Set your soul on fire!

Soulful is an appropriate term to describe gifted singer Natasha Rathnayake. Anyone who meets her for the first time, will realize that Natasha Rathnayake is very special and possesses great insights into life. Melodies features this unique singer who is at once spiritual, genuine and extremely ambitious and definitely a leader in life.

“Talking about my beginnings, it was an extremely humble one, full of struggles and tears. I’d like to think that, singing is my way of releasing all my pent up emotions growing up as a child. This was my outlet of release and healing. My childhood was never a pleasant one. So I found it in my strength to channel all those emotions to music and song. You could say, a cry from my deeper soul. Hence the power of singing, I presume,” explains Rathnayake.

Once Rathnayake took to singing there was no stopping her. She just fell in love with it and now she has an incredibly successful career. Singing has given her wings and made people fall in love with her.

“I was singing since I was seven. I was the youngest chorister in the church choir. I couldn’t even read at that age. It was as if I was pushed in to the deep end and was asked to sing with all the big akkies and because I was the youngest of them all, I was called Baby Natty. Singing was probably never my dream at that point but once I got into singing there was no stopping me. Not only did it become my dream, but my obsession! I couldn’t imagine my life doing anything else,” said Rathnayake.

She has always been fascinated by powerhouse, soulful African American voices. She grew up listening to Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight and the list goes on. In addition to being famous and influential she is also very spiritual.

“I have no doubt that my talent is from my creator (My higher self). We all have hidden talents that we discover later on in our lives, and this was mine. Singing is the one thing that truly makes me happy. It is the one thing that helps me be present with myself. I believe, singing is an inbuilt human instrument that can only be tapped by people who truly love music,” pointed out Rathnayake.

Her lyrics truly portray the passion within her. They truly portray her innermost self.

“I mostly write and I co-write, and yet other times, I pick a talented lyricist who can capture the essence of my story better. It really depends on my situation and circumstance in that time and space. Sometimes I like to speak about a particular pressing subject, and yet other times I end up writing feel good lyrics that transcends all boundaries and barriers, focusing on enjoying the moment,” said Rathnayake

She could have done anything else in the world but she says that she chose the field of music because it simply makes her happy. When you heed your calling in life and do what you love doing happiness follows.

“True I could have done anything else in life. I could have, but that wouldn’t have made me happy. I’m an extremely creative person and I believe this was what I was destined to do and the universe did the rest. I’ll sing as long as I have the passion to do so. There’s many things I still have to learn and conquer about myself, before I conquer the world.

“I am fascinated with the human psyche, yoga, the amazing benefits it holds for all of us, intuitive natural medicine, health and nutrition, conspiracies of the world. In other words, I’m a student of life, always searching and hungry for the truth,” explains Rathnayake

Rathnayake is so talented that she has even got international airplay in addition to being really huge in Sri Lanka. Her first album was a gospel album which was about 10 years ago. There after she has released many singles that have continued to get international airplay and most of them going in to international radio chart shows.

“The title of my first album is ‘My Obsession’. Runaway, Get up on my feet, Let it go, More than free, Worship my body, play for the game, Karma, Gammadda, Takin’ it off, Shake that, Set you free are some of the popular songs that got international airplay. I appreciate all of them as every song is significant to me in its own right and a reflection of my growth as an artiste.

“There are so many long term and short term goals, dreams, ambitions! Considering I am a Sri Lankan living in this part of the world and believing that I still have the potential, winning a Grammy seems like a long shot but the dream still exists or has been for a while. Then there’s the short term goals like being the best version of myself in the very thing I choose to give my attention to. Choose a career that’s your passion, and you will never work a day in your life, ever again,” pointed out Rathnayake

Doing things that ‘set your soul on fire’ is what she says we should all do. She does not believe in pruning the youth and making them copies of what adults want. Individuality and being unique are things she values greatly.

“The best advice I can possibly give to young people is to do the things that make them happy. Things that set their soul on fire! Not what others think they should do but what they truly see themselves doing. Most parents try to live their dreams through their children’s lives and I see a lot of that happening in Sri Lanka, which I think is horribly unfair and selfish.

The children need to find themselves without being influenced by anyone. It should be solely their decision. It’s okay to make mistakes. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Mistakes are a part of learning. Protecting is a whole different thing to stifling their own children’s growth and god given talents. What’s important is that they have a shot at expressing their individuality,” added Rathnayake.

Some of the artistes she admires are Chaka Khan, Steve Wonder, Gladys Knight, Erykah Badu, India Arie, Alicia Keys, Bruno Mars, Arantha Franklin.

“All these artistes possess dynamic individuality and soulfulness in their voice quality. They don't let the world, nor any record label define their music. It is they that determine what or how they should sound like, and that’s a powerful statement to make to big corporations that literally run the world.

As a kid, I have always been fascinated by powerhouse, soulful, African American voices. There are artistes that are singers, and then there are artists that can tell a story through their voice and music, and the above artistes do just that,” emphasized Rathnayake

Rathnayake has a powerful support system in her life. What sustains her in life is her higher self and core beliefs. This includes everything she has learned over the years without the interferences from cultural, religious and social conditioning.

“My inner circle know me for who I am and not for what I’ve become. I want to thank my higher self, my late grandma for loving me for the way she did and for teaching me the finer things in life, my husband for always supporting me and pushing me to be the best version of myself, my parents for giving me a chance at life, and for every single person who has taken time off from their busy schedules to hate and put me down - those who thought I was never good enough, because of you, I’m a better person today who has achieved great things in life!,” said Rathnayake

Rathnayake is one of those people who have a lot to share with the world. She also believes that you should treat others in life the way you want to be treated.

“I want to use all my talents and gifts to the best of my ability to first make myself happy, before sharing it with the world. Only by making myself happy will I know how to make another happy. To me health is wealth. No riches in the world would mean a thing, if I ended up sick. I live life on my terms. Not worrying about what people think or say about me. Knowing that there’s only one of me in this whole wide world is rather humbling. I have always been a leader, never a follower,” summed up Rathnayake.