Q: I love the storytelling in “Fantasy.” What inspired you to write the song?
Gilska: I was in lockdown and overwhelmed with the amount of thoughts I had racing through my mind. Songwriting on the piano became my escape. It was a therapeutic way of channeling my overthinking. I also wanted to capture the essence of wanting precisely what you shouldn’t and having an impulse to indulge in more of it. My thoughts drew me to the temptation of social media and dating apps that surround our every day lives and how we cannot escape being drawn to feelings of wanting things we perhaps shouldn’t.
Q: Walk us through your writing and production process in making “Fantasy”
Gilska: It started off as a ballad I wrote on the piano. Something dark and emotional. But I felt like it had the potential to go somewhere else. I showed my producer the song and remember him playing around with loads of different sounds until we came across that initial synth hook sound that’s in the intro.
When I heard that sound I knew then that was going to set the tone for the rest of the song. My producer went on to lay the rest of the foundation to the track. The base and the drums were essential to lifting this song and making it exciting. We wanted this song to keep it’s darkness but also have a modern synth pop sound. Once the instrumentation was down we recorded the vocals and it all came together very quickly. It was a very natural and organic process.
Q: What first got you into music?
Gilska: Music is in my DNA. My grandpa was a famous pop star in his youth in Sri Lanka. I just remember also watching musicals like My fair lady and the sound of music and imitating the singers. I was classically trained and I studied musical Theatre growing up. I remember on MTV they would play music videos non-stop and I was obsessed with all the singers. But my initial influencers to get me into pop singing were Aretha Franklin, Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston.
Q: What has been one of the highlights of your music career so far?
Gilska: I’ve performed in many venues but the best venue I performed in has got to be Wembley stadium. I got to be a part of Voice in a million from 2015-2017.
Q: What has been, so far, your favourite song to perform and why?
Gilska: In terms of original music fantasy is my first release so I haven’t been able to perform it yet but I will be next year! In 2022 you can expect new releases coming out.
Q: What would you like to say to your fans out there?
Gilska: I’d like to thank everyone who’s supported me so far, it’s been overwhelming and I’m grateful! Look out for the official music video to Fantasy in January 2022!
I’m so excited to start my journey with you and see where life takes us. I hope you continue to enjoy my releases and keep on dancing and escaping with me.
Interviewed by Katrina Yang
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