VIDYA VOX'S - 'SUNDARI' BRINGS PERSONAL STORIES AND CELEBRATORY BOPS

THE INDO-AMERICAN ARTIST RAPS AND SINGS IN TAMIL AND MALAYALAM, WITH THE MUSIC VIDEO OUT NOW FOR THE TITLE TRACK OFF THE EP

- Anurag Tagat

In DECEMBER 2019, pop artist Vidya Vox aka Vidya Iyer went to a friend's sangeet ceremony and says it was a sight to behold.

Vidya says over a video call, "I was looking around at all the women there and how everyone was in beautiful outfits. I knew all of them and how they were all strong and leaders in their own communities and also very good at their craft and their jobs and also moms – they all play these multifaceted roles in their lives and they all looked fabulous.”

They were there and dancing away, a celebratory essence that Vidya felt fit to distill into a song and that’s how “Champagne Roses” came about. Produced by Shankar Tucker, the hip-hop-leaning song references everything from “Kala Chashma” to the Bollywood movie Rangeela, driven by a thumping beat. It also served as the first thread that led to Vidya creating her latest EP Sundari, which released last week with a music video for the title track.

There’s a thematic continuity in terms of where Sundari fits into the “Kuthu Fire” artist’s discography – empowered by inspirational woman and aiming to inspire other women through club-friendly songs that borrow from Vidya’s Carnatic music roots as well as her love for pop, hip-hop, Bollywood and Indian folk music. But Vidya made Sundari EP specifically as an ode to her mother, who took Vidya and her sister out of an abusive marriage and household to raise them, perhaps passing on lessons of self-love and resilience. That forms the crux of the six-track EP, which starts with the impassioned “Stardust” that’s arguably the artist’s most pensive song yet, followed by a switch back into familiar settings with songs like “Sundari,” the Malayalam bop “Ini Ninte Lokam (Go Off )” and “Dangerous” with singer-composer Nikhita Gandhi. Sundari EP closes with another collaboration, bringing in vocalist Rohith Jayaraman for the rap-laced “Yazhiha.”