5 questions with… tanisha deka

Emerging artist Tanisha Deka crafts intimate, folk-leaning pop that sits in the space between vulnerability and quiet resilience. With stripped-back production and raw lyricism, her music explores intimate topics we often struggle to grapple with. Delicate, yet emotionally heavy, she creates a softness to her sound that feels closer to confession rather than performance, As her debut EP ‘everything i know’ begins to find its audience, Deka has established herself as a voice for those navigating the complexities of a messy connection.

We caught up with Tanisha for a quick 5 Questions With… to talk song writing, influences and what she’s been listening to louder than usual lately.

what first made you want to start writing and releasing music?

I listened to a lot of Taylor Swift when I was a kid, and I just loved how she sang and played the guitar. She was the reason I asked my parents for a guitar for Christmas when I was 13, and from there, I tried my hand at songwriting.

I realized that although I loved singing and playing cover songs, there was something special about creating music that was entirely my own. Songwriting helped me express my emotions in a new, cathartic way and it quickly became my go-to whenever my feelings were overwhelming or I needed to process something.

when you’re writing a song, do you usually start with a specific lyric, melody, or feeling? talk us through your process.

Most of my songs start with spontaneous ideas that pop into my head, whether it’s a lyric, melody, or concept. Sometimes a line pops into my head and I write it down so I can build a song off it later; sometimes there’s a general feeling or concept that I want to write about; and sometimes, I’ll come up with a line or two of melody that I start with.

Most of the time, I don’t really have a set process for writing music — it’s just whatever I feel inspired by. I will say, however, that if my mind is blank and I sit down to try and write a song with no inspiration or spontaneous ideas to start with, I’ll generally begin by coming up with a chord progression on the guitar, then put a melody to that chord progression, and then put lyrics to that melody.

in “i’ll never learn'“ there’s a real tension between recognising something isn’t good for you and still feeling pulled back to it. when writing that song, what parts of that emotional push and pull felt most important to capture?

I really wanted to capture the struggle between cognitively knowing that a relationship is toxic and that the other person isn’t right for you, but emotionally feeling so attached to them that it feels like an addiction; you just can’t seem to let go no matter how much they hurt you.

I wanted to express how it felt to love the wrong person and to justify to yourself why it’s okay to stay, because I did a lot of mental gymnastics trying to convince myself things weren’t actually that bad or that it would get better with time when I knew deep down that that wasn’t the truth.

I also wanted to capture some of the resignation that I felt as I was dealing with this push and pull, where I felt like I was almost just accepting that I would never be able to let go of this person and I would continue to let them treat me terribly, because I just wasn’t strong enough to resist my feelings for them and remove myself from the situation.

was there a song in “i’ll never learn” that surprised you while writing or recording it?

“meant to be mine” surprised me when I was writing it because I went into it with no inspiration. Usually when I write, it’s to express some feeling, but occasionally, I’ll just start writing and see what comes out (and sometimes, this opens my eyes to emotions I didn’t even realize I was feeling).

I started writing “meant to be mine” while I was sitting by the lake and just letting the words come to me, and it made me realize that I had a pattern across relationships of staying in situations that didn’t serve me and holding on to people that were obviously wrong for me; this song actually kind of ended up setting the theme for the whole EP.

what have you been listening to louder than usual lately?

I’ve been listening to the album “Older” by Lizzy McAlpine a lot! The lyricism is so beautiful and I’m in love with the chord progressions. This album always inspires me to write.

Follow Tanisha Deka on Instagram and stream her debut ep ‘everything i know’ on all major platforms.

Written by Caitlin Kennedy-Sheerin.