BBC Sound of 2022's Priya Ragu: 'My parents still don't know I quit my job'

Priya Ragu released her first mixtape earlier this year

From quitting her job in the airline industry to being named on the BBC's Sound of 2022 list - it's been a whirlwind year for Priya Ragu.

The 35-year-old says she was "super excited" and "even a little shaky" when she'd found out she'd made the shortlist.

She joins the likes of Adele, Stormzy and Billie Eilish, who have all featured on it in the 20 years it's been running.

Last year's award went to Pa Salieu - who's gone on to collaborate with people like Aitch and Mahalia.

"This is my first nomination in my life so it's a big thing," Priya tells BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat.

• Priya joins the likes of Central Cee and PinkPantheress on the Sound Of 2022 list

Just six months ago she was juggling her job as a technical purchaser for an airline, which involved buying plane parts.

She was making music as part of her record deal on the side - but then decided to quit the day job.

"I felt it was time to let go," she says.

"For the longest time I tried to balance both my 8-5 job with music in the evenings and it was pretty tough."

Priya describes her sound as her "own genre", which comes from living in Switzerland, New York and the UK.

'It feels easy'

"I grew up listening to a lot of Motown music, R&B and hip-hop but also Tamil folk music, so this music I've created is who I am."

Elements of her Sri Lankan-Tamil background are also reflected in her music, which is produced by Japhna Gold - who is also her brother.

"We have the most amazing relationship," she says.

"It's normal to have a bit of friction in between, but we're adults and can talk about everything and it feels easy to create music together."

She says she's "thankful" to represent her culture on her recent mixtape Damnshestamil, but wouldn't have thought about if it wasn't for her brother.

"It was never the plan to fuse Tamil music into my music, but one day in the studio, Japhna flipped the beat to a South Indian rhythm and it came out really well," Priya says.

"People connected to it right away - I had my doubts at the beginning about whether radio stations would play [it] because it's quite eclectic and different. But I just went with my intuition."

'The best year'

Priya says she's had "the best year of my life" since quitting her job and releasing her music into the world, but hasn't quite updated her parents on what she's been up to.

"They don't know yet, they think I'm on unpaid leave for a year. Why would I stress them?" she says.

Although she does say they're "super proud" of her music and have even contributed to her tracks.

"My father is also musically talented and did backing vocals on my mixtape," she says.

"My mum also wrote the last song on my mixtape so it became a family song."

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