Most artists throw a listening party to celebrate a new song release. Indian-American singer and songwriter Raveena Aurora hosted a guided meditation followed by the first reveal of the music video of her latest single, ‘Blissed Out’, which came out last month.
If you like your playlist dreamy and soulful with a blend of R&B, jazz, and Indian classical music, you may already be familiar with earworms from Aurora’s previous albums, like Asha’s Awakening (2022) and Where the Butterflies Go in the Rain (2024), or perhaps discovered her as the first Indian-origin woman to perform solo at Coachella. It doesn’t matter, because with ‘Blissed Out’, Aurora is starting anew; it’s the first piece of work she’s put out since the passing of her mother in 2025 due to cancer.
The song was sitting in her vault in bits and pieces for the past two years, until she revisited it after experiencing loss. “Writing ‘Blissed Out’ was cathartic; it felt like my mom was writing it with me and I had found an unopened portal in my music process,” she tells me over a call from Los Angeles. This sense of warmth and tenderness carries into the song’s visual component––grainy footage of Aurora’s childhood memories with her mother are interspersed with a grownup, wistful version of the singer.
Unlike previous projects, where she worked with professional MUAs to create elaborate, fantastical beauty looks, Aurora did her own hair and makeup this time, appearing pretty much bare-faced and, in turn, at her most vulnerable and raw. It also reflects the absence of a creative collaborator who was integral to her artistic journey: her late mother, Reenu Aurora, the designer who created many of her costumes.
Today, after more than a year of going through what she describes as the “feral ache” of losing a loved one, Aurora is consciously stepping forward but at her own pace. She’s penning down her emotions on Substack, living a more intentional lifestyle rooted in nourishment and self-care, and pouring more into her own cup. “Six months after my mom passed, I did a shoot with a really big brand, for which I had to be very much in shape. I remember feeling a lot of pressure at that point: suddenly going to the gym, working out like crazy or doing lots of diets. It got the result for the shoot, but it felt very mechanical and not the best way to re-enter the ‘feeling’ of beauty,” she recalls. “Now, it’s more about what I eat, put in my body, and how much water I’m drinking or how often I’m moving. This year I switched to mostly cooking with farmers-market ingredients.”
Below, the singer tells us how it felt to pare back her hair and makeup in ‘Blissed Out’, coping with grief, and why her definition of beauty is more grounded than it used to be.
What does beauty mean for you in your thirties versus your twenties?
It means being in your wisdom and being in your growth and maturity. These experiences of grief...they age us physically and emotionally, even if others can’t see it. I’m actually trying to embrace that because I feel more grounded and centred. Beauty to me now [in my thirties] is feeling like I have all this knowledge and wisdom behind my back and maybe it’ll result in one more smile line or wrinkle.
You did your own hair and makeup for the ‘Blissed Out’ music video. What made you decide on that?
I didn’t have the bandwidth to sit in a makeup chair—it didn’t feel honest or like what the song was about. I think it’s very powerful to have so much work and visual language in the opposite direction and then pare it back for something, because when you do it’s apparent and raw. I hope people felt that and were able to connect with the vulnerability of the song.
