Quotes from Vidya Vox

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 was embarrassed about being Indian and I was very introverted. My mom would pack me Indian food for lunch. All the kids had their Lunchables and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and I had rice and dal. They would say, 'Does your house smell like curry? You smell like curry!' So, I'd never eat lunch, really. Or, I'd hide to eat lunch.

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!

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.

There's no longevity on YouTube. You have to keep pushing boundaries.

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.

You can put your music out on YouTube and get messages from all over the world.

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.

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.

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.

Music was my solace, my refuge.

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 love mixing Indian and Western.

I've gotten to perform in the most beautiful places, like the Nourse Theatre in San Francisco.

Most of my family speaks fluent Malayalam.

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.

I spoke in Tamil at home and ate dosa and idli.

I never thought being a musician would be something I could make a career out of.

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.

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 loved science. I still love it; I'm a nerd in that sense.

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.

It's very important to me to stay true to who I am as a musician and the songs that I love.

It might sound corny, but honestly, it's worth staying true to your voice. It'll get you places.