When Jonita Gandhi took to the stage in Chennai earlier this year to open for Ed Sheeranlittle did she know that the moment would quietly foreshadow something far more intimate than a stadium show. They had crossed paths before – backstage in Mumbai years ago, brief conversations, mutual admiration – but never registered. And yet, in a year filled with global musical crossovers, their collaboration comes without drama or surprise. Instead, it feels like an adaptation that was always waiting to happen.
That adaptation takes the form of a new collaborative version of Sheeran’s “Heaven,” a track from his UK Number 1 album Play. The original song thrives on restraint — soft, unguarded, emotionally spacious. Jonita’s presence does not disturb that stillness; rather, it extends it. Her newly written Hindi verse is seamlessly folded into the composition, feather-light yet deeply felt, melding Sheeran’s tender vocals into the space where cross-cultural exchange feels intimate rather than performative.
For Jonita, the collaboration was not driven by strategy or momentum. That simply finished.
“Ed has been working on a project with Indian artists for some time,” she says. “I’m grateful that he thought of me for the remix version of ‘Heaven.’ I’m not entirely sure what went into that decision, but I’m glad that’s how it turned out.” She pauses before adding, almost softly as an afterthought, “It just felt like the right song at the right time, with the right energy on both sides. Sometimes things really just fall into place like that.”
That sense of quiet alignment has long defined Jonita’s career. Her voice moves fluidly across languages, genres and emotional registers without ever sounding out of place. When we spoke last year ahead of her debut EP Love like thatshe described her sound as “an organic blend of my worlds beautifully and thematically coming together” — the point where her Bollywood experience and Canadian upbringing finally met on equal terms.
“Heaven” feels in many ways like the natural next step.
Instead of approaching her Hindi universe with scale or grandeur, Jonita Gandhi let the stillness of the song dictate its own rules. Melodi’s sensibility demanded restraint—a very different creative instinct than her expansive Bollywood hits or high-energy pop collaborations. “It’s such a delicate melody,” she explains. “Anything too heavy-handed would have taken away from its simplicity. I really let the song lead me.”
Hindi, she observes, carries poetry in its bones, which meant that the challenge lay in letting that poetry whisper. Working with lyricists Shayra Apoorva, Harjot Kaur and Rutvik Talashilkar, Jonita focused on phrases that felt emotionally honest without demanding attention. “We were looking for words that felt gentle” she says. “And with the vocal production, I wanted my parts to feel like a hug.” That intention comes full circle when their voices finally meet on the hook — the moment the collaboration stops being an idea and becomes a sensation.
Unlike many global duets put together through long, rigid studio sessions, the process behind “Heaven” unfolded with surprising ease. By the time Jonita got the track, Sheeran’s vocals were already complete. Instead of detailed instructions, she received something rare in cross-border collaborations: trust. “His parts were already done, and I think he wanted to give me the creative freedom to weave in and out of the song in a way that felt natural,” she remembers. “The process was pretty fluid. I’m thankful that Ed and his team really trusted us to handle it.”
She spent time experimenting – layering harmonies, subtly shifting phrasing, exploring how their voices could coexist without crowding each other. “I loved playing with different vocal ideas,” she says. “The production centers were amazing at bringing everything together and making sure everything felt sonically aligned.”
That openness didn’t end with the recording.
Weeks later, Jonita and Sheeran reunited in New York and ended up jamming. She introduced him to sargam, guiding him through the nuances as he practiced with quiet focus and curiosity. The moment left a lasting impression on her. “For someone his size he is incredibly grounded, she says. “He’s just a musician who really loves making music – no ego, no pressure.” She laughs softly. “When I taught him the sargam portion, he was so patient and diligent. That really stuck with me.”
Sheeran has been equally open about his admiration for the singer. “I’m a Fan” he said in a statement. “This was the perfect song for us to do together, and it’s the first Hindi song I’ve released. It’s an honor to do it with her.”
In that New York jam session—one pop giant teaching Indian classical nuances to another who approaches them with respect rather than nuance—the collaboration reveals its emotional core. This was not a calculated merger. It was two musicians, genuinely curious and fully present, who geeked out on the sound language. If Play marked Sheeran’s broader exploration of Indian rhythms and textures, “Heaven” grounds this curiosity in sincerity.
Jonita Gandhi sees moments like this as part of a larger shift in global music, one where Indian influence is no longer positioned as trinkets. “India is not just influencing global music anymore,” she says. “It is becoming part of the global musical vocabulary. There is a genuine appreciation for our rhythms, instruments and languages - not as add-on ‘exotic elements’, but as integral creative tools.”
For artists like her, that change opens doors without asking them to dilute their identity. “The coming years will be exciting” she adds. “More Indian artists will be able to collaborate globally on equal terms, bringing our sounds and telling our stories while staying true to who we are.”
Jonita Gandhi has navigated that balance for years—from playback singer to indie artist to global collaborator. Each world requires different creative muscles, and the complexity of moving between them often goes unseen. “People don’t always realize how much creative code-switching goes on,” she says. “Playing requires you to become a character. Indie music asks you to take it all back. International collaborations mean mixing cultures seamlessly. Each space has its own expectations and workflows. Navigating it all means constantly shifting without losing your artistic center. It’s a beautiful challenge – but definitely a challenge.”
That kind of creative elasticity doesn’t always manifest itself, but when it does, it tends to ripple outward. “Heaven” is already bringing a new wave of listeners into Gandhi’s catalog — some discovering her for the first time, others realizing she’s the voice behind songs they’ve long loved (“The Breakup Song,” “Beparwai,” “Arabic Kuthu,” “Deva Deva,” “What Jhumka?”, the list goes on and on). What she hopes will resonate is not just the elegance of her tone, but the curiosity that inspires it.
“I’m endlessly curious” she says with a smile. “I love experimenting with languages, genres and collaborators. My voice is just one piece of the puzzle. If people know that I enjoy diving into new worlds and connecting cultures through music, that would make me very happy.”
That curiosity made her the first female artist signed to 91 North Records. It earned her a Juno nomination for her debut EP. It’s taken her onto global stages alongside Shawn Mendes, Dua Lipa, Post Malone and Michael Bublé – and now into Sheeran’s first Hindi release. It’s also what allows her to effortlessly move from Punjabi folk renditions to English R&B ballads without losing her sense of self.
Despite billions of streams, global tours and career-defining milestones, Jonita’s compass is surprisingly simple. “I always come back to why I started singing in the first place,” she says. “The pure feeling of joy and relief music gave me as a child.”
And her family. Always her family.
“Making my parents proud is a big part of who I am,” she adds. “They keep me humble, grateful and aligned with the purpose behind every milestone.”
That sense of purpose binds her journey together – from Bombay studios to global stages, from YouTube covers to Ed Sheeran’s first Hindi release. In many ways, “Heavesn” reflects the essence of Jonita Gandhi’s path: an artist shaped by connection, curiosity and the quiet confidence to move between worlds without announcing the shift.
And now, with a verse that feels like a gentle pull toward home, she steps into a new global chapter—one that sounds unmistakably her.
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