Drawing us in with a subversive texture and fierce electric guitar performance, Pridhvi Sunain Zoro opens his album MAHA (Make America Human Again) with intrigue and a rock-adjacency with the track F**king Dance. The track taps into the frustration and exhaustion of modern work and survival. It’s super relatable and reminds us of the feeling of being trapped in a competitive system where money, status, and productivity determine our worth.
Pridhvi Sunain Zoro shares how he feels jealous of people who have escaped that grind, whilst also being pulled towards money and success despite recognizing that the game itself is rigged. We love the vocal harmonies and the switch up to a more pop sensibility where the idea of party and dancing in the chorus represents much needed escapism. The electric guitar solos are transcendental, and the track has an undeniable cinematic allure – we could imagine it being featured in a TV show like Severance. Overall it is an anthem that reflects the desire to forget the rat race… even just for one night.
Next up is Falling Through The Fire which opens with a mid-tempo energy and a high emotional quotient. We appreciate the guitar riffs and the artist’s epic range on this track. The song is about people who have become independent and successful but realize that achievement means little without love and connection. This is when we realize the overarching intentional arc of the album comes into play. It’s about those who have built emotional walls to protect themselves, but ultimately have to let those walls down and accept that they still need each other.
This leads us to a more folk-rock moment with Give Me A World. Again, Pridhvi Sunain Zoro‘s falsetto range is sublime. Here, it is all about rejecting consumerism and greed, and longing for a more sustainable, harmonious relationship with nature. The song validly criticizes capitalism’s impact on people and the environment, while calling for consciousness, simplicity, and connection with the natural world. The folk strings would make this perfect for a scene in a movie like Avatar.
Human Again taps into a more microtonal, South Asian energy with brooding vocals that connect with the original ethos of the record. The song is about rejecting economic inequality and exploitation. It invites us to reclaim a more human life beyond wealth and power. The song is a call to action for breaking free from systems that benefit the few and invites us to rediscover hope, dignity, and solidarity. There is no doubt that the song holds a high spiritual quotient and the guitar finale feels like a moment from a Santana album.
Next is Love Just Fades Away, which opens with the lyrics, “I gave you oceans, drowned in the tide, you wanted more, but left me dry, swiping through souls, lost in the stream, chasing illusions, killing the dream…”. We love the melodies that manifest here and the emotional energy that transmutes. This track is all about a love that became an illusion. It poignantly explores the blurred line between love and pain, and whether the relationship was a blessing, burden, or simply a beautiful illusion that eventually faded away. The question-and-answer format of the songwriting is genius and the vocal harmonies from Angel Clare really shine through here, adding a super emotive sensibility to the already heart-wrenching track.
Children of the Storm shares a narrative of people growing up amidst war and destruction. It’s about refusing to surrender. The hook, “Oh, Liba, Liba…” resonates like a mantra and the song portrays the children of the storm as resilient survivors despite everything around them collapsing. Again, the guitar work is out of this world, and we connect with the zeitgeist message here that feels super important considering the global state of reality.
This leads us through to Shades With Ease which taps into themes of political and social division once again, this time with the hope of overcoming it by recognizing our shared humanity. The song rejects partisan identities and hostility, and argues that beneath the conflict, we share the same roots, pain, and capacity to heal together. We love this message and could imagine the track in a movie like the Oscar-winning, One Battle After Another. Once again, the track holds a super high emotional quotient and the guitar work really tugs at our heart’s centre.
Slash The Ghost opens with a piano and guitar soundscape with the most beautiful siren-like vocals from Pridhvi Sunain Zoro. With a more syncopated delivery, he shares a more theatrical energy with a message of breaking through emotional silence and social conditioning through honest conversation. We love the metaphorical concept of the track and the middle eight is an ethereal delight. A female version featuring the voice of Angel Clare is also included as a bonus track on the album.
Finally, we experience Live Beyond, which is a fierce and assertive finale for the album, with the sound of shattering glass that matches the funk-pop sensibilities and the accompanying artwork. The song is about struggling between conforming to society and staying true to one’s own creativity and identity. Pridhvi Sunain Zoro shares how he feels pressured to suppress his dreams, but ultimately chooses to break free, pursue his imagination, and live beyond the limits society imposes. This album is clearly the result.
The rising artist tells us how MAHA is structured across three acts:Â Phase I (Collapse), Phase II (Humanity), and Phase III (Ascent). The visionary artist was born in India and raised across South India and Santa Monica, California as a third culture kid. We learn Zoro’s time serving in the United States Air Force Reserve while studying at UC Berkeley shaped the album’s central tension: two Americas, one shared exhaustion.
Needless to say, we are in awe of the meticulous detail that embodies MAHA. Pridhvi Sunain Zoro‘s intentional creativity is unparalleled and the record stands out as a piece of tangible pop culture with a sentiment that millions of us share around the world. We can only hope that this message of unity will continue to manifest. We have added F**king Dance to our New Music Spotlight playlist, and our TIMELESS playlist, whilst we anticipate future releases from Pridhvi Sunain Zoro.