"Men in our cultures are just not up to par": South-Asian Artists Shreea Kaul & REHMA satirise the search for ‘a suitable boy‘
Words by Nour Khairi and Dalia Al-Dujaili, Interview by Dalia Al-Dujaili.
Vikram Seth’s ‘A Suitable Boy’, set in post-partition India, follows the story of Mrs. Rupa Mehra and her efforts to arrange the marriage of her younger daughter, Lata, to a "suitable boy". The book’s themes aren’t too unlike those of Houston-based Shreea Kaul’s & LA-Based REHMA’s newest bilingual banger ‘Ladke’ (meaning “boys”), with the two girls on a quest to find boys that can step up to manhood to the same extent that the girls have stepped up to their womanhood. But the tone is, to say the least, a little more fitting to our zeitgeist.
The tantalising music video, produced largely by a team of South Asian women and directed by Priya Minhas, shows the female protagonists experiencing the exhausting aspects of romantic relationships whilst also juggling cultural stereotypes and difficulties, but with a humorous twist. It begins with a viewer discretion warning stating that “some material may be sensitive for men under 30” before opening with Shreea going through a queue of different men and their parents while remaining completely unimpressed by all of them. Later, REHMA sings, “had me so unsatisfied I said my ex's name / Happily get more dopamine from a bag of weed / Than I ever get from you,” as her boyfriend is shown lost in a video game while his mother folds his laundry. These cutting lyrics and exaggerated satire explore the struggles of an army of women who have attempted to embody the South Asian dutiful girlfriend/wife/daughter/mother and are, quite frankly, sick of the lack of effort on the behalf of their male counterparts. It’s brutally honest; unapologetic yet comical.
Initially released on 12 October, Shreea Kaul’s first single since changing her name from Shreya hopes to hark in her new era. The single was placed in several Spotify editorial playlists including Fresh Finds, Fresh Finds: R&B, Fresh Finds: The Wave, Fresh Finds India, Women of Indie India, Pakistani Indie Rising, and Pakistani Pop. Here, Shreea and REHMA, both with strikingly strong artistic voices and a clear idea of what they want to say, tell AZEEMA more about the motivations behind the song and its video and the process behind their collaboration.
Tell us a bit about your backgrounds and how you got into music.
Shreea: So, I was born in India. I came to the States when I was around seven. My early music influences ranged from Hilary Duff to Etta James to Aretha Franklin, a lot of huge soul and funk figures. I've written songs since I was eight or nine. But I don't think my artistic pursuits were encouraged considering the background I came from. I just left them on the back-burner. In high school, I joined choir (as a lot of singers do), I was in theatre, and through this, I got to explore a lot of the different creative elements of myself that I was encouraged to almost suppress. And I thought; Well, why don't I just continue?
College is when I got to explore making my own music. I wanted to venture into R&B as I felt it was the best space for me to add my cultural elements. I’m a huge Bollywood junkie and a huge cultural junkie, which has influenced a lot of my music. I'm still very close to my roots. I’ve always known that I was going to incorporate those cultural features in my music. It is hard with fusion music because there’s not many artists you can use as a frame of reference. In my previous projects, you can see hints of me incorporating Hindi and classical Indian sounds, but I definitely feel like ‘Ladke’ was the first step towards an effortless seamless blend.
Fusion is a really great way to describe what you’re doing. REHMA, tell us a bit about you and your role on this new track.
REHMA: I hopped on the song because I don't think anyone's doing it as dope as Shreea. And it was such an easy process. We did it all virtually and connecting with Shreea was huge. To be able to do this in a pandemic was hard so it’s super cool for this to come to fruition.
I am kind of similar, I was also a choir kid, and the child of Pakistani immigrants. Naturally, I was just listening to whatever they were listening to on the radio, which was the 90s top hits. I put out my first song when I was 13 on SoundCloud. And I started recording professionally with my last producer when I was 17. My EP ‘Mercy’ dropped when I was 20 and I think it did pretty well for an independent project. I think that's why Shreea was interested because she saw that we have the same ethic. Fusion and cultural representation can be a bit ‘cringey’ sometimes if it’s not done well, and representation is an important thing; it is so necessary for people right now. So for us to be able to do it in an effortless and organic way is just dope.
Can you tell us more about the motivations behind ‘Ladke’ and the lyrics?
Shreea: From a younger age, we as women, especially South Asian women, have so much pressure put on us to manage different things and wear different hats at once. But men are not put through the same rigorous training and levelled against the same societal expectations. So a lot of the time, we find that men in our cultures are just not up to par, whether it be emotionally, financially, and so on. It just gets so frustrating to constantly have to deal with the same archetype over and over again. I was like; dang, is this just me? A lot of it is inspired by true events that either happened to me or my friends. The dynamic is cool too – my verse shows the perspective of a grown woman that has to deal with things like finances and learning adult responsibility, while Rehma’s verse is a great contrast which appeals to more younger audiences and represents many of the male archetypes in hook-up culture.
REHMA: …But both verses are universal in that men are going to be hurt after hearing them! [laughs]
Did you feel any cultural pushback breaking down tropes and stigmas as South Asian women?
Shreea: My natural artist personality is; “I don’t give a f*ck”, I will say it like it is. But in my experience, it was just an outpouring of love, even from the dudes.
REHMA: I will say though, Shreea comes from an Indian background and in Bollywood, for example, being sensual as a woman and criticising male attitudes isn’t frowned upon in that context as much as it is in Muslim countries. But I would also say that the support from both Indian and Pakistani listeners has been insane to see. And to see women all agree on these experiences and be unapologetic about it is amazing, [laughs]. A national phenomenon of women being like, “yeah, f*ck these dudes”. The only real criticism I get is on Instagram from 40-year-old Pakistani male trolls saying, “show less skin!” and I’m like; bruh, that age is over.
You guys are so fun to talk to, we could go on forever! Lastly, where do you see yourself as fusion artists currently, and what’s next for you?
Shreea: I know it’s different for each South Asian artist but, naturally, I would like to be a pioneer in bringing South Asian music to a global level – the way Latin and K-Pop music are huge worldwide, for example, I would want that for South Asian music. Personally, I just want to drop songs more frequently for the first half of the new year. That's my goal, either a song every six weeks or an EP. I want to open for an artist and maybe go on a small tour. This is not set-in-stone, but those are definitely some goals of mine for this year.
REHMA: I agree with Shreea, and I’d also say that I’m not a fusion artist by nature… I pay homage to my culture visually, sometimes. But everywhere I go, it can often be a question about my identity and that can be exhausting. So I try to make this a very intentional process. Yes, I come from a South Asian background but we don’t have to spit in Urdu/Hindi to be a part of something. For my personal goals, I would say the same thing. I just want to start doing shows. I think for artists, doing shows is the most immediate feedback you can get.
@shreybaebee
Shreea’s South Asian artist recommendations and other musical influences she’s loving right now:
Rahul – ‘Antidote’
Priya Ragu – ‘Kamali’
REHMA – ‘Dreaming’, ‘Hit List’
Kali Uchis
SZA
Sir
Masego
Sabrina Claudio
Listen to ‘Ladke’ by Shreea Kaul ft. REHMA here.