By Dimithri Wijesinghe
Many of us who grew up in the late ’90s recall the music of the early 2000s rather fondly. The music of the noughties defined a generation of now adults, and whenever an artist from those golden days makes a resurgence, they are sure to be welcomed by a nostalgia-fuelled frenzy.
While some of you may not recall, now famous social media personality and dubbing artist Chethana Ketagoda was once a musical artist with a viral hit song under her belt. If you were to dig deep into your 2010 music facts, you may recall ‘Me Aththamaido’ – Yashan Presents Miss Chey; an absolute ear worm and still a certified banger.
However, for the past 11 or so years, Chethana has not been involved in the music industry, at least not in an official capacity, until now. Making her long-awaited comeback into the music industry, she will be a featured artist in the upcoming single ‘Ran Kanda,’ a Tamil and Sinhala song produced by Pasan Liyanage and Abu Kareem to be released on 25 November 2022. Chethana will also feature in the music video for the track, directed by Samal Bandara.
Considering this comeback and her ever expanding public profile, The Sunday Morning Brunch had a chat with Chethana where she discussed her fated return to the music industry and the latest updates on her journey as a creative, legal professional, language coach, digital content creator, public personality, and the countless other things that are in the works.
About the music
Speaking about her career in music, Chethana shared that it was an interesting experience for her when she recently shared a clip of the very first song she did with a music video – ‘Me Aththamaido’ – and the audience reaction to it. She noted that while the song itself was familiar and known to many, the majority of listeners were actually unaware of her involvement in the project.
“When I put it up on my socials, it was shared a lot and it got a lot of engagement, but the only question everybody kept asking was ‘is this you?’ and this is actually when it dawned on me that 10 years is a really long time,” said Chethana, adding that she had soon realised that while she had remained a creative at heart and continued her dubbing career – which she started at the early age of 10; remember ‘Kaabasiniya Rajathuma’? – she had completely departed from her musical interests following her perusal of higher studies. “When I took my oath as a lawyer, I realised that the only thing related to my life as an artist was my career in dubbing.”
She shared that while she had started her music career at 16, it only spanned about four to five years, following which she chose to focus on her education, especially considering the demanding nature of her chosen fields.
Chethana also noted how, while nowadays she was most known for being an online content creator, it was interesting to see how her audience, who would typically be unaware of her musical past, interacted with her music related content.
“I do a lot of singing cover skits on my socials and people tell me ‘Aney, you can sing no, Akka,’ and I am like ‘Yes, I used to be a singer!’” She laughs about these interactions, adding that it was not much of a surprise that people may not relate to her as a singer now, since she belonged “to the early 2000s’ music era”.
Going digital
Chethana shared that despite her long break from music and her subsequent foray into digital content creation, she had never given up the connection with the arts. While she remained a dubbing artist as she continued to grow on her digital platforms, she began to participate in more and more acting gigs, slowly entering the entertainment industry and traditional media once again.
She noted that her involvement in ‘traditional media’ had certainly aided her in her online career, although she now felt that her digital space had somewhat taken prominence over the traditional media persona.
Chethana added that she believed there were different categories of audiences, noting that while many may know her as an online personality, perhaps a TikToker, there were different audiences. “Some may know me as a dubbing artist only, or maybe as a musician, or as an actress, or just from my skits online; I think there are different categories,” she said.
She did however say that if she had to pick just one tag for herself, it would be ‘digital content creator,’ noting: “I do not like the title of influencer, although yes, we do a bit of influencing. I much prefer to be called a digital content creator.”
She asserted that she would prefer to be known as a musician: “I would love that, but I don’t really like defining myself because I like to try out different things. If I want to learn to draw, then I would start to learn that today,” she said.
The professional vs. the creative
Chethana is also a language coach and an Attorney-at-Law. Considering her work both as a professional and also as a creative, we asked how she managed to distinguish these two roles in her life.
“To be honest, it is very hard. If you see my YouTube content there are certain lines I do not cross. Some, simply because I do not want to cross them, but also because I do not want my audience to have to see that. There are young girls who look up to me and love my voice, and I know that they will watch whatever I upload, so I always have that ‘full stop,’” she said, noting that she did feel a sense of responsibility, not only to herself as a career professional but also as someone who was a role model to many.
She added that knowing one’s boundaries really came with experience: “I have that sense about where I want to draw my line. Maybe it is because I have exposure to multiple fields of work, but I do believe that I have been able to successfully draw that line.”
She noted that with regard to her legal profession, which was essentially all about ethics, she had to think extra hard and take a step back from certain work and content: “I wouldn’t cross that line because I know I owe something to my profession,” she said.
She also noted that it helped that she had chosen to be an instructing attorney as opposed to a practising counsel in courts: “It does work in my favour. While I believe it shouldn’t be a problem at all to do entertainment and also be a counsel, we are after all a cultured society that is rather restrictive.”
Chethana added that content creators and individuals with an audience had a social and moral responsibility to the general public, especially towards those who consumed their content. “I think this sort of moral sense is necessary and we have to operate within those beliefs,” she said.
Dealing with hate
An unfortunate but unavoidable part of being a public personality is dealing with public scrutiny and hate. Chethana shared that hate was often far worse for women in the public eye than it was for men. Without discrediting the challenges men faced, she noted that in her experience, dealing with haters was a daily task: “Everyday like a ritual, I have my socials running on five platforms and I block everyone who has said something nasty.”
She added: “My principle is that I do not let those who hate me consume my content. Why leave room for them to waste their time on my content?”
“I also don’t want my crowd, my people, to see these foul things either. They do not deserve that. That is why I don’t stand for hate.”
She noted that when one was exposed to hate to that extent, “at one point it does get to you”. She said: “A lot of people have different opinions about dealing with hate. They say that it is part and parcel of being a public figure, that it is part of the game and you have to be okay with it. No, I don’t have to be okay with it. I will block you and if I feel that the matter needs to be addressed, I will not ignore it. I sometimes think it is necessary to address it, just so that other people spread that message.”
The future
True to her ways, Chethana has multiple projects on the way, including a couple of songs she has made with Pasan Liyanage of Redfox Audio Productions. “I am excited for 2023 because I have a lot in the works, so hopefully those songs will be out next year,” she said.
Next year is looking stacked for Chethana, and she is looking to revive her YouTube channel, planning to go all digital so fans of her breakaway projects like her sports infotainment channel on YouTube ‘Chey & They’ and her travel project ‘Destination Trio’ will enjoy more of her content.