Wish Girl Band | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Four-member pop girl band WiSH (the world is their stage), are back with their latest single ‘Therapy’, which touches on toxic relationships, red flags and detoxing through a “rousing declaration of independence”.
Launched in March 2024 by musician and producer Mikey McCleary in collaboration with Sony Music India, this Mumbai-based band creatively tells the importance of reclaiming one’s story and self-worth in a generation of complicated relationships.
The members of the WiSH band include Rie (Riya Duggal), Sim (Simran Duggal), Zoe (Zoe Siddharth) and Suchi (Suchita Shirke). HinduThe Wish Girls, who were recently in Bengaluru, discussed the inspiration behind their new song.
“With ‘Therapy’, we were really able to incorporate our own experiences. We felt we were able to connect with the message that was in the song and we hope our listeners feel the same way,” says Sim. The band works collaboratively by discussing and incorporating everyone’s ideas. She adds, “It’s a breakup song about letting go and moving on, and the music just felt right.”
Wish Girl Band | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
WiSH is India’s first girl group in almost 20 years, which makes them unique in the Indian music industry today. “From the moment we started, we knew that the audience was there,” says Ree. The support they received from the beginning made them realize that many people were happy to finally experience a pop girl band with different cultural elements in an Indian setting.
“Our main goal is to fill that gap and bring new dance music with a multilingual twist,” says Ree. Discussing future collaborations, Suchi expressed her interest in Afro and Spanish music. “There’s something about the sound of Spanish… Hindi and Spanish sound really good together,” says Sim. The band hopes they have introduced a new genre in the country – one that is neither Bollywood nor indie.
Combining different cultural elements and creating a context for their music involves an extensive creative process. For the WiSH girls, each song is different so they “don’t follow a formula”. At times, they write over beats suggested by their producer Mikey McCleary. An attempt to “level up” the energy of their previous songs, ‘Lazy’ and ‘Mistake’, McCleary added various “unique elements such as a graveyard of memories” and experimental costumes to her music videos.
With the changing nature of music listening and shortened versions of ‘trendy’ songs on social media, WiSH is confident that their music won’t get lost in the ephemeral algorithms.
“We don’t like to make music to suit trends, we don’t think about what it takes to make it a hit,” says Zoe. The band aims to strike the perfect balance between making music for the love of it and creating their own signature sound through music and dance. “The thing about good music is that it is timeless,” says Suchi.
Hinting at their next release, the girls said their next song is a “complete 180-degree change” from what the band has put out before.
Therapy is now available on all streaming platforms
