The Queen of mash-ups

The Queen of mash-ups

Vidya Vox, a YouTube sensation with over 3.5 million subscribers on her channel known for her mash-up and cover videos which have crossed nearly 300 million views, launched the new store of Forever 21 at The Pavillion, in the city on Thursday. She is also set to begin the India Tour of her new album release EP Kuthu Fire, with the first live performance being held in Pune. But before that, we caught up with her for a quick interview. Excerpts...

Has music always been your career choice?
Not really. I was pursuing Psychology and was gearing up for medical school. I was scared to switch to music but made up my mind and came back to Mumbai for two years after graduation to pursue my musical education. I took classes in Hindustani classical and Western vocals. My collaboration with Shankur Tucker has changed my life.

How do you come up with your mash-up ideas?
When I decided on starting my YouTube page, I always thought about how to keep to my roots and stick to the culture around me while I was abroad. Mash-ups helped me blend those two unique worlds. My music is a reflection of the person I am, about the two cultures.

How do you choose the artist you wish to collaborate with?
I usually collaborate with people who I am familiar with and those who are my friends. I use my contacts to move around the industry and line up collaborations with both my friends as well as other YouTube stars.

What is the inspiration behind your original album EP Kuthu Fire?
I started off my career as a cover and mash-up artist, but I wanted to create an original album since forever. I worked on that idea and came up with a couple of original tracks for my EP Kuthu Fire. Kuthu is a type of traditional dance from where I belong, Chennai. I wanted to incorporate a part of my heritage in my music. From Pune, I will be travelling to Hyderabad, Jaipur, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Kolkata for my Kuthu Fire Tour.

What are your future plans?
I have been doing a lot of covers and mash-ups. Currently I am working on releasing videos for my original tracks from Kuthu Fire. I’ll continue working on collaboration as well as come up with more original numbers. I’ll work on blending both the part of the worlds that I belong to in my upcoming music. I like working with original music and incorporating folk and classical elements with it because their history is so rich.

Which artists inspire you the most?
Beyonce to Adele, and even Shreya Ghosal and Kaushiki Chakraborty, I like them all. All of them are so different from each other in what they do. There are many artists who inspire me every single day.

ST READER SERVICE
Vidya Vox will be performing live at Amanora ground today at 5.30 pm

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