lay in songwriting. “For the first time, I knew exactly what I wanted to do” he enthused. He applied for Berklee College of Music in Boston and got through after a grueling audition process.

“I got to interact with so many music industry professionals,” he said, commenting on the two-year diploma programme, which he felt was stunted because of the pandemic. His parents -- Prajosh Karunakaran and Sindhu Prajosh-- who live in Bengaluru, were completely supportive and “I learnt a lot” he said despite facing problems about the weather differences and learning music theory for the first time.  

Prithvi soon began producing positive results. His career highs include opening for the famous Indian musician, Adnan Sami. He was also featured on Virgin Radio FM, a well known Dubai radio station for English music. He was awarded the Best Upcoming Artist award by Social Mob, a Kochi-based music website in 2020 and is currently nominated for Best Male Vocalist award (2021). His latest song “I Miss You” got featured on Rolling Stone India a few days ago.

He has now been in Los Angeles for 7 months, surrounded by pop musicians and working on his own music and writing for others. “I’m trying to live that musician life”, he laughs. He started releasing number of single songs and an album in September 2020. He plans to release another album this September. He is currently collaborating with ASHWYN, a trending musician, also from Bengaluru.  

“My mom forced me to take piano lessons,” he says when asked about his early musical endeavours. But he felt it was dry and quit playing it within two years. Years later, he got interested in it again and learnt on his own. He was never trained in music but learnt the art through YouTube and listening to Beatles and Coldplay. His music is heavily influenced by these bands. Prithvi has recently startedlearning the Ukulele. 

Eyeing more opportunities, Prithvi hopes to someday work with Coldplay and Harry Styles. “I want to be one of the go-to songwriters in the industry,” he says. He also wants to help represent the south Asian demography of musicians in the field of western music, "as there is a lack of recognition despite the abundance of talent".