The story of early south Asian YouTube breakthroughs feels incomplete without Vidya Vox, one of the first artistes from the diaspora to turn the platform into a real stage. As she heads to Hyderabad for a live set, the journey from screen to stage feels especially real. “I think people should expect to have fun and party. Some old hits, I’m going to sing songs that people know, but also some new songs from my album Sundari,” she says.
In the beginning, there was no big plan. “Honestly, I don’t think I was chasing anything specific. I just wanted people to hear my music. I wanted a way to be able to express myself without having to wait for a music director or someone else to give me a chance,” Vidya shares. YouTube became that space where she could put her ideas out without asking for permission. Her mashups became the first thing people connected with, but for her, they were always personal. “I think they’ve always been something that has connected me to my identity growing up. That’s kind of how I grew up. It’s the quite literal musical representation of my upbringing,” she explains. “There’s the American part of myself, and here is the Indian part of myself that learned Carnatic music growing up… it’s basically who I am as a person.”
Even then, Vidya says the process was never easy. “I feel like they were always trial and error. There’s so many mashups that never made it online because I didn’t think that they worked,” she explains. “For me, when I listen to a mashup, I want to feel like its one song, not like you’re listening to two separate songs. It needs to feel like one cohesive piece of music.” The shift away from mashups came suddenly and not entirely by choice. “After a bunch of these mashups got super popular, an Indian record label came after me for a lot of money in a very illegal way. I just didn’t have enough lawyer fees to fight them,” she shares. The situation forced her to rethink everything. “I was like, you know what, this seems like a sign from the universe to stop doing these covers.” What followed was a clean break. “I just woke up and deleted a bunch of videos from my channel that belonged to that record label and started making my own music,” Vidya says. It was a difficult moment, but also a turning point.
That turning point led directly into her first body of original work. “With my first EP, Kuthu Fire, I wanted everything to be quite a literal representation of what I was already doing with mashups, but with originals.” She adds: “I was like, okay, let me do this original music but have it mostly in English, but then have a little bit of Tamil or Malayalam for that feeling.” It was her way of carrying forward the same identity, but this time through her own writing.
From there, the sound began to expand. “My second album, Mad Dreams, was very much like a dreamy electronic vibe, which was a huge departure from what I am known for doing,” Vidya explains. Moving into a more synth-heavy, atmospheric space allowed her to explore a different side of herself, one that was less rooted in structure and more in mood.
With Sundari, she found herself returning, but with more clarity. “When I made Sundari, I feel like I kind of returned to my roots a little bit, but it’s a bit more mature,” she says. The album holds on to the cultural layering that first defined her, but with a stronger sense of self and direction. Across all these projects, her approach has stayed consistent in one way. “I try to think of them as a cohesive unit of who I am in the moment and what musically interests me and excites me,” she elaborates. “But then also relating to what I’m feeling in that moment as well.” Each release becomes a time capsule, shaped by where she is emotionally and creatively.
Her understanding of identity has also become easier over time. “My integration of my culture, in the beginning was very deliberate, but now it’s very instinctive,” she explains. “I’ve realised that I don’t have to be completely American or I don’t have to be completely Indian. My experience is a little bit of a third-party experience.” That shift allows her to move more freely between sounds without overthinking the balance.
As Vidya’s audience has grown, performing live has become central to how she connects. “There’s nothing that replaces a live performance, to be honest. When I’m finally on the stage and I see everybody enjoying the music or singing my lyrics, there is no other feeling like that,” she shares. It is where everything comes together, from the mashups that first found an audience to the albums that define her now.
At the same time, she is still working things out. “I’m trying to figure out what that balance is and how I could have my music be a safe space for people to come to when they’ve had a long day,” she says. “But also I want people to just have a good time and forget about their worries for a little while.”
In Hyderabad, that full arc will play out in one set. The early YouTube songs, the shift forced by circumstances, and the albums that followed will all sit side by side. What began as a need to be heard has grown into something more layered, more personal, and still very much in motion.
Tickets at Rs 1,299.
March 28, 8.30 pm.
At Heart Cup Coffee, Gachibowli.
Mail ID: anshula.u@newindianexpress.com
Twitter: @indulgexpress
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