We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Varsha Krishnamoorthy. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Varsha below.

Varsha, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

My most meaningful project to date has been my album, that I released in March of 2023. Titled ‘Monsoon’, the album is an 8-song indie, R&B, and Indian fusion album that is the most authentic and self-representative piece of work I have created to date.

Growing up I moved around a lot, and a byproduct of that was that I became very averse to my Indian identity. Having lived in America, China, and Singapore, with parents from India, answering the question of where I’m from felt very difficult, and I always felt I had to prove why I was or wasn’t from somewhere. I never felt like I truly fit in any one place – it’s always been kind of a crisis for me and forced me to push any Indian influence out of my life.

But after moving back to the US I realized that there was something missing, and decided to try and reconnect with my Indian roots. It was a difficult and confusing process, but I found that connecting through music was really helpful for me. Songwriting is how I express myself – relearning my roots and being able to show them through song was an incredibly cathartic, and that is what lead to this album.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a 22 year old American pop/indie, R&B, and Indian fusion singer-songwriter. I believes in using songwriting as a cathartic release by which to express myself, and to spread awareness about important issues. My goal is to use my music as a medium to shed light and appreciation on South Asian art and culture, and build a community of globally-conscious and open-minded people.

My works draw from the R&B influences like Summer Walker, to the indie pop sounds of Arlo Parks, to Indian music mastermind A.R. Rahman. In my lyricism I always attempt to capture the experiences of the diverse communities that I grew up in and around, having lived in America, China, and Singapore, with parents from India. As a global nomad, I have experienced the identity crisis that comes with such an incredible and unique upbringing, and strive to celebrate it rather than run from it.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me, the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is fostering connection between people and communities. Whether its between a listener and myself, or between two strangers at a show, being able to facilitate the connecting of people through music is the most gratifying thing I have been able to experience.

Being a global citizen, the connections that I see are even more rewarding, in that they happen between people from all walks of life. Hailing from different countries and speaking different languages, music is something that brings people together, sometimes in the most unlikely ways. That’s what it has always been about to me.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Before I decided to reconnect with my roots and start making fusion music! It was around my second year of college, and I was writing and performing indie/R&B music. It was fun and I enjoyed it, but there was a moment I remember at one of my shows that definitely changed things for me. I was in the middle of performing a song and I had a sudden moment where I realized that no one in the audience I was looking out at and performing to looked like me. I had always prided myself in writing music that is a true reflection of who I am as a person, but the audience that was listening to me perform was not a reflection of me at all. That’s when I knew something had to change, and I began a long journey of introspection that resulted in my relearning of my origins, the acceptance of my heritage, and my beginnings in Indian fusion music.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://officialvarshak.wixsite.com/mysite
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/varsh.a/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/varsha-krishnamoorthy/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4mzCbDmINGFqXEdrPEuAsg
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/67nsC9851usBgwkJqL8LhL?si=0rAMuWegRzat7ZxX_UW9rA

Image Credits
Caroline Rose Savannah Stone Franklin Grear