Avanti Nagral Addresses the Messiness of Growing Up on Debut Album 'Quarter Life Crisis'

The pop-leaning eight-track record houses a number of sonic elements including punk, jazz and acoustic music

- DAVID BRITTO

OSCILLATING BETWEEN INDIA AND THE U.S. for half her life has left Mumbai-based singer-songwriter Avanti Nagral imbibing aspects of both cultures not only into her artistry, but as a person too. Over the years, Nagral has trained in devotional, Indian classical, Broadway and gospel music, which according to her have all made their way into her pop sound. Nagral also recounts how it was music that healed her when she was suffering from a brain virus that affected her vision as a 15-year-old. “I found my voice when I realized the healing impact that music had,” says Nagral.

Nagral has been releasing music since 2017 and has a number of singles under her belt as well as 2021’s fourtrack EP Double Standards. Now, the singer-songwriter has taken the leap to release her full-length eight-track debut album entitled Quarter Life Crisis. “I feel like an album is an opportunity to showcase a narrative, or a chapter of life, in a cohesive way,” says Nagral. She adds, “Even though streaming audiences don’t necessarily listen to full-length albums anymore, or at least in the way they used to, I think there is so much value in being able to build bodies of work to capture snapshots in time, both sonically and narratively.”