A 17-year-old girl from Sutton says she intends to combine her love for performing with her love for academics, as her original song won a “prestigious” music competition.
Tanushree Nag recorded her song, Pave The Way, as part of winning the Jack Petchey Anthem Competition – a song writing competition run in 2020 for young people across London and Essex.
The adolescent superstar attends Nonsuch High School for Girls, where she is currently studying A-Levels in Biology, Chemistry and Maths.
Tanushree also received a grand £2,000 prize, which could be spent on music equipment and/or education.
Tanushree says she has “loved music since being a child”, as she grew up in a house surrounded by Indian music.
Tanushree told Your Local Guardian: “Indian music has always been a great influence to me.
“When I was in year five, I joined a musical theatre group and my love of musical theatre started to grow.
“I fell in love with performing and then started to write songs.
“Then this competition surfaced, and I thought, why not give it a go?”
When the UK lockdown was lifted, Tanushree was “delighted” to record her song and perform at the Cambridge Theatre in central London, as part of the Jack Petchey speak out challenge.
Tanushree says she wrote her song to “encourage and young people like me to become strong and resilient”.
She added: “When I was a teenager, I thought many people were similar to me, and had to face challenging moments in their life.
“It's a time when we struggled to understand who we already are.
“Because I know that choices make us who we are, and for that reason, I hope that somebody listens to it and feels inspired and motivated.”
Tanushree explained that she combined her musical knowledge with chords on the piano and the melody and lyrics came to her naturally.
“I didn’t have any material whilst producing the song” Tanushree says, as she explained she merely used the Garage Band app on her dads laptop to create the track.
Tanushree says there was more than 200 entries to the Jack Petchey competition, with her entry being one which was shortlisted for finalists to go forward with industry professionals.
She said: “I learned a lot from the industry professionals and how I could make my song better or what changes I can make to make it sound more professional.
“Recording and performing the song was such a magical experience.
“Singing a song that I wrote to inspire young people and being able to perform it live and see people's reactions was phenomenal.
The 17-year-old says she takes inspiration from a range of genres, and her favourite artists are familiar names such as, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, and powerhouses of the past such as Whitney Houston.
As Tanushree finishes her last few months at sixth form, she says she will continue to balance her passion for the arts as well as her academic studies.
Tanushree added: “What I’ve learnt in this process, is the drive to produce music can be so inspiring.
“I've got my own YouTube channel, which I put forward songs that I've written, and I really hope that this just keeps skyrocketing.
“I feel like the future is always like something that's so uncertain, but for me, I've always kind of grown up with respecting the arts and academics.
“My studies have always been an important part of my life and I’d like to continue having that balance.”
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