Arya Rao is an Indian-Australian artist based in Los Angeles, her work is recognizable for the slow, sultry ballads that intricately weave her rich cultural heritage into each composition. With a background in opera, Indian classical, and choral music, Arya Rao explores themes of identity, grief, and vulnerability through her music. Check out the exclusive Interview below:
1. Your roots can often shape your journey. Can you share a story or moment from your early life that had a significant impact on your path into music?
ARYA RAO: I’ve been singing since before I can remember. I started out with Indian-Classical music, and as I grew I also developed a love for choral and operatic music. This eclectic musical upbringing has definitely influenced my personal musical style. The cultural heritage I come from is very rich, these roots run deep you know? I carry that part of me with a lot of pride, and it undoubtedly plays a role in my sound.
2. Did your musical journey begin with formal training, or was it more of a personal exploration? How has that shaped your unique approach to your craft?
ARYA RAO: I began taking vocal lessons at the age of 4 from a neighbor, a friend of my mum’s. While I can’t really pinpoint the exact experience that drove me to be a musician, I can say that my love for music has always been the biggest part of who I am as a person. Even back then, I wanted to learn and understand as much as I possibly could about music, and that coupled with the training I received continues to influence how I approach my craft to this day.
3. What do you believe sets your music apart? How would you describe your sound to someone discovering you for the first time, and what emotions or experiences do you hope to evoke in your listeners?
ARYA RAO: What sets me apart is probably my unconventional cultural background. Being Indian-Australian has definitely influenced my sound. Growing up being introduced to different styles of music from different parts of the world has definitely shaped the way I write. I would describe my work as the sound of contemporary music, coupled with the soul of (Indian) classical. I hope my music gives people a sense of bitter-sweet comfort.
4. Music often transcends entertainment. What’s your view on the role and function of music as political, cultural, spiritual, and/or social vehicles – and do you try and afront any of these themes in your work, or are you purely interested in music as an expression of technical artistry, personal narrative, and entertainment?
ARYA RAO: To me music is the most distinct mode of communication. It transcends language, and culture, and everything we’ve been taught to prescribe to. It can be felt and enjoyed even when it cannot be entirely understood. To this end, I feel that the best use of my music is to communicate with others, to make them feel heard, seen, and understood. My music is not just an expression of my individual experiences but rather my attempt at getting to know the listener at personal level.
5. Do you feel the rewards of your musical career match the energy and passion you invest in it, or are there different kinds of fulfillment you’re still seeking?
ARYA RAO: Absolutely. I choose to be a musician because I genuinely love the process of creating music, and it’s this that primarily gives me a sense of fulfillment. I am simply grateful to be able to pursue exactly what brings me the most joy. I’d like to think that this translates into all that I do.
6. Can you walk us through your creative process? From the first spark of an idea to the finished track, what’s the most essential part of your process, and how do collaboration or external influences shape your work?
ARYA RAO: My creative process starts first and foremost with lyrics, always. Typically with a quote, word, or phrase that catches my attention. Whatever I’m writing, I try to go into it with a clear perspective, so I know exactly what I’m looking at, and what I’m trying to express. With that in mind I work on spinning a world around that concept. The most important part however, is simply staying true to myself. I believe that the creative process is where us artists and performers owe it to ourselves to be the most authentic version of us that we can be.
7. On the flip side, what moment or achievement in your career so far has made you feel the proudest, and why? And let’s talk about your latest release and future plans.
ARYA RAO: The moments in my career that have made me feel the proudest are the moments when I catch people absent-mindedly humming my songs, when it gets stuck in their head and they can’t seem to shake it.
Every time that happens, without fail, I have this rush of excitement. It truly brings me so much joy to know that people enjoy the work I make. As for my next release, Cry Love, coming out this November 15h, is personally my favorite song that I have ever made. I started writing this song at 17, sitting on the floor of my high-school classroom, scribbling the lyrics into the back of a textbook. I have spent the last two years developing It into something that I can honestly say I am incredibly proud and overjoyed to be sharing with you guys.
8. With social media having a heavy impact on our lives and the music business in general, how do you handle criticism, haters, and/or naysayers in general? Is it something you pay attention to, or simply ignore?
ARYA RAO: At the end of the day, it’s a lot harder to ignore negative comments than I’d like to admit. I think that’s something that I’m often quite anxious about being on the receiving end of. I always try to remind myself that honesty doesn’t have to be cruel and that just because something is cruel it doesn’t mean that it’s honest. Most importantly, I try my best not to place my worth as a person on anyone else’s perception of me, good or bad, because allowing myself to be defined by someone else’s terms is not something I believe to be healthy.
9. Creative work in a studio or home environment, or interaction with a live audience? Which of these two options excites you most, and why?
ARYA RAO: While I absolutely adore the experiences of performing for an audience and getting to work with other musicians in-studio, what I love most is the time I spend creating the music itself. I am a solitary writer, and as someone who is naturally quite introverted it’s these moments when I tend to feel the most one with myself. Somehow there’s this clarity I seem to experience that is otherwise lost on me. I feel like, as performers, we are often expected to love our moments in the public eye the most, and while those moments hold a lot of value and importance to me, the comfort I find in the creative process can’t be replicated elsewhere.
10. Do you think is it important for fans of your music to understand the real story and message driving each of your songs, or do you think everyone should be free to interpret your songs in their own personal way?
ARYA RAO: I think my songs are driven more by the feelings behind the writing and not by the “real” story that it’s based on. As long as people are able to understand the intention behind the music and are able to resonate with it and contextualize it to their own experiences I believe that I have done my job as an artist and a writer.
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