If you’re a fan of the local music scene, you would instantaneously recognize the voice of Dulani Ramanathan. The winner of Yes Superstar Season 2, the young songstress has certainly come a long way from singing around her house as a child to beating out 300 plus participants to bag a national singing competition.

Hailing from a musically inclined family, the win was a long time coming for Dulani who has previously sung with prominent musicians such as Kevin Almedia and Derek Wickramanayake. She initially considered auditioning for the show during Season 1 but at the time she was busy studying for a fashion degree at the Academy of Design and so decided not to enter.  

Shortly after, she decided to take a short break from singing to re-evaluate her life and figure out exactly what she wanted to do. After hearing the call out for auditions for Season 2 on the radio, Dulani took her time weighing her options, “I discussed auditioning for it with my fiancé Shehan. His main concern was whether I could balance both my work and studies with whatever would happen if I made it through. After careful consideration, I decided I would do it.”

After auditioning in December, she received the call announcing that she made it through in January. And after going through each gruelling round in the show, she was finally left with the honour of being the only girl to make it into the top 9.

The whole experience of the show was extremely stressful, says Dulani. With hardly any sleep for three days of the week, she was in the studio; practising and researching songs for each round. So caught up with the singing side of it, she was unable to concentrate with the actual campaign side of the voting. Fortunately for her, her fiancé Shehan took over and spearheaded the campaign for her.

“I was so nervous about the voting but luckily for me, my fiancé took care of that. He and my office staff were all very supportive of me; they would go down streets getting support for me. That was a very important part of the contest because you never knew who was going home next. Thursday was our least favourite day of the week.”

Having won Yes Superstar, Dulani will begin touring for the show in June and once that’s completed, she says she’ll focus on improving her voice by attending vocal coaching with Miss Marianne as she has had no previous voice training.

“I have no formal voice training and I know I have my weaknesses, so I want to see what exactly I’m capable of as far as my voice goes. When I’m ready, I’ll begin working on my own original songs in Sinhala and English. I want to sing here and internationally, so that’s why I want to sing in both languages. Plus, I’ve never sung in Sinhala before so I want to experiment with everything as much as possible,” she explained.

When not focusing on her singing, Dulani is a keen fashion enthusiast. Currently designing clothes for friends and family, she aims to have her own line one day and says she believes it’s possible to sing and follow fashion because both complement each other well.

“If I had to choose between fashion and singing, I would pick singing. Singing is a part of me; it comes from within, while fashion is just something that is. I mean you can be fashionable just by changing something you bought from a shop,” she added.

Dulani also loves to dance, especially salsa and hopes to take social dance lessons soon, “I wish I could do everything. Ever since I was a child, I was up for trying anything. I believe that you live only once, so try everything with your heart and soul.”

Speaking about her aspirations for her original music, the singer says she will try to stay away from doing covers and write her own music. While she looks up to many popular artistes and acknowledges that she may not even be as good as them, she doesn’t believe in copying people. Instead, she wants to be recognized for doing her own thing and keeping her identity when it comes to singing.

When asked what advice she would give to future contestants of the show, she said they should make sure they are capable of balancing their priorities first before entering as there’s a lot of pressure contestants must deal with during the contest.

“You have to work hard at it and keep an open mind. Take any advice you get and never try to copy anyone else. And remember to always stay grounded, without trying to be someone you’re not. That will take you a long way,” she said.

By Lake Argent

Pix by Nisal Baduge