Nush’s Story #findyourinnerwarrior
Whether you know them as Queen of the Seven Seas, Nush or that really cool person with a guitar and sick bucket hats (provided by @by.sapna) this powerful singer has a lot to say and they are not afraid to express it in their music.
Coming from a musical family they started to learn Carnatic (Indian classical) singing from a young age until they were 8 years old. However Nush started to question the theory of Carnatic music very early on as it was heavily based on religion but this interrogation also stemmed from growing up in a British society and wanting to fit in. In an endeavour to try to find a sense of belonging Nush tried to pick up classical piano and violin however found it wasn’t for them either. After exploring their options Nush decided to give Pop Vocals a go and ended up qualifying until Grade 8.
In 2010 Ed Sheeran was starting to rise to his fame and young Nush was no different than most of us being in awe of this ginger man with a guitar and a gorgeous voice. Nush was inspired by him so much that they decided to pick up a guitar, watch some YouTube videos and self- teach themselves a whole new instrument. From the age of 14 they started performing solo and with their sister. Their first gig was at Mega Maalai, talk about throwing yourself in the deep end.
Something else you need to know about Nush is that they have the most adorable cats Kaya, Phoebus and Hermes and they have a love for animals in general. After a teacher telling them that they couldn’t study zoology at university they ended up studying Biotech which in short is studying and manipulating genetics. Nush ended up hating their degree and became super depressed at uni however they channelled their emotions into song writing. If Nush was at the kitchen table at 8am they wouldn’t be writing their essays they’d be writing songs. At first their songs were about how they were feeling but Nush is very passionate about speaking up about political and social issues in our society today. They have written songs about feeling confident and empowered in your own skin, feeling unsafe as a woman, colonialism and ignorant racism.
If you were to have a peek at Nush’s Spotify you’d see that they had listened to 130+ genres of music last year. They are mainly influenced by Tamil music and music from the 1920s but they love listening to a range of music from different countries and in different languages so when it comes to composing music they have a very unique style that is “genreless” as they don’t want to be limited to create something new. In Nush’s recent and upcoming music I heard influences from Tamil, Drum and Base, Pop and Rock music seamlessly interwoven through their beats and their voice.
Lockdown was a pivotal time for Nush as it was for a lot people. Musicians couldn’t perform or go out for gigs so a lot of people became stuck on what to do but Nush adapted and picked up music production, they even had a few clients a month asking them to produce tracks. They hosted a music night every Friday on Instagram to give people something to look forward to and be able to enjoy music with other people again, this gave Nush a chance to perform to an audience and connect with people too.
Since then they have properly picked up DJing, their first gig was for @mathuxphotos solo exhibition and is even learning the saxophone so we can all agree they are a musical powerhouse. Now Nush is an independent musician, artist, producer, DJ, dancer, model, archer and cat owner (don’t think I’m forgetting anything but the list is long). The one piece of advice they would give to a young musician is KNOW YOUR WORTH and make sure you get paid fairly for the work you do. In Nush’s words from their upcoming single “I ate the plate and left no crumbs”. *Mic Drop
