Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
You can't please everyone.
Music was my solace, my refuge.
I love mixing Indian and Western.
Most of my family speaks fluent Malayalam.
I want to bring Indian music to the mainstream.
My father was actually controlling and abusive.
I spoke in Tamil at home and ate dosa and idli.
Most of my jewellery is what I picked up in India.
I grew up on Queen, ABBA and at the same time, Nityasree.
My music is a whole reflection of who I'm as an individual.
Visuals are important, as listeners like to 'see' the song.
Music has been my way of expressing what I've been feeling.
Growing up in Virginia, I was surrounded by two different cultures.
Kerala is one of my favourite places. It's so beautiful, so serene!
There's no longevity on YouTube. You have to keep pushing boundaries.
Most of the clothes and accessories in my videos come from my wardrobe.
If your intention is pure, an audience will recognise it and connect with you.
You can put your music out on YouTube and get messages from all over the world.
I grew up listening to dappan koothu songs and loved the fun party vibes they gave.
It's very important to me to stay true to who I am as a musician and the songs that I love.
The great thing about both Indian and Western pop music is that they're fast and have a beat.
I've gotten to perform in the most beautiful places, like the Nourse Theatre in San Francisco.
I have found a groove and a combination between originals and mashups that I think works well.
I was teased about Indian food and the colour of my skin and why my knees and elbows were dark.
It might sound corny, but honestly, it's worth staying true to your voice. It'll get you places.
By the time I went to college, I had totally embraced my Indianness, but I still didn't tell anyone I could sing.
I think it's important to wear what you love no matter the trends, that will make you feel comfortable and confident.
I was once trying to find a song to fit Nicki Minaj's 'Hey Mama.' But nothing worked out. Sometimes, you can't help it.
It's okay, it's cool to be Indian and there are cool people that are Indian and doing really well. It's okay to be brown and cool.
It's all about the balance. For musicians, me personally, you just can't keep doing covers or mash-ups. It would get old pretty fast.
Music is so subjective and personal, I don't expect people to like everything I do. But that's life and you have to live unapologetically.
I can be a mix of both. I don't have to be an Indian or an American. They're not mutually exclusive. It's something growing up I didn't know.
The money I earn from a live show is divided into two parts. One section goes towards producing my music videos, and the other goes into my savings.
My mom took my sister and I to music classes. We used to hate practising as kids but my grandma used to make it fun by playing musical games with us.
It's very natural for me to sing in English and have a tabla in an arrangement, to have hip-hop beats but sing in Tamil. It's very niche but I love doing it.
I grew up learning carnatic music but I also enjoyed english music so I always thought I could marry the two words and we tried the idea once and it was a hit.
I guess fusion would be the best way to describe my music. I think it also goes into the spectrum of electronic and dance with inspiration from Indian folk songs.
The thing about doing mashups and covers is it's great, but a part of you never gets to really showcase what your original sound is like or what your writing voice is like.
YouTube is amazing because you really don't have to wait for anyone to showcase your work. Social media in general is like that. People can connect with it all over the world.
During college, I collaborated with another YouTuber and musician, Shankar Tucker. He told me, 'You can do music on YouTube and it's a viable way to put out your songs' and it worked out.
When I launched my channel, I felt I was ready to do this. It's not that I had learnt everything - because as an artiste you never stop learning, but I was ready to put out my voice in the world.
My mother had to make an unconventional decision. We had to run away from home. She made a really difficult decision to leave financial stability behind and undertake raising two girls on her own.
I think in the world of Internet trolls, people can shake your confidence really easily, with just one comment. As long as you can stand behind your work, it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks!
I was actually going for the pre-medicine track and studying for my MCATs and then I decided to follow my passion, which was music. So I moved to India after college to re-immerse myself in Indian music.
The one thing I won't do is sacrifice my Indian identity in my music, my clothing choices. It's something I tried to hide growing up, and I would never do that again because it's such a big part of me and I'm very proud of it.
Yeah, I didn't ever think about music as a career. Like, it was never - it's just something like an extracurricular activity that my mom put me in. And as every South Asian, you know, like, child, I was like - oh, OK, I can do medicine.
I used to have blue hair, and a lot of people hated that I had blue or green hair, and I'd get so many comments like, 'you're so perfect, but why do you have blue hair?' And it's like, okay, but it's my hair and I can do whatever I want.
My mother and grandmother are very supportive of me, and they always have a say in things. They also really help with any pronunciation problems I have with Tamil and Malayalam, and can always identify if there is a mistake and correct it.
I was bullied when I was in middle school in D.C., especially for being an Indian, because there weren't many Indian kids in school. And because of that, I tended to hide my Indian culture, but that changed by the end of high school. Now, I am 100% proud of it.
I was raised in an Indian household - singing classical music and eating south Indian food. But the second I went to school, it was a different world. I'd be listening to Destiny's Child, Usher and the Backstreet Boys. It wasn't until college that I really found the balance between the two worlds.