Carving out a path for myself in this male-dominated industry– Deane Sequeira

Brought up with Music

Deane grew up in Mumbai in a home where music was religion, with music across genres & generations. Deane was surrounded with music by Abba to Eagles, Michael Jackson to Metallica, Justin Bieber to Eminem and the likes. Her dad played the guitar all the time, and this was her first exposure to music. She grew up in a close Goan family, and karaoke was a regular feature in her childhood. Her mom always loved dressing & styling her up, and she loved posing for pictures. This has influenced her love for fashion that is a bit funky.

Around 14, Deane loved writing poetry. She discovered Eminem’s ‘Love the Way You Lie’ and B.O.B.’s ‘Airplanes’ and the songs stuck with her. She tried to learn the songs from YouTube and she persisted and perfected herself. Once she learned the flow of rap, she blended it with the poetry she had written. She used to miss her dad, who was in Tanzania and during this time she wrote a lot of songs. 

As Deane says, my first inspiration is definitely my dad and second owns to Nicki Minaj. Nicki Minaj was quite an influence in the way she appears in her youtube channel. Her family and friends never stopped her from following her dreams and she aims to do better with that confidence and support everyday.

When 2 musicians collaborate, magic happens! 

Deane loves collaborating and meeting new artists. Everyone brings a new flavor into the picture and a dose of rap spices it up further according to Deane. Her most memorable collaboration was on a song with Viva Girl Pratichee Mohapatra for facebook- Priyanka Chopra Social for Good Campaign. The song “Kya thi Meri Galti” produced by Ram Sampat is one of her favorite songs with a strong message and straight in the head Rap lyrics that firmly emphasize women empowerment. She loves supporting causes like women’s empowerment and equality through her songs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZJvjOOP81A

Translating emotions into words through songs

Deane believes in translating her emotions into words through songs. In one of her song “Highway Angel”, which she has been working on she writes about a road accident she went through. After her car was hit and got damaged, she was bleeding profusely, but no one empathized, cared or stopped to help. It was a Goods Van driver with many deities’ frames and a humble family who stopped by to take her & her family to the hospital for treatment. It would be a different day if it wasn’t for these Highway Angels who came from nowhere on time to save us. 

Hip-hop music in India is more male-dominated.

Deane considers herself lucky to have received support from her family and the Music Industry. But when it comes to her music, she believes she is at a disadvantage because hip-hop is more male-dominated. Carving out a space for herself in the hip- hop rap industry has been hard but not impossible for Deane who loves challenges and has made it big today. She is an inspiration to other spring female rappers.

Road to success 

Deane was 15 and studying for her 10^th board exams when Bollywood ace duo music directors Sachin-Jigar called her to their studio and offered her to rap & pen the Rap portions for the title song “Bezubaan” from Remo Fernandes’s film ABCD (AnyBody Can Dance). This was a challenge and a chance she had to take. She knew how to balance it out and went with her study books to their studio and recorded the song, which till date is a superhit and on repeat mode for many. 

She has also sung in many Bollywood movies like ‘Student of the Year 2’, ‘Welcome Back’, Purani Jeans, Luv U Soniyo, Netflix Series & many big brand Commercial Jingles. She feels fortunate to have worked with most of the A- List Bollywood Music Producers Directors, Arrangers & programmers, be it Vishal-Shekhar, Pritam, Sajid-Wajid, Sachin-Jigar, Meet Brothers, Rochak Kohli Vipin Patwa, Aditya Dev and many others.

Life with Family

She has boundaries and doesn’t like work interfering with her vacation time and family time. Whenever she is relaxed and has an idea, she focuses on her work. The first two months of the lockdown were great for Deane because she connected with her family and focused on a lot of important things. She got a chance to disconnect from work and think about where she wanted her life to go later.

Be yourself, Be Original 

Deane’s advice to people is never to be afraid of failure or rejection.Try and push your boundaries, but If one is really not comfortable with what they’re doing they shouldn’t be hard on themselves, The world is full of opportunities and one setback shouldn’t be a deal breaker.It’s important to stay grounded but also celebrate ones achievements.