Folksy beat, saree-clad women and peppy lyrics to match the mood. That’s what awaits Vidya Vox fans in her new single which was released on YouTube on Saturday.
The song titled ‘Thalaivi’ ('Woman leader' in Tamil), is inspired by her mother and grandmother, the Chennai-born American singer said. Releasing the single on her official YouTube channel and Twitter page, Vidya added that 'Thalaivi' is dedicated to all the women, who are ‘hustling and grinding, while doing it with style’. The song, as per Vidya, was shot in Chennai before the city got locked down due to the coronavirus pandemic. It has Vidya dressed up in a teal saree with golden zari, complete with black shades. The line ‘Thalaivi show ‘em how it’s done’ runs as a refrain throughout the song.
A group of women playing the tapattam stand with her, while she sings atop a lorry. Temples, green fields and Tamil Nadu’s streets form the backdrop for the majority of the song. The 3.41-minute song has garnered 1.2 million views in two days.
This is also one of the many songs in which Vidya has flaunted her Tamil roots. Her ‘Tamil born killa’ single which was released in April 2018 was inspired from her being approached by men in college who wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. The song has over nine million views on YouTube as of Monday.
Vidya’s tryst with music started with her singing bhajans at home and then progressed to creating mashups of popular English songs with Bollywood and Kollywood numbers. Her mashups of Ellie Goulding’s ‘Love me like you do’ with ‘Hosanna’ from Vinnai Thandi Varuvaaya and Taylor Swift’s ‘Blank Space’ with ‘Mental Manadhil’ from OK Kanmani were big hits among the audiences in India and the West.