After 14 years of touring the world with Delhi 2 Dublin, SNJÜ is reconnecting with his roots with the debut of his solo release. “Jealousy” is a spacey synth track produced by Vancouver’s KULTARGOTBOUNCE. A labour of electro-pop love, the track is influenced by SAINt JHN, Roy Woods, and The Weeknd. “Jealousy” takes you on a journey exploring the push and pull between love and desire.
Amplify had a chance to catch up with him and pop a few questions his way. This is what he had to say.
After touring the world for 14-years with Delhi 2 Dublin, are there any memories you’d like to share of your experiences?
Where do I start? It is like a lifetime of memories, D2D has lasted longer than a lot of marriages out there! I mean, we’ve played in Brunei with permission from the Sultan’s advisors to playing six shows within 52 hours at Burning Man. Checked into flights ahead of Tommy Lee in line, crowd surfed in canoes and sold out the iconic Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver like six times. Eaten deep-fried insects with fermented rice wine in Nagaland, India to crawfish and drive-thru margaritas in Louisiana. We have met Prince William and Princess Kate right after playing to over 150k people on Parliament Hill to just one person in a club in Iowa City. Top of the list might be the police escort we had clearing traffic for us from the airport to the venue during peak rush hour traffic in Jakarta, that was a powerful feeling. But this is all just the tip of the iceberg… It has been one hell of a trip, everything after all this is just pure bonus!
So, after all that you decide to put out solo music. How was that experience?
Yeah, what the hell am I thinking?! (laughs) Honestly, it’s been amazing. There are things in life that you do that just feel right and this is one of those. It couldn’t have happened at any other time, so it kind of feels like everything I’ve ever done in my life has been setting me up for this moment. Everything is just flowing with such ease, and things feel light and joyful. I have an amazing team behind me and I’m just having a lot of fun right now!
Tell us about your writing process for “Jealousy”?
I worked with KULTARGOTBOUNCE on this one, it was pre-COVID at his studio and he started working up the beat. I got on the mic and let the universal flow do its thing. Sounds “woo woo” but this is how I approach all the sessions. I trust the moment, I trust the vibe and, and fully recognize that this is just an energy flowing through me. The more I am open to this, the faster the flow seems to be. This was our fourth song together and KGB had me figured out after the first song we did, so he let me do my thing. After that session though the song sat for a while, he was just too busy to have me in again. Then COVID happened and I was like, “this is never gonna get done.” I finished off lyrics with my co-writer KC Strome and patiently waited until I was able to go in again to lay the final vocals down. When it did finally happen, the session was so rushed because he had limited time so I basically finished the last line and was like, “ok peace bro, hope it all worked out, can’t wait to hear the final!” I mean I could have just recorded them at home, but KGB’s energy is addictive, I wanted him in the room to finish this one.
“Jealousy” is a powerful electro-pop song. How do you think this track fits into the current state of the world, with everyone being home and isolated?
It’s perfect. All I want is for people to light a joint and get it on to my music. “Jealousy” is perfect for staying home and doing exactly that. It is an escape from the swiping of social media and the negatively focused news. There is trauma that will surface in people from this time, and I know that many people are already having a hard time so any way to escape for a couple of minutes is awesome, if “Jealousy” can do that for someone then that’s more magical than anything I could have ever asked for.
Do you have any hobbies/interests outside the music business?
Does psychedelic mind exploration count as a hobby? For real though, since COVID I have been doing a lot of Joe Dispenza’s meditations, I have developed a daily practice and for a couple of months, I was meditating almost two hours a day. It is pretty awesome to have a career that counts as a hobby too, I mean there isn’t much I’d rather do than make music. However, I do snowboard and go to the gym. And for the last couple of years, I’ve lived on an incredible Island off the coast of Vancouver called Galiano so I’ve started trail running which is awesome, it’s like being in the trees and running around like an Ewok – feels pretty fantastic! Other than that, I spend my time being a dad, discussing the end of our current financial system, or puffing on some local green.
At the end of a hard day, what do you like to listen to when you relax and spin some discs? What are discs? Jokes. There are some local Vancouver artists that I’m feeling at the moment, TRES6IX, Kid Sharif, and REVÈ. Then my big-time go-tos are Swae Lee, Gashi, 6lack and then there is my number one favorite artist, possibly of all time, SAINt JHN – I’m feeling his stuff on a molecular level, like huge. I can’t remember ever being connected to music more than his!
ABOUT SNJÜ
Spark one, get close, candles optional. SNJÜ is the rousing new solo project coming to us from Canadian singer-songwriter, Sanjay Seran. This is not the party music we are used to hearing from the Delhi 2 Dublin frontman. Instead, this intimate collection from Vancouver’s “Vibes Darling” reveals SNJÜ turning drastically inwards.
SNJÜ’s connection to music was cemented before he could ride his tricycle around his Richmond neighbourhood, a suburb in Metro Vancouver. Born to Singaporean-Punjabi immigrants, he grew up cutting the rug at the basement dance parties his parents threw on special occasions. Family friends would gather and hustle to a mix of everything from Bollywood and bhangra, to ABBA. Constantly tuned into the family’s favourite radio stations, his childhood passed in 4/4 time singing along to Diana Ross, Lionel Richie and Madonna.
Being a child of immigrants wasn’t carefree, but he had a solid home baseline. That steady beat skipped in grade four when his mother was diagnosed with cancer. When she died, SNJÜ was 17 years old. Her death was the beginning of what would become a theme of loss in his teens and early adulthood as other people close to him passed away. These cumulative knocks built up an urgency within SNJÜ to dedicate himself to his passion and purpose – music.
Fortunately, SNJÜ’s highschool had an extracurricular vocal jazz ensemble – led by a dedicated instructor that encouraged him to keep singing. After high school, SNJÜ joined a dhol drumming crew and sang his way into the hearts of peers who rallied in support and pushed him to pursue music professionally. His response was Signia – his own spin on a bhangra-pop act that caught the attention of a coordinator for the Vancouver-based Celtic festival. He invited SNJÜ to perform a set with a group of local musicians on the Delhi to Dublin night of their week-long festival. The crowd went nuts – the feeling was mutual. With SNJÜ as their frontman, the stage members formed a new band – Delhi 2 Dublin.
“D2D” became a runaway train tracking routes across the globe. The demand for their “Subcontinental Pop” performances soon had them rocking hundreds of shows a year including performances at Burning Man and Glastonbury. Warner Canada took notice and offered them a deal in 2018, producing We Got This, an album of songs loaded with heart, heat and hope for a world that could become too busy loving to hate. SNJÜ had the surreal experience of hearing himself singing on commercial radio for the first time.
SNJÜ’s first solo project is a labour of electro-pop love with influences from his early encounters with music, as well as contemporary inspirations such as SAINt JHN and 6lack. More than anything, SNJÜ’ is reconnecting with his childhood dream and his deep sense of creative purpose. If you want in on that connection, join SNJÜ on this trip, take a hit and pass it around – your new go-to-vibes for getting “elevated in love.”
