Vidya Vox

Vidya Iyer (born September 26, 1990), better known by her stage name Vidya Vox, is an American YouTuber and singer.^[2] She was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India and immigrated with her family to the United States at the age of eight. According to NBC News, her music is a mix of "Western pop, electronic dance music, Bollywood hits, and Indian classical music."^[2] Since beginning her channel in April 2015, her videos have received over 906 million views, and her channel has accumulated over 7 million subscribers.^[2][4]

Vidya Vox
Personal information
Born	Vidya Iyer (1990-09-26) September 26, 1990 (age 34) Madras, Tamil Nadu, India[1][2]
Nationality	American[1]
Occupations	Musician actress YouTuber vlogger dancer
Website	www.vidyavox.com
YouTube information
Channel	Vidya Vox
Years active	2015–present
Genres	Vlogs Indian classical music[2] Carnatic music[2] classical rants western pop
Subscribers	7.63 million[3]
Views	1.2 billion[3]
Network	Studio71
Associated acts	Shankar Tucker, Arjun
Creator Awards 100,000 subscribers 2015 1,000,000 subscribers 2016
Last updated: September 11, 2024

Personal life

Iyer was born in a Tamil Iyer family in Madras (now Chennai), Tamil Nadu, India and was raised in Virginia in the United States.^[5] Her family is from Palakkad, Kerala, and her mother and grandmother grew up in Kerala.^[6] She speaks Tamil at home. She learned Carnatic music from the age of 5 and enjoyed listening to English music. She stated to having an identity crisis, being bullied for being Indian, and hiding her culture while growing up, but has stated she "now feels proud" of her culture.^[5]

She was inspired by her grandmother to pursue Indian classical music. She became confident of her Indian roots in college, joined the Indian Student Association, and joined Indian folk dance teams. She studied psychology and biomedical sciences at George Washington University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in biological sciences. She moved to India for two years to learn music.^[2]

She collaborated on music with her sister, Vandana Iyer, and her boyfriend, Shankar Tucker, whom she met in college.^[2] She participates in bhangra and hip hop dance.^[2]

Career

Vidya Vox regularly sings in a band organized by Tucker, along with percussionist Jomy George.^[7][8] She has performed in various locations around the world, including the White House, National Centre for the Performing Arts (India), and Webster Hall. She has performed at Festivals Des Artes on Réunion; for INK Women; in Suriname; in Dubai; and at the Meru Concert Series in the Netherlands.^[9]

Her most popular mashup was "Closer / Kabira", a mash up of "Closer" by the Chainsmokers and "Kabira" from the Bollywood film Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani which clocked in over 55 million views in 7 months. One of her mashups is "Lean On" and "Jind Mahi", for which she had a collaboration with several other musicians, including Ricky Jatt, Raashi Kulkarni, and Roginder "Violinder" Momi.^[10] She released "Kuttanadan Punjayile", a Kerala boat song, as a fusion along with an English song written by Tucker and herself, which was shot in Kerala with Mohiniyattam performed by Sreenidhi and Sreedevi. In 2016, she released her EP, Kuthu Fire, which was produced by Shankar Tucker, and co-written by Shankar Tucker and herself.^[11][12][13]

Discography

Original Score

Year	Album	Song	Credited as			Co-singer(s)	Notes
			Composer	Lyricist	Producer
2017	Kuthu Fire	"Kuthu Fire"	N	Y	N		Co-written, composed and produced by Shankar Tucker
		"Diamonds"	Y	Y	N	Arjun
							Co-written by Arjun Coomarsamy
		"Be Free" (Pallivaalu Bhadravattakam)	Y	Y	Y	Vandana Iyer	Videography and Editing by Shankar Tucker
		"Home"	N	Y	N		Co-written, composed, directed and produced by Shankar Tucker
		"Show Me Your Light"	Y	Y	N
		"Tamil Born Killa"	N	Y	N
							Additionally written by Akshaya Tucker
2018	Minnale		Y	Y	Y		Partnered with Global Desi
	Kaadhal Thozhi		N	N	N		Tamil lyrics by Madhan Karky
							Co-written, composed, directed and produced by Shankar Tucker
	Fly Away		N	N	N	MaatiBaani
							Gujarati lyrics by MaatiBaani
2019	Mad Dreams	"Appadi Poodu Di"	Y	Y	Y		Produced by Shrutibox Music
		"Mad Dreams"	Y	Y	Y		Co-written by Shankar Tucker, Casey Breves and Sam Tsui
		"Butterfly"	Y	Y	Y
		"Lose the Night"	Y	Y	Y		Produced by Shrutibox Music
		"Look at the Lights"	Y	Y	Y		Co-written by Shankar Tucker, Mindy Jones
	Make a Move		Y	Y	N		Co-written and Produced by Shankar Tucker
							Additionally written by Casey Breves and Sam Tsui
2020	Faded Love		Y	Y	Y	Co-written and performed by Devenderpal Singh
	Thalaivi		Y	Y	N		Co-written and Produced by Shankar Tucker
	Lost in the Summer		Y	Y	N
2021	Nachle		Y	Y	N	Trichia Grace-Ann Rebello & Shrey Jadav	Produced by Adil S Aziz
	Melt In My Touch		Y	Y	N		Co-written and Produced by Shankar Tucker
2022	Vanakkam		Y	Y	Y
	Moonlight (Pera Sollu)		Y	Y	N	Shankar Tucker	Co-written and Produced by Shankar Tucker
	Dream Catcher | Tu Paas Aana		Y	Y	N	Shashwat Singh
							Additionally written by Shashwat Singh
2023	Shubha Mangalyam | Made in the Stars		Y	Y	N		Additionally written by Seetha Jayakumar (Malayalam), Neeraj Pandey (Hindi)
							Co-written and Produced by Shankar Tucker
2024	Sundari	"Stardust"	Y	Y	N		Produced by Shankar Tucker
							Tamil lyrics by Madhan Karky
		"Sundari"	Y	Y	N
							Co-written and produced by Shankar Tucker
		"Ini Ninte Lokam (Go Off)"	Y	Y	N		Co-written by Ambrose Tucker and Seetha Jayaraman
							Produced by Shankar Tucker
		"Dangerous"	Y	Y	N	Nikhita Gandhi
		"Champagne Roses"	Y	Y	N
							Co-written by Ambrose Tucker
		"Yazhiha"	Y	Y	N		Co-written by Rohith Jayaraman, Ambrose Tucker and Madhan Karky
							Produced by Shankar Tucker

As singer

Year	Song	Composer	Co-singer(s)	Language	Notes
2024	Kaakarattan	G. V. Prakash Kumar	Rajalakshmi Senthilganesan	Tamil	[14]
	One More Time	G. V. Prakash Kumar	G. V. Prakash Kumar	Telugu	Debut in feature films