Raveena Aurora

Aurora mentioned that she would always audition for Broadway musicals but she said that "there were no roles for little Indian girls". She also mentioned that people told her many times that she can't be expected to sign a record deal if she was an Indian woman and them saying that "It's not gonna work", but she said that "It never became about signing a deal at that point. I was just like, 'I don't need to rely on these things, it's gonna work if it's meant to happen.'"[16] She would also sing for church services.[18] When she was 18, Aurora independently released her first single and music video, "Grey Eyes" on December 4, 2012, in YouTube. Along with her old EP, Where We Wander which was released independently on February 19, 2013, but she later made them private.[19]

During her beginning of her career, she was denied by multiple record labels. She said, "I would have label meetings and people would be like 'we can't sign you, you're brown', to my face they would tell me 'there's no space for you.' I was forced to build the infrastructure myself. I hope that the people who have control over that infrastructure start to support marginalized artists really early on. It's such a hard phase when you're in it, and it breaks a lot of people."[20][16]

She worked many full-time jobs, like nannying or even had worked at her first job in American Apparel as a sales associate and saved to spend her money to self-fund her music projects.[21][22] When she was 21, she met and started working with record producer Everett Orr in 2015.[10] She and Orr continued releasing singles "You Give Me That",[23] "Johnny It's the Last Time"[24] and "Something's Gotta Give" on SoundCloud in 2016.[25] She amassed a sizable online following after the release of her first EP, Shanti in December 2017. Shanti explored themes of self-love and healing, and blended R&B, soul, and jazz music.[26] Her debut EP drew praise from Sidney Madden of NPR for her "cool delivery and chill-inducing falsetto runs" and "astute songwriting chops".[27] She directed several of her own music videos where she displayed her Indian heritage and "rich interiority of women of color like herself".[28] The third track of the EP, "No Better" is included as a soundtrack for the 2020 romantic drama film, All My Life.[29] She also released a bonus track for the EP, "Wherever U Go" on January 12, 2018.[30]

Aurora performed her 2018 single "If Only" on the global music platform, COLORS, in January 2018 in which her popularity rapidly increased.[22] On June 6, 2018, Aurora announced in social media her first headline tour, Woman is Holy Tour, a reference to her own lyric from the 2018 single "If Only".[31][32]

In the summer of 2018, she was included in ModCloth's Say It Louder campaign, which aimed to celebrate individuality and strong female icons in music. She was featured alongside other outspoken female musicians like Lizzo, Awkwafina and Hayley Kiyoko.[33] In November 2018, she performed at Tyler, The Creator's Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival.[34]

On October 23, 2018, Aurora released a new single, "Temptation" and came out as bisexual.[35][11]

In March 2019, Aurora co-headlined the Java Jazz Festival in Jakarta, Indonesia, with H.E.R and Toto.[36]

On May 31, 2019, she released her debut album Lucid, distributed through Empire Distribution.[37] Lyrically, she explored sensuality, healing from trauma, and spirituality; through tracks like "Stronger" and "Salt Water", she opened up about her experience as a sexual assault and abuse survivor between the age of 17 and 22.[10][38][17] Lucid was met with very positive reviews. Sidney Madden of NPR described Lucid as "comforting but nuanced, balancing cultures old and new by mashing up contemporary R&B with traditions from the South Asian diaspora".[39] In a track review for the penultimate track, "Petal", Vrinda Jagota from Pitchfork wrote: "over the course of 12 songs, her sound becomes bolder and clearer, finding strength in everything from sun showers to her mother's resilience to her own femininity and womanhood".[40] To support her album, Aurora announced in social media that she embarked on her second headlined tour, Lucid Tour, on June 14, 2019.[41] "Lucid" was named one of the "Best Albums of 2019" by NPR.[42] Aurora's 2019 single "Stronger" was named one of the "100 Best Songs of 2019" by Noisey.[43]

On February 7, 2020, Aurora released her second four-track EP, Moonstone through Empire Distribution and Moonstone Recordings LLC, her own label.[2] It was released after a week of her single, "Headaches". The EP blends psychedelic indie pop with soul. Moonstone explored her past relationships and her own identity.[8]

On February 5, 2021, Aurora released a new single and music video, "Tweety".[44][45]

In 2022, she signed to Warner Records and she announced her sophomore album, Asha's Awakening, in January 2022.[9] The record was created as a concept album from the perspective of a Punjabi space princess.[1] The release was preceded by the singles "Rush" and "Secret," with the latter featuring American rapper Vince Staples.[46] Asha's Awakening was released on February 11, 2022, and received acclaim from music critics.[47] Eric Torres from Pitchfork said that it is "a throat-clearing moment for the singer, drawing on both Western and South Asian inspirations and collaborations for a blend of dance-friendly R&B songs and soothing ballads, each of which stands on her distinctive, quiet strength."[48] In the track, "Time Flies", she opened her experience on having an abortion at age 21.[49] Asha's Awakening was included as the "Best Albums of 2022 So Far" by Rolling Stone[50] and also by Clash[51] and NPR.[52] "Rush" was included as "The Best Songs of 2022 So Far" by Rolling Stone.[53] On December 1, 2022, Asha's Awakening was included in Rolling Stone's "The 100 Best Albums of 2022" and ranked in 84.[54]

To promote Asha's Awakening, Aurora embarked on an Asha's Awakening national tour that lasted from 15 April 2022 to May 28, 2022.[55][56] She headlined of the 2022 Coachella Music Festival. She became the first woman of Indian descent to perform as a solo artist at Coachella Music Festival.[57]

On November 5, 2022, she announced that she embarked a Latin America Tour where she performed at Primavera in Brazil, Buenos Aires and Chile. She also performed at Corona Capital in Mexico City,[58] and she made her India debut and performed at Lollapalooza India in Mumbai, India, on January 29, 2023.[11] She was featured on King Krule's track "Seagirl" in his fifth album, Space Heavy.[59]

Aurora cites Asha Puthli as one of her greatest inspiration and influence. She grew up listening to Bollywood soundtracks, especially to 70s and 80s music.[60] When she was 8 years old, she was first introduced to the music of singers Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday.[17] Her other influences that she drew heavy inspirations are Nina Simone, Minnie Riperton,[6] Corinne Bailey Rae, Sade,[7] rock band Fleetwood Mac,[16] Stevie Wonder, D'Angelo[10] and Björk. She also grew up listening to Indian musicians Asha Bhosle,[61] Lata Mangeshkar, R D Burman[60] and Ravi Shankar. When writing for Lucid, Feist, Sade, Kadhja Bonet, Asha Puthli and Björk were her influences for her album.[62] She cited the British-Sri Lankan rapper M.I.A. as an influence as during her teenage years, she only had M.I.A. that represent "some version of herself".[17] She focused and watched her go to mainstream music, M.I.A. showed and proven Aurora that it was possible for her to go to mainstream as well. Speaking to NME, she said that "When I saw someone like M.I.A. go mainstream, I thought this is a path I could potentially take." When she started listening to Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, they inspired her to be a singer, saying, "Once I heard their voices, I was hooked, there was no turning back. I really fell in love with the voice and how to use it and study it and be as expressive with it as possible."[22]

Aurora has been described as a R&B,[63] soul,[64] jazz,[65] experimental,[6][44] contemporary R&B and pop[13] singer. The subject of her songs are based on her personal experiences.[60][11] Her lyrics refer to variety of themes, such as identity politics, sexuality,[11] heartbreaks, hardships, and mental struggles.[13] She stated that she had always found songwriting to be a form of catharsis and having music as a way to process and reflect on her experiences "saved" her.[13][11] Before making Shanti, she said, "I wrote hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of songs before my first project. Good songwriting is the heart of any person's success, so I felt like the only thing I could do is write good songs to prove myself."[16]