Vidya Vox

Some Lesser Known Facts About Vidya Vox

• At the age of five, she started learning Carnatic music. When she was eight years old, her family immigrated to the USA.

• Her father was very abusive towards her mother and also very controlling to the extent that he would order his family as to what they are supposed to wear and what they should do. When his abusive behaviour reached its limit, her mother left him with her daughter. This affected Vidya, as her music teacher refused to teach her music.

  

• Vidya has learned Carnatic Classical music from D.K. Nagarajan, brother of late musician D. K. Pattammal.

• Growing up in the US wasn’t easy for Vidya, as being an Indian, she was not accepted in her school.
  

  Growing up in the US as an Indian wasn’t easy. I was teased about Indian food and the colour of my skin and why my knees and elbows were dark”

• Being an Indian and living in the US, she experienced the mix of both the cultures while growing up. Talking about it, she said,
  

  It was very interesting. It always felt like two different worlds. At home, I would be singing bhajans and kritis, eating dosa and sambar, but when I went to school, I’d be listening to Backstreet Boys, Destiny’s Child, Usher and eating pizza. That tug between both cultures was something I was intimidated by”

• Initially, Vidya was pursuing MCAT and was planning to get into a medical school. At the same time, she was also working at a clinic.

• Her musical journey began in 2011 when Shankar Tucker (a renowned American music composer) who she had met during her college days, asked her and her sister (Vandana) to collaborate with him for the song “Nee Nenaindal ” for his YouTube Channel, The Shruti Box.

• After collaborating with Shankar, she began performing regularly with Shankar’s band. She has performed in various places and events such as White House, National Centre for the Performing Arts (India), Webster Hall, Festivals Des Artes in Reunion Island, INK Women, Suriname, Dubai, and the Meru Concert Series in the Netherlands.

• In 2012, she decided to pursue music as her career and moved to Mumbai for two years to learn Carnatic music and Western Vocals.

• After coming back from India, she started her own YouTube channel by the name ‘Vidya Vox’ in 2015. She posted her first mashup cover of the songs ‘Big Girls Cry’ of Sia and ‘Kabhi Jo Badal Barse;’ the song was removed from YouTube later, due to copyright issues with Yash Raj Films.

• She has more than 6.50 M subscribers on her YouTube Channel, where she posts blends (mashup) of Indian and western music including original music by her. Her music has garnered much appreciation of Shah Rukh Khan & Hrithik Roshan.

• Her stage name ‘Vox’ comes from the Latin word ‘Voice.’ Shankar used to save her voice recording as ‘Vidya Vox.’ When she realized it, she decided to name her YouTube channel as ‘Vidya Vox.’

• Some of her most popular mashup covers are – Love Me Like You Do|Hosanna, Closer|Kabira, Lean On|Jind Mahi, We Don’t Talk Anymore|Pani Da Rang, and Kuttanadan Punjayile (Kerela’s Famous Boat Song).

• After her first album ‘Kuthu Fire’ garnered much appreciation and love from the public, she released her second album ‘Mad Dreams’ in 2019.

• Vidya is fluent in many languages viz. Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, English & French.