I've never since started making music. My name was too hard for people to say. So they wanted to change the spelling of the name. I was like, I'm not gonna butcher my name because you can't say it. That's crazy. I realized that I had to go make a place for me. It was hard growing up not seeing anyone Indian. I think the only Indian person that existed in American pop culture was a poo from the Simpsons. And he was like a caricature of Indian people. I loved Britney Spears, I loved Christina Aguilera, and I loved all these people. But that definitely was damaging for me as a child because none of them represented who I was. The music I make is like a fusion of definitely hip-hop, tribal, rhythmic kinds of things. And an Eastern influence melodically. It's like a genre like Bolly Hood, kind of like a little bit heard, a little bit Indian. As a child, I studied three of the five classical styles of Indian dance. It's my first relationship with art, and I learned about rhythm through classical dance. So then I took that and I was like, well, what if I use these devices and I apply some English in there making a rap song, kind of what I grew up on being an American kid growing up here being influenced so much by hip-hop. And people like Missy Elliott and people like Timberland that like are fearless with their fusion. So I was like, okay, what if we do like, how long do you think that you could keep up with my tempo dance of the rhythm dance in the Himalay? And it was just like so exciting that I realized that they are the same. And that kind of started me on this like search to like make this fusion music. With new artists, I think there is always a challenge for them to succumb to what society wants. So everyone wants to be able to say that's the next X, that's the next Y. We're just coming into this industry as incomparable. I don't think she's going to bend to what people want to hear, but she's going to create something that people are going to yearn to hear. So mom, how do you feel about putting the Putcha Putcha in Brighton Archim in pop music? Tell the truth, she always like asks me to be like, we really like it, but like are the people good on like it or the American people good on like it? She's like always concerned. She's so young and she's doing it because she is Indian and you know, and she's young. The songwriting process for me has changed over the years. I really feel like Melody is king. And I understood that through like traveling the world and you know you see people that speak different languages, but they're all singing along to the song. So the melody is what moves them and the language is secondary. So for me when I right now, I just try to channel the melody's first. Once that melody is set, I let it tell me what the words are. Alright, let me try again. I always view myself almost like a seed from the motherland that's like planted in a new soil. My parents, even though they came in the 70s, they've lived in America longer than they lived in India now. So it's always confusing to me when people ask me, when are you going to go home? Or something like that. I'm like, I'm born in Southern California. I am home. I did dye my hair blonde a lot when I was a kid. And I really like kind of tried to push my Indian heritage to the side because I didn't see a place where it could like really be. It was a hard battle that I went through. When I signed my publishing deal for the first time to be like an official songwriter, I really put my artist stuff to the side for like almost like two years. I really didn't write things necessarily for me. I would write songs like, if Christina would sing this or if Demi would sing it, or if Demi Lovato would sing this, and I would just write songs outside of my own perspective outside my own voice. But after about two years of doing that, I would be writing these things that were fresh and different, and then they would get to the point where they'd be like, this is so awesome, but who's going to sing it? And that was like me. That's when I realized like, oh, s***, I'm creating music that like nobody else can do. Age Zalia did a video called Bounce, and she went to India. There is a scene where she's wearing a keritum, which is like the crown that the goddess wears. And like, I've worn it in a very religious spiritual way. So to see someone who doesn't know what that is, just like kind of gyrating on top of an elephant, woke me up. I was like, wow, literally something that I've written in my journal that I want to film has been filmed by someone who has no connection to the culture. And if I do not get up and do this right now, if I don't make my album, I don't know what will happen. It won't be me, part of the revolution. It won't be me speaking for us. At some point, you reach that place as an artist, but like if you don't put something out, your head is going to s*** explode. And I think that that's the place that she got to. The day that she called me, she just had this excitement in her voice. She was like, I'm ready. Nobody's stopping me. I'm not letting nobody else tell me no f*** it. And I think since then, she hasn't said that. I'm actually working on an EP. It's called The Come Up. And it is about being on the precipice of everything you desire and taking the leap. And it's really about like visualizing and manifesting. There have been many times where I had moments of doubt. And I wonder if I should like erase my culture in order to make it in America. But as I've come here and I've understood my role in all of this, I see that that is actually the thing that's going to help me make it. And that's the thing that makes me unique. And that's the thing that needs to be celebrated. So I realize that I'm actually going to make it because of my cultural heritage and because I've understood and celebrated. Do you know an uncharted musician whose music deserves to be shared with the world? Email artists at Who Is Uncharted. You