Nrithya Andrews | Albin Mathew/Express
It’s not every day that you find out that your class teacher is a pop goddess. And when you do chance across a Youtube video of your professor singing an MJ tune, well let’s just say the word gets around. So a week after singer-songwriter Nrithya Andrews joined the Journalism department of MOP Vaishnav College for Women, her students told her that she could take lessons on one condition — she had to sing them a song first.
“It was crazy,” laughs the 24-year-old who has been teaching for almost a year now. “Suddenly, every class I walked into demanded that I sing a couple of lines before I started teaching!” And when the girls found out that she was releasing her debut album, Bittersweet on March 11, the fun went up a notch. “I was going to do a promo for the album at college,” Nrithya relates, adding that for her stage avatar, her regular crisp professor sari was swapped for a formal shirt and jeans. She laughs, “The student who was supposed to introduce me on stage comes up to me and asks — ‘Should I say Nrithya…or Nrithya ma’am?’”
Incidentally, ‘Nrithya ma’am’ has already stepped into Kollywood as well, having sung for music directors like Yuvan Shankar Raja and G V Prakash. Some of her popular Tamil releases include Eapadiyo Matikitein (Siva Manasula Shakthi) and Will You Be There (Thandavam). Her first claim to fame was her Tamil rock outfit, ‘Shrishti’ that was selected as one of the winners of Ohlalaala by A R Rahman.
Although none of her songs on this album have been inspired by the classroom, Nrithya does tell us that all her compositions are based on experience; like her already popular romantic love ballad Boba, that made its way on to the airwaves of an English radio station in the city. “Oh those lyrics were actually sparked by a crush I had when I was 18,” she shares with a mild blush. Incidentally the then programming head of the channel, Geoffrey Thomas was so impressed with it that he went on to push her to make the album long after her internship stint with the company was complete. “And now he’s producing the album as well,” the singer can’t sound happier.
With so much going on for her, one has to wonder what brought on the album title Bittersweet? Apparently, the name is a testament to the constant extremes life throws at her. “The past year has been like a Hannah Montana life for me,” the dusky songstress admits. “In the day, I have 200 students to be responsible for, so I’ve got to be be be polite, I can’t swear…And then once I’m out of my sari, I go back to being me.”
(Nrithya Andrews’ album Bittersweet will be launched at the Sivagami Petachi Auditorium, Mylapore on March 11 at 7.30 pm)
source: http://www.newindiaexpress.com / Home> Cities> Chennai / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Sonali Shenoy, ENS – Chennai / March 07th, 2013