Review: RANJ Finds A Friend In Swaggering Rhythms On Debut Mixtape ‘27 CLUB’

Since the start of this decade, Ranjani Ramadoss aka RANJ has slowly risen as one of the leading new artists in the alternative music space of India, mostly in combination with producer Clifr. Starting from the confluence of indie-pop and R&B, and then occasionally dipping into hip-hop, the Chennai-born, erstwhile Bangalore-based, and now Mumbai-based artist gathers the influences and the collaborators accrued on the way to release her debut mixtape '27 CLUB'. Over 27 tracks, the singer-songwriter-rapper works with more than 13 producers.

Naturally, '27 CLUB' jumps across styles to prioritise variety over cohesion, reflective of its nature as a mixtape rather than an album. The only constant is the Chennai-born Mumbai-based artist who maintains an assured style of earworm melodies and rhythmic verses, even as weighing topics of identity and self-definition while switching between English and Tamil – delightfully experimenting with the latter on hip-hop beats or even Latin rhythms ('VIRALI PAATTU').

Crossing through infectious pop-R&B melodies on longtime collaborator Clifr-produced 'YOURS!' and 'BOTH WAYS', with the latter also featuring Karachi producer Talal Qureshi, to the sonically gangster rap-tinged '8oz. OF PUSSY JUICE' via the neo-soul basslines of 'CHEAT DAY' by producer Fraape, '27 CLUB' jumps sub-genres from the get-go.

Soon enough, it's clear that there are producers and production styles RANJ is more at home with. Though never too far from appreciability, the quick-fire verses over Tienas' booming trap beats on 'WWYD?' do begin to stray from the mark, which happens more so over the four-to-the-floor beat of Raj-producer 'RELIGIOUS'.

You can feel it even more as the mixtape jumps back up in quality upon returning home to the dragging Dilla beats of 'GROW UP!', produced by Plvcebo. Swaggering rhythms are clearly RANJ's friends, irrespective of language, as they accompany her on 'KAIDHI' and across production styles – with even Tienas' booming production feeling better matched when RANJ sticks to usual fare on '"ONE STROKE"' or on 'SHOW ME!', the only other club-oriented track on the mixtape besides 'RELIGIOUS'.

Through these excursions, Clifr remains RANJ's strongest collaborator, fittingly appearing on a third of the tracks on the mixtape, including all but one of its singles, and even delivering the more successful experimentations on the release as he helps RANJ experiment with the energy of rock on 'WHO YOU ARE' while responding to its repeated refrains with string melodies to elevate the stylistic pairing.

RANJ x Clifr at Nomads 2026 // Photo by Aarohi Mehra

'27 CLUB' isn't just styles and sonics. RANJ throws in sweet nothings ("I'm looking for that sweet taste // Baby it's lookin' like a cheat day // Come over"), narrates autobiographical stories and even treads some rarely-treaded grounds with deeply femme themes on tracks like 'PRETTY WOMEN FREESTYLE' and 'EVERYTHING IS BIRTH CONTROL'.

There is a lot on '27 CLUB', and, naturally, not everything on it is indispensable. But to anyone who can gloss over those bits, the mixtape is a public-view experimentation and successful arrival at a recognisable identity by one of the strongest new voices on India's R&B block.

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Words: Amaan Khan