The Viral Blueprint - How Yohani Put Sri Lankan Music on the Map

In this episode of The Quest for Success Podcast, we sit down with Yohani De Silva, Sri Lanka’s global music sensation, whose journey from an aspiring corporate professional to an internationally celebrated artist is both inspiring and deeply human. Yohani opens up about her early life, where music was never the primary plan, and how a bold leap into the industry transformed her life forever.

She shares how her first performances, though challenging, became the foundation of her resilience and artistic identity. With the rise of social media, Yohani quickly found herself connecting with audiences far beyond Sri Lanka, culminating in the viral success of Manike Mage Hithe - a turning point that not only propelled her career but also put Sri Lankan music on the global stage.

Throughout the conversation, Yohani reflects on collaborations, authenticity, and the pressures of sudden fame. She speaks candidly about facing backlash from traditionalists, navigating cultural expectations, and balancing her identity as both an artist and a Sri Lankan ambassador to the world.
Her creative process, often sparked by melody before lyrics, highlights her unique approach to music-making. Singing across multiple languages,

Yohani continues to break barriers, proving that music transcends borders. Beyond personal success, she is passionate about mentoring young talent, encouraging them to chase their dreams fearlessly.

Key Takeaways
 -  Success is built on resilience and gradual growth, not sudden breakthroughs
 -  Social media can be a powerful catalyst for global recognition
 -  Authenticity in art creates a deeper connection with audiences
 -  Collaborations open doors to growth and evolution
 -  Fame brings cultural responsibility alongside opportunity
 -  Creativity often begins with inspiration, not structure
 -  Singing across languages enables global connection
 -  Mentorship is key to inspiring the next generation of artists
 -  Cultural representation requires courage and balance
 -  Music is storytelling that transcends borders

Connect with Yohani
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yohanimusic/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/YohaniMusic
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6hyCmqlpgEhkMKKr65sFgI?si=TG_Fi2qoRi2cK6RSQNsLbg

Listen to Yohani’s New Single Ha Chuttak: https://youtu.be/vF38Nna4SRQ?si=bndIJjZHsGYmvEvw 

Follow us on all your favourite platforms:
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheQuestforSuccessPod
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/The-Quest-For-Success-Podcast/61560418629272/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thequestforsuccesspod/
Twitter: https://x.com/quest4success_
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-quest-for-success
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thequestforsuccesspod
Website: www.thequestforsuccesspodcast.com

Please share this around to anyone you think will get value from it : )

Transcript

Dylan Pathirana (00:41.913)
All right, welcome back to the quest for success podcast and thanks so much for tuning in once again. Today on the show, are incredibly excited. This is probably going to be one of our best episodes yet. And that is because we have Yohani De Silva joining us. And for those who don't know your honey, you should because she is an international superstar with, you know, I think over 3.8 million subscribers, hundreds of millions of views. She's an incredible singer and we were lucky enough to actually hear her in person. really excited to dive into our story. Yeah. So a weeks back and I was organizing our daughter's wedding in Sri Lanka and we had over 20 countries, from 20 countries and I wanted to do something international and I was thinking what can I do to bring some international guests excited? And then first thing came to my mind is your honey. And I was so lucky, like we were so happy.

when Yohani accepted our invitation to sing our daughter's wedding. And it was one of the highlights. And thank you, Yohani. And today she's joining us to our Quest for Success podcast. And it's amazing to have you.

Yohani (01:46.688)
Thank you.

Yohani (01:53.57)
Thank you. Thank you so much for having me here today, guys. It's gonna be a fun episode.

Dylan Pathirana (01:59.172)
Absolutely. And so, Yohani, for us to begin this podcast is all about success. So we need to understand something quite fundamental. And that is what does success actually mean to you?

Yohani (02:07.82)
Mm-hmm.

Yohani (02:11.911)
Success, I think it's for me, it's about being able to tell my story through music and being true to my art and to just live healthy and happy. It's simple, it's really simple.

Dylan Pathirana (02:28.911)
Simple.

Nah, I love that and telling a story through music and I think that's a really unique one.

Yohani (02:36.619)
because at the of the day, always comes to that. Everything I do always comes to that point. I guess, yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (02:46.157)
And as I mentioned, you you've blown up into this international sensation, but I really want to understand the story of how you got there. And for that, I think we need to start right back at the beginning. Young Yohani, growing up, tell us a little bit about your early life and how you think it really shaped who you've become.

Yohani (03:04.391)
Early life, it has actually been like a roller coaster of things because I've been into random other things.

growing up, right? So when I was small, like in my childhood, so music has always been a part of my childhood growing up, but it wasn't like a main thing, because my parents aren't from a musical background, none of us are. so it was more like an extracurricular activity. But during childhood,

I was in the, when I was in school I was in the western band then I learned guitar through YouTube and in the band I was playing the trumpet and the French horn stuff like that yeah but it was all just like whatever like you know it's just extra curricular just stuff we do parents put you to and just randomly but

Dylan Pathirana (03:44.143)
Mm-hmm.

Dylan Pathirana (03:52.121)
Nice.

Dylan Pathirana (04:02.645)
Yeah.

Yohani (04:07.285)
I think after I did my O levels, my whole family went to England, so that's where I did my advanced level. So I think that way also I kind of got exposed to different kind of music because it's very different to what people here listen to, obviously, because it's all English music and a little bit of everything.

Dylan Pathirana (04:18.297)
Alright.

Dylan Pathirana (04:34.767)
Yeah.

Yohani (04:37.215)
a lot of ethnicities and all of that when you go abroad. So that's sort of like until A-levels. This is a long story now. I was just like, wait a minute, that's good, that's going to be a long story. But yeah, after that I came back to Sri Lanka for my bachelor's which I did in logistics and supply chain management. Yes.

Dylan Pathirana (04:49.005)
Yeah, come on. We like to hear that. We've got ages.

Dylan Pathirana (05:02.678)
Do you want a job? I have a logistic company.

Yohani (05:06.189)
I was actually at CMACG at Parawat.

Dylan Pathirana (05:11.019)
Okay, I have a logistic business in Australia, so you have to move to Sydney.

Yohani (05:14.869)
I'll come, definitely, I'll be there. I also worked in logistics in Jail for a vehicle parts manufacturing company. That was also for about maybe like one and a half years. That's when I moved to Australia, where you guys are. Sydney is actually one of my favourite cities to visit.

Dylan Pathirana (05:18.307)
We need good talents.

Dylan Pathirana (05:24.793)
All right.

Dylan Pathirana (05:36.985)
All right. Yeah.

Yohani (05:42.03)
I used to come there every weekend. No, I was in Melbourne. But Sydney was where all my cousins were, so I'm like, every weekend I will come there somehow. Get a ticket. Definitely. I used to go see the sunrise at the port. Let me remember. Sorry?

Dylan Pathirana (05:44.965)
But you were in Brisbane, Melbourne, okay.

Dylan Pathirana (05:52.655)
Alright.

You have to come over again

Dylan Pathirana (06:04.994)
What? In botany? In botany?

Yohani (06:09.695)
No, say another one, there's a lighthouse. Palm Beach. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, good memories. I completely forgot my train of thought, but...

Dylan Pathirana (06:12.76)
Pong Beach, yeah. Beautiful. Yes, not too far from where we are.

Dylan Pathirana (06:23.556)
No, you came to Sydney a few times.

Yohani (06:25.633)
Yeah, why I came to Melbourne was to do my masters, which was in accounting, right? So it was a very, growing up, I would say it was a very, I was into more corporate side. I wanted to do corporate, do a job, which I still like to do. I don't hate it. I don't hate accounting or logistics. It's just, it was just a different path I was taking.

Dylan Pathirana (06:46.936)
haha

Yohani (06:56.269)
But music was always there, right? And I started my YouTube, think 2016, just as like random covers, like a, like a, I had an iPad.

Dylan Pathirana (07:05.464)
That's so cool.

Yohani (07:10.605)
I used to randomly do stuff on GarageBand and upload. That was how it started. And then I decided to just stop everything. I mean, I did everything. I finished my masters and I was like, I'll give myself two years to come back to Sri Lanka and figure this music part out. And if it doesn't work, I'll probably go back. So that was in a summary, a long summary.

Dylan Pathirana (07:36.738)
Yeah, no, that's awesome. And I suppose I want to understand how you were shaped by your parents, especially because I know that, you know, your father correct me if I'm wrong was in the military. And so I imagine there must have been a lot of discipline and things coming from that. How do you think, you know, your parents shaped who you became?

Yohani (07:47.798)
Mm-hmm.

Yohani (07:58.336)
I think, so like I said, my parents aren't from a musical background. My dad always says he can't even clap to a tune. Which is kind of, I'm not too sure, but it's very cute. He tries, he tries. But I think my mom's the one who put me for music classes.

Dylan Pathirana (08:07.192)
You

Dylan Pathirana (08:12.74)
Yeah.

Yohani (08:26.017)
growing up with my sister we used to go do piano lessons and do exams which we didn't like and all of that. So that was when we were growing up and they never said don't do anything they were like just try everything.

Because even when I was doing a corporate job, you know, you figure it out. But when I was like, you know what, I'm gonna just randomly just do a 180 and do a career change into music, they were just like, wait a minute, what's going on? Probably shouldn't do it. You know, it's a bit risky and all of that. Those days I was like, you know what, now I'm gonna do whatever I want and rebel against it.

Anyway, do whatever I want. mean, did whatever I want. But looking back now, I'm like, that would have been a... I mean, it is a crazy risk also. It could have... I don't know. I mean, yeah, I guess. So, but looking back, I'm like, okay, they weren't crazy for telling me not to do it, because it's probably like a crazy idea anyway.

Dylan Pathirana (09:17.458)
Ha

Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (09:30.306)
Yeah, yeah, but it worked. Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (09:41.667)
Yeah, I know your dad a little bit because I went to the same school and I remember him quite well and he's few years older than me. But we also look up to him. He's an awesome guy, like a great leader. But knowing you also have had to move houses quite on a regular basis, right? Because he was working in the army. And is that correct?

Yohani (09:47.062)
Yes.

you

Mm-hmm.

Yohani (10:00.523)
Mm-hmm.

Yohani (10:06.005)
Yes, sorry I got distracted. One second. It's a bit loud, right? Okay, nevermind. Yeah, hold on.

Dylan Pathirana (10:13.636)
Yeah, there's a little bit of background noise.

you

Yohani (10:29.96)
I'm at office today. It's a bit chaotic on a Wednesday morning. Is it morning? Yeah, it's morning. It's 12 o'clock. So, where were we? We were at my dad's.

Dylan Pathirana (10:31.552)
That's right.

that? No, that's fine.

Yeah.

Yeah, we're talking about your dad, your moving places.

Yohani (10:49.793)
Yeah, we moved.

Yohani (10:57.099)
Okay, I'm starting. We moved quite a bit growing up. Honestly, we didn't have a place to stay. was always just these housing schemes, flats. I have no idea. Sometimes we were, I mean, but we were in Colombo.

Dylan Pathirana (11:07.608)
Yeah.

Yohani (11:18.453)
I remember Boralla and my grandparents were nearby. But my dad was moving around a lot. And we used to go with him. used to go to Trinco, Vavnia, just Kodawaya. were like at Jaffna. We were so many places. We even stayed in Madurai for like two years when we were young.

Dylan Pathirana (11:28.44)
Yeah.

Yohani (11:48.835)
the whole family.

Dylan Pathirana (11:49.95)
wow.

Yohani (11:50.283)
So, like, growing up we didn't have sort of like one place to live. But now, I still don't have, feel like. I'm like, two months I'm in Colombo, then I'm back in Mumbai, and then I'm going to UAE mostly. So it's like, I kind of like it. I think it doesn't really bother me because I've been like that from like my childhood. Otherwise I would be like, my gosh, I want to just stay in one place.

Dylan Pathirana (11:58.339)
Yep. On the road.

Dylan Pathirana (12:15.074)
Yeah.

Yohani (12:20.176)
Mm-hmm.

Dylan Pathirana (12:20.868)
And I want to go to your transition to music. You said it was, you kind of went out on a limb and said, I'm going to take this risk. Can you kind of take us to that point of your life and how that kind of story unfolded?

Yohani (12:29.037)
Mm-hmm.

Yohani (12:34.942)
When I, you mean when I made the switch? Switch to music, switch to music. I was in Melbourne at this time, right? And I was like, okay, I'm finishing my masters and then now what do I do? There's two options. One whole option is stay in Australia, settle down, do a job, that corporate.

Dylan Pathirana (12:37.378)
Yeah, the switch to music.

Yohani (13:04.492)
do a corporate job. was the one part. The other part was go back to Sri Lanka, start completely new in music, start with playing pubs for five, six hours, and slowly building my catalog and all of that. I actually did a cost benefit analysis of both.

Dylan Pathirana (13:08.036)
Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (13:30.372)
Typical accountant, yeah?

Yohani (13:33.391)
I did that. I probably shouldn't have written somewhere, I don't know. And then I called a few of the producers that I knew. I just Googled some people on Instagram. I knew some producers who were doing music in Sri Lanka. So I just texted them. I was like, you know what? If I was to just come back to Sri Lanka and...

do music, would it work? That was my question. Some were like, yes, it's going to probably work out. Some were like, you never know. You can never say. And that's when I was like, even for me to just I think it's just like, what's the word for that?

Dylan Pathirana (14:12.748)
No chance.

Yohani (14:30.7)
I just kept telling myself, just give it two years. If it doesn't work out, you know, it's a gamble. Yeah, I can change anytime. Like, it's okay. I'm not gonna lose anything. It's just, I mean, two years, yes, I'll lose, but it's, I'm just gonna try something new, so.

Dylan Pathirana (14:33.784)
Yeah. It's a gamble, right? So you've taken the risk. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (14:49.816)
But in your heart, obviously you had something that you want to do more, going to corporate or going to music. Obviously... No, really? No.

Yohani (15:01.248)
Not really. No, no. I think I was like, I'm just gonna make it happen, whatever I do. And music was like a new thing for me, because at that time when I made that decision of...

coming back to Sri Lanka to do music. I didn't even know how to an original. I didn't know how to do an album. I didn't know how to create a song. So I had to learn everything. But so that was the risk.

Dylan Pathirana (15:23.03)
Mm-hmm. Wow.

Dylan Pathirana (15:33.348)
And I want to go to that point. What was your goal with music? Taking it up full time. What was the kind of vision? What did you want to achieve?

Yohani (15:42.991)
Just for my... What I wanted... I still want to do... It hasn't changed actually. Just my productions, my creations. Just for my fans to hear, my audience to hear. That's it. Doesn't matter just one person, doesn't matter a thousand people. It's just I want them to hear it. Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (16:03.811)
you

Dylan Pathirana (16:07.808)
You want to your creations pretty much.

Yohani (16:11.278)
Because most of my music, you see, I tried to... I mean all my music is inspired by...

Yohani (16:25.71)
Why am I getting stuck? Yes. Inspired by... Once again. Real life.

Dylan Pathirana (16:26.231)
your own experience.

Yohani (16:38.219)
What's that word?

Dylan Pathirana (16:39.478)
experience.

Dylan Pathirana (16:44.364)
You

Dylan Pathirana (16:49.527)
Yeah, yeah, it's a real life experience, right? So Satya Siddhu. Yeah, true reflection of your life, pretty much.

Yohani (16:49.994)
I don't know how to say it in English. Yes. Yeah.

Yes, so all are like true stories. That's what I was trying to say. All of them are like true stories and it could be mine or my friends or like stuff I've heard. It's all inspired by those kind of situations. it's like, it means a lot to me. So I don't know what others will make out of it, but that's my ultimate goal. Yes.

Dylan Pathirana (17:02.305)
Good stories.

Dylan Pathirana (17:17.986)
Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (17:24.449)
Yeah, the joy of storytelling. And I want to go to that kind of first gig, you said you came back to Sri Lanka, and you were playing in pubs. Take us to that first gig, you're there on on a little stage. What was the feeling like?

Yohani (17:39.407)
It was... I can't tell like places names, right? It's not a problem. Okay. So my first gig was it was at Basiko, Hilton, At Jack Hilton. It was this... It's a pub. It's like a small pub. And I used to play there. It was just me and my guitar.

Dylan Pathirana (17:44.756)
Yeah, can go for it.

Dylan Pathirana (17:51.361)
All right. Yep.

Yohani (18:05.238)
and maybe three people who came to see and all those three people are my friends so I was just like okay now this is a problem I'm trying to take money off my friends so the bar sales will go up but it's just three people so that's how it started and then they just like then I sort of got like a small pocket audience who came to see me playing

Dylan Pathirana (18:18.019)
From your friends.

Yohani (18:35.662)
Yeah, after that I just started. So those were those pub gigs were about like five to six hours, right? You play the entire night. So I think that really, mean those kind of that that experience and the learning, I think I still use it because I had to research by myself. I had to figure out the chords. I had to memorize all of these things and

Dylan Pathirana (18:43.789)
Wow. Yep.

Dylan Pathirana (18:52.182)
experience.

Yohani (19:04.536)
to be able to play like five hours is a long time alone. those kind of principles I still take with me to the bigger stages and I still love to play those gigs.

Dylan Pathirana (19:08.632)
Yeah

Dylan Pathirana (19:19.039)
Yeah. And I want to go to, know, to me, one of the core things which made you blow up was YouTube and social media. In those early days, you know, when you said you just had your iPad and you're recording little things, did you slowly start to see traction? Or was it just the one big song, which we'll talk about soon that just blew you up?

Yohani (19:38.831)
I think that was how I see it. This is very personal to me though. I saw just like sort of spikes. So my first cover was in 2016, right? And I saw I did a cover in Devi Yange Bade.

that had the first spike, I would say. Then I did a cover of Pana Senihasa that had a spike. Then I did a cover, then I did a thing called a pop hit mashup in Peta that had a spike. So there were some moments in the journey that had spikes.

Dylan Pathirana (20:17.239)
Nice.

Yohani (20:26.958)
But along that, my first original that I did was RIA, which was into...

Yohani (20:36.718)
2020, which was in 2020. So first original was in 2020, After that, just kept putting, I was just like trying to just put all my music out, then the covers, just trying to put the originals out. So I think if I'm just checking, if the question is,

If it was a sudden one, definitely it wasn't sudden. I definitely saw little spikes everywhere. But yes, one of the things just blew out of proportion.

Dylan Pathirana (21:09.473)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You knew you were at least on the right track. You could see there was some traction coming from your views. Yeah. But then we'll go to the big break, which was, you know, your rendition of Manneken Magi hit day, which you played at the wedding. And I have to say, you ask anyone for at least the week afterwards, I could not stop seeing that song in the bus going around Sri Lanka. Yeah, I was saying to Dylan because he's never

Yohani (21:18.764)
Yes, definitely.

Yohani (21:24.642)
Mm-hmm.

Yohani (21:31.662)
We played a different version of it.

Dylan Pathirana (21:38.307)
follow anyone like, you know, crazy, but he was listening everywhere. I said, Hey, you got a crush on your honey. What's going on? It's so catchy. I just couldn't get it out of my head. And so take us to that day where you wake up, you've released that cover. And then the next morning you're, you've blown up on YouTube.

Yohani (21:48.142)
Thank you.

Yohani (21:58.351)
So it wasn't even the next day. think it was about like after about four months. Yes, after about four months of release. this is what happened. It was locked down and I used to go on like TikTok lives all the time, right? I was just like on my phone and like talking to people, playing music, doing just random stuff on.

Dylan Pathirana (22:05.124)
really?

Yohani (22:24.974)
social media. I mean I didn't have anything to do. Nobody had anything to do right? I didn't have a job. Suddenly my pub shows are cancelled. I'm no, what do I do? So during that time I did a TikTok cover, like a small cover of Manikymagi Hite on my TikTok just playing the piano and just whatever. No mic, nothing. It's just...

Dylan Pathirana (22:30.645)
You

Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (22:53.343)
It will.

Yohani (22:53.356)
like this. And then I was like, you know what, I know the producer, Chamath Sangit, and we did a song together earlier called Sita Deona. So I was like, you know what, shall we do a version of it? And he was like, yeah, well, he's not doing anything. And the singer of the song, Satishan, he was like, yeah, he was cool with it.

and let's, and Dulan ARX was the lyricist. He was also like, yeah, go for it. So, but now we can't record it because I'm, we are in lockdown. So what I did was, I was at my parents' and there's a visitors' room downstairs.

Dylan Pathirana (23:21.589)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (23:28.641)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yohani (23:40.815)
At point I made it a complete studio, like a home studio. So I was like, okay, I'm going to record it here and send it back to you to make some master. You do whatever you want with the vocals. Is that sound coming? Oh no. Can you, are you going to be, that's like, yeah, there's a lot of construction going on.

Dylan Pathirana (23:44.702)
you

Dylan Pathirana (23:58.337)
Yeah. It's all right. That's right. We'll, we'll have to do some sound isolation in post-production.

Yohani (24:10.414)
Do you want me to wait till it ends?

Dylan Pathirana (24:12.739)
It's all right. We'll continue. We'll carry on. We say it's part of the background music.

Yohani (24:18.414)
Alright, Part of it, yeah. Construction noise. Sounds. Anyways, so that visitor's room was my studio room at that time. So I was like, I went in there. There was no AC in it. I still remember. There was only a fan.

Dylan Pathirana (24:25.585)
You

Yohani (24:40.448)
and the fan was loud, there's a kkkk noise and I called Jamatha, like, it's really hot in here, I really can't do it without the fan but I'm just sending you, check whatever you, like, do whatever you can. It was just my, I still have my sound card that I use for that. It was a Scarlett 2i2 and just a Scarlett mic, right? Just the basics, not even like expensive equipment, nothing. And I send the vocal stems to...

Dylan Pathirana (24:42.199)
Yeah.

Yohani (25:08.63)
He's like, cool, let's do it. And then we picked a date to do the video. And just, you know, I think it's one of the least expensive video productions I've done.

Dylan Pathirana (25:21.666)
Wow.

That's such a cool story. So that was the original Manikei

Yohani (25:29.922)
That's the cover version, yes, what I did, yeah. But it picked up only after about four five months, definitely. Until that it was a very slow growth.

Dylan Pathirana (25:39.191)
Do you know what made that like suddenly became an amazing sensation? Your opinion?

Yohani (25:48.557)
Hahaha

I think it's mostly, that probably you have to speak to management also. They did an amazing job, like the London has been there, it's our 10th year together working, so we have come on a crazy journey so far. And I think at one point the song sort of trending in parts of India, so that really pushed to that,

Dylan Pathirana (26:04.419)
Amazing.

Yohani (26:21.549)
whole area of the world I feel like.

Dylan Pathirana (26:25.343)
And you mentioned there that you, you you were on a Tik Tok live, you're, know, just kind of putting out music here and there just on social media. And that's a point that I want to go to, because I think that's been a core part of your success is, is utilization of social media. How important do you think it has been to you? And did you see it as like a core lever that you were going to use to scale? Or is it just something that happened by, by chance?

Yohani (26:34.062)
Yeah.

Yohani (26:53.072)
sorry i didn't get the question like what what was the first

Dylan Pathirana (26:56.951)
So, so, you know, how important has social media been to you, to your growth? And then also, did you initially see it, like, as a tool? Or was were you just posting on social media because you had it?

Yohani (27:12.547)
think it's just a little bit of both. It's just like I knew that was a really good way of reaching to the audiences that I can't get to, probably physically. So that was a great one. So I think my management also pushed me to get into all of these platforms and...

Dylan Pathirana (27:14.456)
Yeah.

Yohani (27:36.849)
my gosh, there's a lot of noise here. It's probably like Dundur and Mandir. Do you want to tell Ajith to just like pause it?

Dylan Pathirana (27:38.627)
It's part of the excitement. Part of the excitement podcast that we do.

Yohani (27:52.368)
I'm trying to keep a straight face but I'm hearing it through my headphones.

Dylan Pathirana (27:52.835)
Yeah

Dylan Pathirana (27:57.027)
There's someone on the other side of your wall just with a hammer.

Yohani (28:03.267)
But definitely, was definitely a very important part of my career also. I came out like an independent artist, so it was definitely very important. It's still important.

Dylan Pathirana (28:21.379)
So just take us through that Manike Mage Hite became a sensation and obviously you were expecting some spike but you didn't really expect this to go like viral and go crazy.

Yohani (28:26.617)
Mm-hmm.

Yohani (28:32.814)
Mm-hmm.

Yohani (28:36.941)
No, definitely not. If you see my first... Am I allowed to swear in here? No, it just says on my TikTok... The first TikTok that I did, on my sweater it just says, Zero Fax Club. And that really went on news as well. I'm like, my gosh, it's just on news and like national television.

Dylan Pathirana (28:43.701)
Absolutely.

Dylan Pathirana (28:53.078)
You

Dylan Pathirana (28:58.563)
Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (29:03.693)
Yeah.

Yohani (29:03.861)
And it's just that people not see this. But yeah, so it was really not, we didn't think a lot, but when it really happened, I think what really took it to the next level was, you know, that Amitabh Bachchan tweeted about it. He put it on his Instagram then, like before that also a lot of other Indian artists had been...

using their song to do reels, TikToks, because at that time we didn't have reels in Sri Lanka. That option wasn't there for us. We only had TikTok. we, and India doesn't have TikTok. So we didn't really know that the song was going, doing crazy numbers there because we don't have reels. Only when like people there were like, you know, your song is like trending here. They're like, what? What do mean?

Dylan Pathirana (29:32.738)
Yeah, yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (29:38.467)
All right. Well.

Dylan Pathirana (29:51.124)
Yeah, right.

Dylan Pathirana (29:58.723)
That's awesome. And I want to go to that point on kind of collaborations with other artists, because again, it seems like another core point of your, your success collaborating with all these other artists and people using the music is a great way to scale. How did you approach collaborations?

Yohani (30:01.359)
So yeah.

Yohani (30:07.107)
Mm-hmm.

Yohani (30:14.905)
Mm-hmm.

Yohani (30:20.419)
Collaborations? Are you talking about when we did? Hold on a second.

Yohani (30:47.641)
Sorry. Collaborations. Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (30:48.995)
All good? I'll just ask.

Yeah, just know a core part of your your success has been your collaborations with other artists. How do you approach those collaborations?

Yohani (30:59.823)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

So collaborations, think, as an artist is very, important, especially when you're in your growth stage, when you're going to a new market, a new area. for example, I'll tell you, I've done, apart from Sri Lanka, I've done a couple of collabs in India.

done with Jubin Nodiyal, Tony Kakkar, Amitri Vedi and also for movies right, for Nora Fatehi, Aishman Kuran, we did a song called Jedanasha, we did for a movie called An Action Hero movie and obviously the Mani K1 we did a collaboration with Jubin Nodiyal so those kind of things really helped me reach the other artists fan base as well.

Dylan Pathirana (31:39.203)
Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (31:59.063)
Yep.

Yohani (32:00.801)
And it's like sort of a cool thing. My fan base meets their fan base sort of thing. it's a really nice thing to see even when you do shows together, when you meet up together, even for like a promo. We did promotion for example like, I did a song called, we did a song together. And both our fans came together for the promotions and all that. those are like cool moments. Nice things definitely.

Dylan Pathirana (32:03.863)
Yeah. Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (32:28.693)
nice thing yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah no no go ahead

Yohani (32:30.705)
But apart from India, recent past, I've been able to, signed a publishing contract with Paparabia and we did a writing camp in Abu Dhabi last year and I got to meet, there was so many,

artists who came together, and producers, songwriters, and one of the producers were one of the producers of Travis Scott's. those kind of like things would have, I would have never gotten the chance to do those kind of things if I didn't push my music through collaborations, through, I don't know, through other labels. So, and definitely social media also. So.

Dylan Pathirana (33:09.873)
cool.

Dylan Pathirana (33:26.627)
One thing I've noticed, Johani, listening to your music, you're not just... Most of your songs are multi-language. You're including Singhala in some English songs and Hindi songs. Is that something that you wanted to continue to do or something that you're doing intentionally?

Yohani (33:30.863)
You

Yohani (33:49.04)
Yes, it is. So my goal has always been to take Sri Lanka to the world. So even if I do a Hindi song, I try to keep my language.

Dylan Pathirana (33:56.995)
amazing.

Dylan Pathirana (34:11.331)
your authenticity, your authentic, right?

Yohani (34:14.011)
Yeah, that's it. Yes. So that's literally where I come from, right? I come from Sri Lanka and this is my... I didn't say that word. Identity. Ah, identity. So it is a part of my identity. Sri Lanka is a part of my identity. Sri Lankan sounds are a part of it. And the language, obviously. And that's why I've used...

Dylan Pathirana (34:22.913)
Ananata. Identity, yeah.

Yohani (34:41.583)
For example, you say in Maniche, Hindi version, I kept that part. We had a mad discussion with them. We like, have to keep that part because it is where I'm from and it has to be there. I did a song called Ain't Nobody Like You recently with T-Series and the hook, I was like, it has to be in Sri Lanka.

Dylan Pathirana (34:54.807)
Yep. Yep.

Yohani (35:06.127)
And even if you see my album, my first studio album, there are songs like Numbalanga to...

Kalukumaran Ekate. Those are, I've infused Sri Lankan drums, Paatarantabere and Udarantabere, because those kind of sounds you don't hear in Indian music because they don't have the same drum. So those are like unique things I try to add to my music to say in the music where I'm from.

Dylan Pathirana (35:38.379)
Yeah. And I think that's, you know, a core part of how you differentiate. And another one is, you know, not just the language, but also style of music. You know, you do a bit of pop, you do a little bit of folk, you know, you kind of blend, yeah, rap, you're blending a lot of different types of music. Have you ever faced any, any backlash from more like traditional artists about the style of music that you And how do you, how do you respond to that?

Yohani (35:47.663)
Mm-hmm.

Yohani (36:00.983)
Yes, all the time. All the time. I still do. I still do. It's mostly what I see... how I see it is. Okay, hora. Malik, can you bring me some water, Thanks.

Sorry, I got like a jab today for, I'm going to Kenya. Yeah, for safari great migration thing. And it's just hurting though. Yeah, hopefully, But yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (36:23.863)
wow.

Dylan Pathirana (36:28.963)
You

no, you'll be drowsy. Hopefully you're not reacting to it.

Dylan Pathirana (36:39.203)
Yep.

Yohani (36:42.009)
say.

Dylan Pathirana (36:43.139)
You asked a question. Yeah. So kind of going back to how your music spans across so many different genres. Have you faced any backlash?

Yohani (36:45.519)
Hahaha

Yohani (36:52.943)
Black Flash. Yes, definitely. Not just from artists, I would say. Just from people as well. But how I see it is, music is an art.

It's how I express myself. And I could be wrong. It's very subjective, you know. It's very subjective. And what I think is it's such a small life, really. I'm going to experiment everything I can. But I am dominantly seen as a pop artist.

but I've done rock. I've done very experimental tracks and I will continue to do that but keeping of course pop as a main thing. pop...

Generally, if you take pop, it's a very simple structure of music. Popular music is like that. So I do get backlash for that most of the time, but my fans like it. Sometimes my fans are like, wait a minute, what have you done? Then I'm like, OK, maybe it's not for me. But know, all part of the experience. I really like the journey of it, then the actual

Dylan Pathirana (38:00.138)
Mm-mm.

Dylan Pathirana (38:04.333)
Yeah.

or part of experimenting.

Dylan Pathirana (38:13.912)
Yeah.

Yohani (38:15.057)
outcome of it and I feel like it's more fulfilling than waiting for the outcome.

Dylan Pathirana (38:17.239)
Yeah. Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (38:23.255)
Yeah, Johani, so you mentioned that you want to really take the Sri Lankan identity to the globe and as a Sri Lankan music ambassador, do you think you're putting too much pressure on yourself doing that?

Yohani (38:38.991)
Yes, of course I am. It's mostly because I think it's related to the question you asked earlier also. I have to do the correct thing all the time. It's like I don't have space for error mostly.

Dylan Pathirana (38:39.652)
Yeah.

Yohani (38:58.733)
with my music, with what I say, with a lot of things. But I think that pressure shouldn't be there. It used to be there, I feel like. A few years ago, I was like, my gosh, this is crazy. But now I'm like, it's really not. People can make mistakes. We move on anyway. We don't remember.

Dylan Pathirana (39:05.762)
Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (39:17.259)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. But sometimes, you know, many people that we interview, they said, you know, pressure is a good thing. Do you see that that way? Yeah. Yeah. And yeah, exactly. You'll get more emotions, know, your creativity. Yeah. And obviously blowing up after such a big hit, how do you, as an artist, avoid becoming a one hit wonder?

Yohani (39:28.483)
Yes, yes, of course. It makes me write more music. Yes, for sure, for sure.

Yohani (39:46.104)
So that I can't avoid it. feel like the only thing I can do is make more music. you check my, even if you check my, funny thing, if you check my Spotify analytics or like the Spotify, you know, top songs, it's Mani K Hindi version, then Chowdhury, I'm sorry, then Jayranasha, Chowdhury and Mani K Singhali somewhere else, right? So it's like, there's still Jayranasha.

But for Sri Lanka, they will not see that. And the other way around. So it's a very interesting place to be. we'll see. Only the future can tell. This is still my second album I'm trying to put this year. And let's see. It says trying to reconnect. Make sure you have a stable internet connection.

Dylan Pathirana (40:22.027)
Yeah, yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (40:27.33)
Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (40:35.671)
Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (40:45.419)
Now we're good. We've still got you. We can see you. All right. Let's continue anyway. Yeah. Yeah.

Yohani (40:50.743)
Okay. Okay. It just, maybe it's, okay. So it just, okay. Maybe just for me then.

Dylan Pathirana (40:59.383)
Yeah. Yeah. I think you'd finished. Yeah. So, Yohani, I know now you, you, you mentioned that you're moving around, around the world, India and Dubai. So, especially like you found there's a huge audience in India. So that was intentional or that happened, you know, with the lot of people following you in India. And then you're probably now more focused on India, creating more music there.

Yohani (41:29.337)
So that I think I'm still trying to figure it out. The main issue that I'm having with that is where do I spend most of my time in? For example, last year I was in India, mostly, probably last three years. But with that comes I lose everything I'm working on in Sri Lanka.

Dylan Pathirana (41:32.386)
Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (41:52.898)
Yeah.

Yohani (41:53.934)
to the albums, to the shows and everything. So that part I'm still figuring out. So this year I'm gonna be mostly based in Colombo because my album is coming out and I'm trying to do another EP here. So I feel like most of my time will be here. But definitely wherever I am will be where my work.

happens most.

Dylan Pathirana (42:24.671)
Excellent. And I want to go to kind of the creative process of, you know, creating an original, you know, you have a couple out there. How does, how does it work? Do you come up with lyrics first and then go and start producing it? Or what's the, what's the process to create a hit?

Yohani (42:28.195)
Yeah.

Yohani (42:42.927)
There's no specific thing. There could be random crazy shit as well. I did a thing called Submerged. We have a small house in Chilau. And I was sitting there, and I was like, you know what? I want to write. And it's right in front of the Kalapur.

And I was sitting there, I was like, I want to write a song and the artwork is going to be me submerged in the water. And the track should be named Submerged. So I did not have lyrics, I did not have a melody. I just had an album art in my head. Yes, title. So it just comes from anywhere. It could be just inspiration randomly just sitting on the couch to...

Dylan Pathirana (43:25.035)
title. Yeah.

Yohani (43:35.775)
somebody giving me lyrics. But I feel like the most, what mostly happens with me is the melody comes to me first and then I work backwards or forwards from there.

Dylan Pathirana (43:50.883)
And just recently you've released a new song, Hachutak. How did you come about that song and what's the kind of meaning behind it to you?

Yohani (43:53.911)
Yes,

Yohani (43:59.866)
So that song was done three years ago. Three or four actually. think four years ago. Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (44:02.871)
Wow!

So what took so long to release it?

Yohani (44:08.495)
Like I said, I wasn't here. it's a bit difficult for me to focus on two countries, would say, because traveling and also when I'm in India, it's mostly Hindi stuff that I'm working on. And to switch back to this, takes a bit of a bit, I don't know, like maybe it's just my...

Dylan Pathirana (44:10.678)
Okay.

Dylan Pathirana (44:14.211)
traveling and...

Dylan Pathirana (44:23.191)
Mm. Yeah.

Yohani (44:32.417)
inside my head thing. But it takes a bit of a time. But it's finally out and this is my second track from my album called Other Day. All the songs are I think a bit quirky and dancey, all of that. The next song is also going to be Chutat Chutak. yes.

Dylan Pathirana (44:33.739)
Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (44:48.279)
Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (44:52.011)
Yeah.

So this is part of your new album that you're working on? So, Yes Little, right? So, Hi Chuttak. So what's the inspiration behind it? So you said that's stories that you're telling.

Yohani (45:03.597)
Yes, haa chhutta hai.

Yohani (45:08.759)
Yes, so it's like I'm talking to a shy guy. Thank you. I'm usually the I would go and talk to a guy kind of person, so yes. I was like, yeah, probably right in that kind of vibe. And I wanted it to be more dancey.

Dylan Pathirana (45:13.667)
I actually just listened to it so good. Yeah, I liked it.

Dylan Pathirana (45:24.141)
You're the forward person, yeah. Outgoing.

Dylan Pathirana (45:36.099)
Yeah.

Yohani (45:36.719)
And yes, you might hear it more similar to Mannequin also. I just wanted to have a little bit of element with that before I go forward. Just as sort of like a reminder. And all the others are going to be completely different.

Dylan Pathirana (45:42.028)
Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (45:55.661)
Amazing. again, all those other songs going to be the stories that you're going to tell through this album as well.

Yohani (46:01.647)
It's all about love.

Dylan Pathirana (46:05.077)
Awesome. Yeah. And I want to go back to, know we kind of probably didn't go through when we were talking about Manike Magehite. Sorry, I know everybody's talking about Manike Magehite. This is your biggest thing that you released. So I just wanted to understand when you got that much, suddenly people start knowing Yohani, right? And the girl that played in

Yohani (46:18.605)
Nice of you. Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (46:34.307)
Hilton, only three or four people coming to listen now suddenly become a superstar. How do you react to that kind of fame?

Yohani (46:35.372)
Ready?

Yohani (46:45.903)
I think I didn't react. didn't think I really grasped it at that time. It was more like just autopilot. I was just like, so when this just happened, I signed to management there. So my manager here, Dilanjan, said, okay, we have to go to India. I was like, wait, what? And I remember telling my parents, I was like, so I have to go to India. I'll be back in two weeks.

Dylan Pathirana (47:01.185)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yohani (47:14.999)
I came back in one year. it was just like, was crazy changes, right? Even I wasn't really thinking too much. I was just like, okay, this, this, this, that. The moment we went to Mumbai, we did a few shows there with my band. Then I stayed back, signed to T-Series, did the show with Saman Khan, Ranveer Singh.

Dylan Pathirana (47:41.443)
Yeah, yeah.

Yohani (47:42.968)
So all of that happened and it was so quick, right? So I didn't really have time to sit down and think that what's going on. I just like went with it. But I think maybe like last year or like, yeah, maybe like last year I was like, let's take a breather. I need to chill.

Dylan Pathirana (48:05.603)
And what's it like, you know, walking on stage in a different country and then people knowing your name and like there being thousands of people that watch you. What's that feeling like?

Yohani (48:16.673)
It was amazing. It was a crazy feeling but I feel like I was so annoyed at myself because I couldn't really converse with most of them because I don't know Hindi. So I'm learning that like here and there now. But it was a crazy feeling. I never dreamt of it. I never thought I'll do it. So it was a crazy feeling. It still is a crazy feeling.

Dylan Pathirana (48:28.77)
Yeah, okay.

Dylan Pathirana (48:44.899)
I don't really know how to ask this question, but there is, you know, so many musicians, so many singers out there in the world. Why do you think you made it?

Yohani (48:51.855)
Mm-hmm.

Yohani (48:55.747)
You gotta tell me that. I don't know how to answer that.

Dylan Pathirana (48:58.583)
That's a hard one. Is there anything that you think? Yeah. Is there anything that differentiates you from all the other people out there? Is it your work ethic? Is it the, you know, your style? Is there anything that you think makes you special?

Yohani (49:13.679)
You know, it's funny. I recently did an interview and they were talking about is this hard work or luck, Then I was trying to like explain the hours that goes behind this, the things I do, the...

the nights of like sleepless nights and the money I lose and all that. Then in the end I was like, you know what? I'll just go with luck, you know? I'll just go with luck because it's easier to explain it.

Dylan Pathirana (49:48.292)
And even if it was, you know, one song that blew you up, there was, you know, so many songs in the lead up, as you said, that you put effort in, you had to do that grind for that, for that one song to make it.

Yohani (49:56.803)
Mm-hmm.

Yohani (50:04.751)
And also I feel like a label wouldn't have signed me if I didn't have the past work I've done also. And I had a catalogue by that time when the song came out and I had also an album with me to be released. So all that really worked out together.

Dylan Pathirana (50:10.592)
Exactly.

Dylan Pathirana (50:27.779)
Yohani, you think, I mean, Sri Lankan music, right? So it's evolved over the years. I remember when we were young, long time ago, very, very long time ago, and the music that we were listening to, know, Sanat, Kaniwa, remember Milton Malavarachi, that kind of music, it's no longer there. It's probably there, but it's all different, Clarence Vijaywardana.

Yohani (50:39.279)
Yeah

Dylan Pathirana (50:57.279)
Now it's very different altogether. So what place do think the Sri Lankan music has got? Do you think you see... I mean you're also playing a big part of that evolution because you actually changed that style of the music. Do you think it's continuing to evolve?

Yohani (51:24.729)
Sorry, you broke in the middle, but I got the question. It just like, stuck to whatever. Anyways, I think you're asking, what was the last bit of the question?

Dylan Pathirana (51:26.411)
Yeah, yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (51:40.099)
Yeah, the style of music, do you think that's continued to evolve and do you see that you have a role in that evolution of the music?

Yohani (51:50.661)
Definitely. mean, anywhere music evolves, music has to evolve. Our ears change, generation preferences change, everything changes, right? But I think it's a very... Each place, if you take each country, has their unique things, right? And those things still stay. Like, if you take English music, there's a certain sound that comes out of it.

Dylan Pathirana (52:00.92)
Yep.

Yohani (52:20.734)
Afro, there's a certain sound. Indian music, there's a certain sound. Chinese music, there's a certain sound. And even Sri Lankan music has a certain sound. So that core will be the same. But of course, the styles, the production, the equipment used is going to change. But it's just going to keep evolving. It's just going to keep changing. But also...

Like, we can go back to 2000, like recently there has been like a whole vibe of 2000 sort of music, early 2000 music coming up also. So you know, they just keep changing, coming back. It's very interesting.

Dylan Pathirana (53:03.022)
Do you get by all this 80s 90s music?

Yohani (53:08.472)
Yes, so my parents had a huge part in that. They used to listen to, they didn't really listen to Singalese or Hindi music as such. They were just like, we had like CDs of just English music and it was Bee Gees, Spice Girls, all of that. Yes, so I grew up with those.

Dylan Pathirana (53:30.691)
Classics.

Yohani (53:35.972)
Beatles, so those are still just...

Dylan Pathirana (53:37.197)
Yeah. Any particular musician inspired you?

Yohani (53:44.656)
I don't think I have a particular person. It was just just the CDs in the car.

Dylan Pathirana (53:53.74)
Yeah, yeah, What about now? Do you have any mentors or anyone helping you to in your career?

Yohani (54:01.774)
Definitely, I do. I have a big team now. We started very small, but now I have a bigger team.

Dylan Pathirana (54:06.775)
Yep.

Yohani (54:11.246)
So Dilanjan has always been there as my manager. He started as my manager. I was a photographer in his company at first. We both changed careers. now he has a record label, and I'm signed to that. And he's a big part of my career and my team also. I also have a few vocal coaches.

Dylan Pathirana (54:20.64)
Hello?

Yohani (54:36.964)
that help me guide my voice now because as I said I'm not from a singing background when I grew up so I need that now more than ever to better my skill other than that YouTube helps me a lot watching videos and I think you just gotta learn every day so yes they help me a lot

Dylan Pathirana (54:43.427)
Nice.

Dylan Pathirana (54:57.817)
Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (55:06.125)
Yeah. And now that you've amassed this following, how important is it to you to kind of use your platform for good and, you know, get messages out there and, you know, spread good vibes.

Yohani (55:22.07)
What I think is, spread good vibes, spread my music, make everybody hear my music. And also, I want to help upcoming artists do their thing. Because as I would say Asians, but like this part of the world, growing up, music is still considered as an extracurricular activity, so like not as a career path.

So I want to sort of help young people do that switch. Be like, you know, it's okay to just try it out if you really like doing it. And don't be scared. So I think that's what I want to do with my social media as well. that what you were saying?

Dylan Pathirana (56:00.899)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-mm-mm.

Dylan Pathirana (56:10.307)
That's so yeah, that's so awesome. And like on that point, you know, a lot of people listening to this, we have quite a few young listeners. What advice would you have for a younger version of you when you know, you're faced with that choice of do I stick with, know, a traditional career or do I take this chance and do something different?

Yohani (56:22.672)
you

Yohani (56:32.088)
Yes, I think you do what you like to do if you want. mean, not just music, right? If you want to do accounting, just go for it, do accounting. I think you have to take that. If you don't try, you'll never know. So I think if you don't like it after you tried it, just do something else. you know, just take a risk and try it out. But I would say whatever you do.

Dylan Pathirana (56:38.819)
Yeah.

Yohani (56:57.348)
Just keep learning and developing your skill because there's so much every day you can learn. Brain, I don't know, there's so many things you can learn every day. And that will help you do whatever you want to do and help you go to that next stage of things.

Dylan Pathirana (57:13.517)
Mm-mm.

So what's next for Johani apart from releasing the second album? Sorry, third album? yeah, okay. Second, third, yeah.

Yohani (57:22.436)
the third album. No, no, I meant the new. What else is new? Yes, I have a new EP coming out also and...

There's so much music coming out, but I'll tell other than that, what's next for me is I did a Yohani Lyman concert beginning of this year.

and I want to continue doing that. So it was a 90-minute show. I had a 90-minute show, and that I want to keep doing all over the country and all over wherever I can. So that is sort of my goal. I'm doing a...

another acoustic 90 minutes set, I think in two, three months. I will ask my management. We are hoping to do. I'll let you guys know if I come to Australia as well.

Dylan Pathirana (58:14.051)
Nice.

Dylan Pathirana (58:19.969)
Sure. Please. Yeah. And outside of music, is there, is there anything else we need to know about your honey or is it your life just music?

Yohani (58:30.032)
playing games? Does that count? Well these days... Do you guys play? Okay. So I just play these days like Hill Divers, Marvel Rivals. And... Yes.

Dylan Pathirana (58:33.697)
Yeah. What sort of games do you play?

Dylan Pathirana (58:41.524)
I used to a little bit, not too much. We'll take here and there.

Dylan Pathirana (58:52.715)
And do you use that as like an escape from music?

Yohani (58:57.198)
Battlefield 6 came out recently, like the beta version. those kind of things really sort of gets my, it's my other side of things. Other than music. And I of course go travel. Like Kenya, I'm going next month. So I really like to travel.

Dylan Pathirana (59:06.499)
That's awesome.

Dylan Pathirana (59:18.551)
That's amazing. So my last question to you, Johani, how do you want to be remembered?

Yohani (59:25.712)
I don't think I want to be remembered. I want to be remembered by my music. I want people to remember my music. Yeah. Yes. Definitely.

Dylan Pathirana (59:35.491)
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. More than you, you want them to remember your music. In generations time, people will still be listening to your honey. Yeah. So your honey to wrap up this conversation. I, you know, I need to ask again, the fundamental question. Do you feel successful?

Yohani (59:53.617)
Yes, I do. By the definition I gave earlier, yes.

Dylan Pathirana (59:58.306)
Yeah. Yeah. So you're telling your story and you know, you're sharing that with other people when sharing your music and you're doing it very well. Yeah.

Yohani (01:00:05.552)
Thank

Definitely, definitely. I'm very happy with everything. My team, my family, my health, everything is all good. And we have a great bunch of friends around. Life's good, so I find that successful.

Dylan Pathirana (01:00:21.591)
Awesome. Yeah. And before I wrap up this conversation, I've been jotting down a few core traits, which I think have been very crucial to your to your success. And I'd like to share them with you. The first one is you're super positive. This entire conversation, you've been smiling and laughing. And I think that's really important, especially when you're trying to connect with people and tell stories. And it just makes it a lot easier, especially

Yohani (01:00:32.656)
Mm-hmm.

Dylan Pathirana (01:00:50.645)
interviewing you, you know, if you're smiling, we're smiling. And I think that's, you know, definitely part of your personality. The second one is your collaborative approach to music. And I think, you know, whether it's it helped you in the your early days to grow and become known to now, you know, you're trying to do that for for up and coming artists as well. I think collaboration, whether it's in music or, or business or life, it's so important to

Yohani (01:00:51.566)
Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (01:01:18.307)
bring other people along with you on that journey to growth. The next one I think is probably the most important. You put yourself on the line and whether that's in a musical sense where you're experimenting with different types of music in different genres or whether it's putting your physical self, you're like socially on the line. I can't imagine being posting your first YouTube video, I'm sure.

Yohani (01:01:43.824)
you

Dylan Pathirana (01:01:47.522)
you felt a bit insecure about it, but you put it out there and put it on the line and you know, now look at you, you're... And yeah, I think that's, that's, that's a really important part though, going out there and actually just doing it, putting yourself on the line and just going with whatever comes. And then the last one is your authenticity. You know, you do things that make you happy. and whether it's in your music,

Yohani (01:01:52.198)
Yeah, it's on private now. Yeah, Definitely.

Dylan Pathirana (01:02:15.413)
not really worrying about what other people have to say about how you're experimenting with music. You do things because you feel like it's right for you. And I think that's so important, you know, not getting pressured by society and all these external pressures. And I'm really, really glad that we got to that. I want to add to that authenticity, you know, we asked that question from you, Johani, what made you a big artist, like a big hit?

And I think I kind of know that from my perspective, the answer to that is your style, right? That's your authenticity, your real Yohani, you know? And from the very first, you know, when we open up, when we're this conversation, you're just like someone that we know for long, long time, right? So it's so easy to connect with you and talk to you. And that is very unique, you know, that's...

Yohani (01:02:53.777)
Bye.

Dylan Pathirana (01:03:14.593)
That's definitely a key part of your success. Thank you again. It's amazing to have this conversation and we want to wish you really best for the future and what you're doing next big album. Keep us informed and we want to really support you from the sideline.

Yohani (01:03:17.873)
Thank you.

Yohani (01:03:24.517)
Thank you.

Yohani (01:03:33.765)
Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. This was such a fun interview. When I sat down, I was like, no, what do I say? I will ask you guys what are we going to talk about. But I really enjoyed this, and thank you for having me here.

Dylan Pathirana (01:03:45.805)
Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (01:03:49.409)
No, I'm really glad we could have this conversation. And if people want to listen to your new song, Heart You Thug, where can they find it?

Yohani (01:03:55.537)
Ha Chuttak is on all streaming platforms and also you can go check out the video on YouTube. It's a cool video so go check it out. I really enjoyed doing it. We have a small dance going on, a choreography. Yes, yes. Thank you, thank you.

Dylan Pathirana (01:04:07.349)
Yeah. Yeah.

Dylan Pathirana (01:04:14.763)
Awesome. Yeah. Yeah. I saw that too. Yeah. That was awesome. Yeah. We'll put the links to all of that down in the description below and for thank you so much for this conversation. honey, it's been incredible. And if you guys have gotten something out of today's episode, it would mean the world. If you could go like comment and subscribe on our video and you can see all of our inspiring content over on our website, the quest for success podcast.com. And with that, we'll catch you guys in the next episode. Thanks for listening. Thank you.

Yohani (01:04:26.779)
Thank you.

Yohani (01:04:43.474)
Thank you! Thank you so much!

Dylan Pathirana (01:04:44.994)
That's awesome, Yohani. Thank you so much for your time. I know you're a very busy person.