Welcome to Mary Ann’s world of RnB

Like many kids from her generation growing up involved watching a lot of Disney Channel and ldquoVH1 RIP VH1rdquo she remarks for Mary Ann Alexander Hannah Montanarsquos double life of being a pop star and a normal teenager was inspiring as were her outfits And there were other young stars like my Justin Bieber who Mary Ann feels was wrongly hated on ldquoWhen Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas got together it was like whole two worlds collidingrdquo she exclaims There were also statelevel Margamkali performances she participated in It is an ancient ritual round dance of the Saint Thomas Christian Nasrani community in Kerala where dancers perform in a circle around a lighted brass lamp Nilavilakku to retell the life and mission of Saint Thomas the ApostleBut there were many other layers just like in Carnatic music that she trained in for a while that led Alexander to be the Gen Z RnB whiz kid from India who has caught the attention of international musicians In 2025 Mary Ann was the only Indian artiste to be selected for the Jameson Distilled Sounds 2025 programme curated by Grammy Awardwinning American RnB artiste Anderson Paak Paak mentored 20 artistes from across the world and genres for a week in Ireland Another Grammywinning artiste Kehlani whom she met at Lollapalooza Mumbai in January is one of her many Instagram followers An Instagram comment by SZA under one of her impromptu performance videos at Washington Square Park also gained more attention for Mary Ann in the USHer influences include listening to Michael Jackson with her dad ldquoBeat It is etched into my brainrdquo she says Her father would also play Kishore Kumar Lata Mangeshkar AR Rahman even Tibetan chants on his cassette player Her father has sung for over 80 films and jingles in Malayalam Tamil and other languages He even encouraged her to explore recording studios when free guiding her how to hold her headphones stand around the mic and not miss a beat in live performances But like many other Indian parents a career in performance arts was not presented as the first choice to Mary AnnldquoI had a really tough time deciding what I want to do in standard 11 the pressure just builds up I have a lot of interests I love food I love visuals I love packaging so many things So I just thought to myself lsquoWhat do I do Do I become a tattoo artiste Do I become a chef Do I start a cafeacute Whatrsquos going onrsquo I was not encouraged to pursue music So I wanted to find a plan Brdquo she says So she studied visual communication at St Josephrsquos Bengaluru where she is currently based But music continued to be her calling and she started recordingldquoI was listening to RnB without even actually knowing RnB Michael Jackson and Justin Bieber are RnB Therersquos a lot of RnB in pop music itself VH1 would play a lot of African American music and a lot of club music was also very hip hop and RnB inspired These artistes were on rotation I didnrsquot know what it was called I just knew I liked the soundrdquo says Mary Ann Kerala also played a big roleldquoI grew up in Kerala Therersquos so much that I love to represent of where I come from My place inspires me because there is so much abundance in nature in Trivandrum you can see the sunrise on the hills and sunset by the beach My grandmother was also super artistic she loved to decorate she loved to craft he taught me how to do embroidery It was a very culturally rich experience that I grew up withrdquo she saysWhile Mary Ann sings in English she credits Malayalam and the culture of Kerala for drawing her close to the genre too ldquoMalayalam spoken or even musically is a very percussive and fluid language at the same time As a culture we are yearners We love love Singing in the rain is not a foreign concept we indulge in those kind of feelings when it comes to our art I think that is very similar to the spirit of RnB It kind of feels extremely natural to merdquoMary Annrsquos just finished shooting another music video Too Much Shot on a house boat in Kerala this is the one she is most proud of ldquoI wanted to show the world a little piece of Kerala mdash the vastness of the water and because the song is about feeling that yoursquore too much for somebody but then when you realise that Irsquom everything I ever wanted to be and this person just canrsquot handle thatrdquo she explainsAs far as fashion goes she loves pairing traditional Indian jewellery with a moodboard inspired by the world Fashion from the 2000s remains one of her favourite era because of its maximalism and Bipasha Basu and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan are forever inspirations ldquoFashion today is global People used to try and conform a lot to other peoplersquos expectations of how they should look like and also view themselves from a manrsquos eye or a male gaze Now people dress to feel how they want to feelrdquo2025Attended The Jameson Distilled Sound programme