 Ever since I 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 going to butcher my name because you can't say it. You know, like, that's crazy. I realized that I had to go make a place for me. It was hard growing up not seeing anyone Indian. Like, I think the only Indian person that existed in American pop culture was Appu 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. So it's like a genre, kind of like Bolly Hood, kind of a little bit hood with a little banding. 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, make it 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 Timbaland that are fearless with their fusion. So I was like, okay, what if we do, like, 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's always a challenge for them to succumb to what society wants. Everyone wants to be able to say, that's the next X. That's the next Y. Raj is 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 me putting the kuchapuri and bachanach in pop music? 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 write now, I just try to channel the melodies first. Once that melody is set, I let it tell me what the words are. All right, let me try again. 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 Lovato would sing this and I would just write songs outside of my own perspective, outside of my own voice. But you know, 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, I'm creating music that like nobody else can do. Iggy Zalea did a video called Bounce and she went to India. There is a scene where she's wearing a keritam, 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 where like if you don't put something out, your head is going to explode. And I think that that's the place that she got to. The day that she called me, she just had this, this excitement and she was just like, I'm ready. Nobody's stopping me. I'm not letting nobody else tell me, no, 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 a leap. And it's really about like visualizing and manifesting. There have been many times where I had moments of doubt and wondered 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 realized that I'm actually going to make it because of my cultural heritage and because I've understood it and celebrated. Do you know an uncharted musician whose music deserves to be shared with the world? Email artists at who is uncharted.