HOW CITY ENTREPRENEUR OPENED FOR STARS LIKE KELLY ROWLAND

As a 14-year-old, she would head to the studio straight after school. The dedication has paid off

- By Manjusha Radhakrishnan Entertainment, Lifestyle and Sport Editor

From age 14 to 17, I would go straight from school to the recording studio, says Mallika Singh.

"I'd spend three hours making music, get home at 9pm, and then start my homework."

That grind, she adds, shaped her teenage years more than any textbook or exam ever could. Music — not mathematics — was the language she understood best.

Born to Indian parents and raised in Dubai, Mallika never saw geography as a limitation. If anything, Dubai emboldened her.

"Dubai is a melting pot of cultures," she says. "That shaped who I am — the influences, the sounds, the perspectives. You'll hear all of that in my music."

DEFINING MOMENT

Her breakthrough moment came when she was barely an adult. A song she pitched was even played during Formula 1 Abu Dhabi.

Suddenly, the Dubai kid was opening for Kelly Rowland of Destiny's Child, Sean Paul, Jay Sean, and more.

Standing on stage in front of 10,000 people is not an exaggeration — she lived it. "When I performed for Kelly Rowland and later Sean Paul, it was surreal," she says.

"I was this Dubai girl who had written a song and suddenly I was performing it in front of thousands of people. Hearing the audience sing it back to me — that was a defining moment."