Ananya Birla goes from being business woman to pop star

Ananya Birla's music video Livin Life has been seen over 18 million times on VEVO and YouTube. The single crossed 2.5 million audio streams and peaked at a high #11 on the Shazam Top 100 India songs in collaboration with DJ Afrojack. This is a pretty massive achievement for Ananya who has always wanted to be creating music.
In fact music was never in the books. Ananya attended college in England where she read economics and management at the University of Oxford. However she couldn't stay away from her passion - music. During her time at university she started singing and playing the guitar at pubs and clubs on weekends in London. Somehow, along the way, she made the decsion that no matter what music was too important for her not pursue as a career.
After writing the song I Don't Want to Love she caught the attention of Universal Music Group, India who signed her up.
We spoke with Ananya while she was in Dubai recording a single for her first album and talked to her about her second single Meant to Be, stereotypes in the music industry and the importance of authenticity.
What are you doing in Dubai?
I'm recording a new single. We've come up with a fun track, which will release as part of my album next year. So interesting stuff. I was in the studio yesterday and all of today as well. So yeah can't wait for the final product to come in, its good. It's fun.
Can you tell us about your next single?
It's releasing next month actually and it's called Meant To Be. It's just about love that you think is meant to be whether you may or may not be with the person.
Your first single Living Life racked up over 4 million views and the remix got 14 million views. Were you expecting that many views?
It was very shocking. I couldn't believe it. But I think everyone really enjoyed the song. And Nick Apple Jack, he was part of the remix so I was very blessed. So yeah I was taken aback I didn't expect it. I guess it turned out to be really good. It's a good debut.
Can you tell us about the album you're working on?
The sound I would categorise it as is pop EDM. Which I think is the new sound everywhere. However, I love acoustics. So every song will have an acoustic side to it as well. I think that acoustics is the purest form of song, well according to me anyway. So that's the sound. As for the content it's mostly about. not mostly it is about everything. All personal experiences that I have had. Because I think when you're authentic with yourself you can sing with all your heart, you can write with all your heart, and it comes across to the listener. It's basically going to be about my life and things that I've been through. And hopefully they are relevant to other people and they can relate with it, you know? I don't have a title for it yet but it will be about the general things that everyone can relate to.
Do you write the songs yourself? How would you describe that process?
For me it's just about when I have an experience and I want to write this experience down in the form of a song. I use a couple of key works that evoke emotions within me and then I just take it from there really. Like what happened, what I feel, why did I feel this way and you know just sit on it for a while, like a couple of days and it all just comes together eventually.
What made you want to get into the music industry and create an album?
Music has been a huge part of my life, I've been playing the Santoor since I was 6 years old. It's a Kashmiri instrument, like a guitar. And then I learnt the guitar four years ago. And I've been writing poetry for ages as well. Before I started making my own music I used to, well I still listen to a lot of music all the time. So whether I'm driving, or you know just on a walk, or running, or always have music in my ears. It's just a very empty feeling if I don't. Music has been so much a part of my life and I think I always wanted to have this career but I think I've always been a bit fearful cause of all the stereotypes that people have. Which actually are not true. They are not true at all.
What kind of stereotypes do you mean?
Just when it comes to business and family you can't have a creative path, people won't take you seriously, you'll be stuck in the middle. Then I thought, people will feel what they feel anyway and think what they are going to think anyway. And there is so much love around me, and I just wanted to follow my passion because I think the world will sort of shine through. I think it's more important to stand tall with your talents and know you have a greater purpose.
Who are some musical icons that you have looked up to or have influenced you or have pushed you to want to get into music?
I don't think any of these people have pushed me to get into music but I love Eminem. The way he writes is just so authentic and he can make himself so vulnerable as an artist. I love Eminem, I love rap, I think rap is poetry, he's one of my favorite. Then from Nirvana Kurt Cobain. . . I think it takes a lot to start this actual cult this grunge cult and there were so many people who were pulled in by it, because he had this aura around him and again he was so authentic and he made music that he loved. More recently I love Ed Sheeran, his writing skills are just mind blowing it's amazing.
What do you think of social media and music? How important is it? Do you enjoy it?
If you think about it social media is a form of self publication and to be completely honest I don't like social media for my personal life and I don't have a personal account. But for my music it is absolutely amazing. One of the reasons why I make music is because I want to reach out to as many people as I can to touch their lives and you know when you hear nice things from people, like your song has inspired me or your song lifted my mood it just makes me want to be a little bit more accessible to people out there who like my stuff. The only thing is, I think it's very important to be authentic and that's what is good about social media.
A lot of what I put out is very authentic. It's actually who I am as a person. When it comes to music and my work I think social media can be amazing on a personal level I don't have the time to post it. If you know what I mean.
What advice would you give to any young girl who wants to get into the music industry but feels unsure if it is something her family or community will acceptable?
What I would say is that you really need to have confidence in your talent and just know that life is too short and do what makes you truly happy and if it that's what makes you happy then the entire world will sort of . once you face your own fears then it doesn't matter what the entire world thinks - it doesn't matter. You do what you have to do, you follow your heart and your passion.
 

• Dubai