Rika

Rika for Equate Edition Two - Order HERE

Being an Indian and Serbian-Hungarian person growing up in London means I grew up in a really family-oriented environment. I grew up listening to a lot of different sounds and cultures, and this allowed me to have a deeper appreciation for the cultures I’m a part of and those across the globe. Having the platform in being able to share and represent my background to the mainstream is an opportunity I do not take lightly, and I’m very appreciative of this. I recently got the Pride of India award, which is highly prestigious, and I’m very thankful for the support of my community and who it has helped me become.

As an artist and performer, RIKA is portrayed as confident, attention-grabbing, assertive and inspirational figure; a figure of someone who I wanted to look up to my whole life that I’ve dreamt of becoming. But behind her is a simple 19-year-old girl, trying to navigate through her teenage years - I feel like we all have a version of RIKA inside of us, a bolder, more daring echo of ourselves we’re afraid to listen to.

To me, music was always second nature - I can’t think of a memory where music wasn’t already heavily a part of it. It’s scary to imagine a music-less world, and I really don’t know what I would do if it wasn’t music - it’s the one way I can truly express myself. Writing and performing music is therapeutic and has helped me learn so much about myself and others. Having a strong sense of self has helped develop my music but being uncertain and making mistakes is where I feel like I learnt the most.

You have to take lessons from your failures and see life with softer eyes. Inspiration-wise, I feel like I only want to look up to the most iconic people, such as Mariah Carey, and it helps that I can emulate my own version of their star power and their longevity. Along with performance, writing is almost as big of a part as the singing and looking up to Mariah Carey who has written 16 of her 18 number ones is some real inspiration. With ‘Hold On To Me’, I loved working on the visuals and the sound. Being able to integrate the Indian and Serbian-Hungarian elements into the mainstream pop look and sonic style was a joy to do. This has felt like the most honest and accurate version of myself so far and I can’t wait to dive more into the growth of my artistry. What’s next for me would be some more music, more performances and a lot of exciting stuff in the works.

You can follow Rika on social media:

Instagram: @rikaofficial

Rika Credits :