The young songstress Shuba Vedula, better known as Shuba, shared with us how she started her singing career and how she hopes listeners will connect with her music.
I’ve been singing since I was about three and for the longest time, it was my dream to just be on American Idol [watch her audition here] and get a golden ticket. That finally happened when I was seventeen and it really changed my life. I started getting opportunities to open for popular acts like Train and Lindsey Stirling, headlining my own 2,000 person concerts, writing original songs, and getting featured on blogs and newspapers.
When I started college at the University of Chicago, I began to think about music differently. I joined an A Cappella group where I eventually won Outstanding Soloist at the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella, was featured on a show called Sing it On, and had a chance to perform for Barack and Michelle Obama. I also joined a brass band on campus where we played shows for hundreds of students on campus. For the longest time, I thought that in order to make it in music, you just had to sing at a karaoke bar or other venue and someone would notice you. I didn’t realize how wrong I was until my second year of school.
That summer, I wrote over 40 songs, recorded a handful, and received some feedback about my sound and songwriting skills. Since then, I have performed at numerous shows and open mic events, and started to really invest in my sound, message, and image as an artist. One of my favorite moments was headlining Taste of Chicago, where I did an hour of mostly originals. I think that was the moment where I realized that I wasn’t just a singer anymore. I was becoming an artist. After I released my first single “Eye to Eye”, I decided it was time for me to stop feeling scared and shy about sharing my work with the world.
