Interview by Brooke Gibbs.

Shanaya Silva, is an emerging artist hailing from Adelaide, South Australia. With a magnetic blend of contemporary R&B and dance, Shanaya's music serves as a canvas for a myriad of emotions. Her unique songwriting style and compelling voice weave a narrative that captivates audiences.

With her latest release, Standing Ovation, Shanaya creates the perfect dance anthem.

FMM: Yesterday must have been very exciting for you because you released a new single, Standing Ovation. How do you feel today?

SS: I feel so ecstatic. This is definitely one of my favourite songs I've written, so I was really excited to share it with the world. I feel like I'm finding my genre a bit more now, so a bit more RnB dance, I feel, is a lot more up my alley, so I feel like it's expressing that a fair bit. I'm feeling really excited that it's out for everyone to hear.

FMM: Amazing. What has the reaction been like so far? Have people reached out to say that they're loving this new single?

SS: Yeah, I've had very good feedback. I've had a lot of people come and tell me that they love it, which is really nice to hear. My friends are amazing. They a big support, and especially my family as well. They've been such a great support, and so they're always telling me I've done it again. I’m definitely growing as well with every song that I'm writing, which is always really nice to hear as well.

FMM: That sounds wonderful. It sounds like you've got a really good support network behind you and people that are loving what you put out there.

SS: Yeah, it's good.

FMM: And this is your third single now, and you've mentioned that this is your favourite one. What are some reasons that this is your favourite one?

SS: I think so. I definitely feel like it's a bit more upbeat from my other ones. I mean, my other singles, This Hard and Solitude, they are both upbeat, but I feel like this one's having a bit more groove and has a bit more of that bass and that kick that just carries through and it feels like a constant dance moment. You could hear it in a club, and I feel like it would be a banger. It would be a banger, you know what I mean? Even writing it, I felt like I was just a bit more in touch with my own genre and I'm growing as, like, a songwriter as well. And my producer, Bethan Maddison, she's amazing, so she definitely added her elements to it, which brought it to life. I feel like you can tell that it's growing as well, comparing to my other ones. I feel like it's been the best one that I've written, I feel. I hope everyone thinks that too.

FMM: Yeah, and you can see, when you talk about it, too, how happy and proud you seem of it. I feel like, as you mentioned, as an outsider, that growth reflects through compared to your other two singles as well. They're all great, but I feel like this one puts you into a new direction.

SS: Absolutely. I definitely feel like I'm slowly finding my sound and I definitely feel like I want to write more dance tracks, which I feel like is a lot my genre. I like to listen to dance music, so I like to carry it and use dance through my songs. Dua Lipa and Dom Dollar for instance, they're big influences to me. And of course, Beyonce, she's icon. They're three main ones that I've been really listening to lately that influence a lot of my music and following those directions.

FMM: Yeah, and we hope to hear some more great tracks from you as well. What are some of the inspirations behind Standing Oviation?

SS: Like I said, I really wanted to do a dance track. I am all about the bass, the kick, all that. I'm a rhythm section girl and so I write all my songs on my synthesiser before I give it to my producer. I wanted it to be very heavy in that aspect and I wanted to have like a faster BPM kind of thing and have something that people can dance to, something that's also catchy as well. All that inspo, like I said, came from artists like Beyonce, Dua Lipa, Dom Dollar, all that. I really love their music and I feel a lot of inspiration towards the way they write their rhythmic sections with their dance songs. I'm hoping that I'm slowly bringing that through my songs and getting that shown.

FMM: Yeah, I definitely feel like it's coming through and that's some great artists to draw inspiration from as well. I mean, everyone loves Beyonce and Dua Lipa.

SS: I'm waiting for her to announce that she's coming to Australia.

FMM: Definitely. Yeah, that would be a good one that everyone would want to go. I definitely feel like Standing Ovation would be a really fun song to also do live, so I feel like people would be able to dance to that in a live setting as well, which would be really fun to do.

SS: Hopefully very soon in the new future.

FMM: Yeah, I was going to ask if you have any live shows coming up or any opportunities to perform that live.

SS: Yeah, not at the moment. I had a couple of gigs prior a couple of months ago in October. But yeah, I would love to perform this live and I'm sure something will come up. I love performing. The stage feels like home to me. It really does. So any opportunity to get on stage and do it, perform for others, it's just such an ecstatic feeling and I definitely feel like performing Standing Ovation would be unreal. So very excited to do that in the near future.

FMM: Yes, and hopefully I can come out one day and see you live because it sounds like one of those songs that will be great to see live.

SS: Yeah. Yes, please do, please do.

FMM: And as I said before, so you've got three singles at the moment, so for anyone that may be coming across your music for the first time, do you want to maybe just give a short introduction to who you are and what your music stands for?

SS: Yeah. So I'm Shanaya Silva. I write RnB and dance music. It takes you on a journey, it's a storytell. I'm very much of a storyteller through my lyrics, but my rhythmics of my music and my instrumentation is very fiery, it's very energetic and very groovy. So if you love dance music, you love a bit of RnB. I'm sure you'd like my music.

FMM: I feel like people resonate with that too, because you were recently nominated for a People's Choice at the South Australia Music Awards. Congrats. Was that surprise or a shock to you?

SS: It really was. I was so shocked by it because obviously I hadn't released Standing Ovation just yet and I only had This Hard and Solitude out. So I was so grateful to be nominated for the People's Choice Award for RnB, funk and soul. That was a very exciting moment for me and it really just kind of showed hard work is paying off a little bit and it shows as well that there's people supporting me, which is really nice. It was a really pleasant surprise and I went to the awards ceremony and there were so many talented people there. Meeting them and engaging with them was amazing to see all the South Australian artists, which was great. So, yeah, it was a great moment to be nominated and that was like my first nomination ever for music, so that was a really special moment for me.

FMM: It's incredible to hear that experience too, because we've spoken to quite a few Adelaide artists and it sounds like the music community there is very close knit and supportive.

SS: Absolutely. The SA music scene is so supportive. It's very close. They always say Adelaide is Adelaide. You'll know anybody in Adelaide. Everybody knows everybody in Adelaide and everyone's so lovely, everyone's so supportive. It's a great network to start doing music in the state of South Australia.

FMM: I'm so happy to hear that, because a lot of people talk about having to go to big cities like Sydney or Melbourne, but sounds like you've found your market and your people in Adelaide.

SS: Absolutely. I mean, I definitely would love to perform Interstate and hopefully we'll get to in the near future, even internationally. That's the dream. But to start off here in Adelaide, it's great. The industry is small, but it's very close knit, like you said, and everyone's so supportive and it's great to have that when you're starting out, which is really nice.

FMM: I love to hear that. Sounds amazing. We're approaching the new year, so what are your plans for 2024? Are you going to do any EPs or write more music?

SS: Yeah, I'm of course, going to be writing more music. I'm writing music every day, all day. So plan is obviously to do a lot more singles and hopefully an EP will come out soon, whether that will be next year or the year after, it is definitely on the list of things to come and I cannot wait for when that day comes. But singles will be always dropping. Always.

FMM: Was there anything else you wanted to say about yourself or your music?

SS: Just give a listen to me. Stream my latest single, Standing Ovation. I hope you guys enjoy it. I loved making this one, I really did. I really just want the world to hear it because I think it's a bop and I really think people would love it.