Who is Priya Ragu? Top Songs, Biography, and Music Lore

Arial Ten
Aug 5, 2024
2 min read

Updated: Aug 15, 2024

I'm Arial Ten and I wrote this because I've been heavily inspired by Priya Ragu's music and journey. If you like Priya Ragu, you might like my warm groovy dance music.

Check Out my Music

My Connection to Priya Ragu

There are a lot of personal reasons why I really admire Priya Ragu’s music journey.

Priya grew up as an immigrant child, suppressed a pursuit of music in favor of a stable career, has a similarly artistic brother, and is a relative “late bloomer”. These are all ingredients that are foundational to my own story with music and genuinely compels me to root for her.

Priya Ragu is a Sri Lankan-Tamil born in Switzerland. She was an accountant for many years before building enough skill and confidence to pursue music full time.

Priya Ragu’s music feels like contemporary R&B with a tasteful dose of Tamil and Bollywood influence. She celebrates her culture through her music, bringing in direct references to her family and ancestry.

As a Chinese Canadian who worked in finance for several years, it’s hard not to feel the parallels and nod along whenever I read more about her upbringing.

Her brother, Japhna Gold, is her producer and is named after the city her family is from (Jaffna, Sri Lanka). I suspect that he is also a disciple of Kaytranada’s - their breakout track Good Love 2.0 uses offbeat vocal chops and filtered saw waves that immediately evoke a feeling of Kay. If I remember correctly, Japhna also had a Kaytranada remix in one of his only Soundcloud mixes.

The production of course wouldn’t work without Priya’s phenomenally silky vocals. Equal parts earth and water, Priya’s voice has a soulfulness and grittiness that works in both the dance and pop sphere.

She is the poster child for “responsible” immigrant children everywhere and her success gives me the hope that one day, I’ll make it too.

You can check out my music here or follow me on Instagram.

Who is Priya Ragu?

Priya Ragu is a Tamil-Swiss artist known for her unique blend of R&B, soul, and Tamil folk music, a style she calls "Raguwavy." Born to Sri Lankan parents and raised in Switzerland, she often reflects her dual heritage in her music. Priya first gained significant attention with her debut single "Good Love 2.0" in 2020. Her debut mixtape, damnshestamil, released in 2021, features notable tracks like "Chicken Lemon Rice" and "Lockdown."

Priya's debut album, Santhosam (Tamil for "happiness"), was released in October 2023 and includes singles like "Adalam Va!," "Easy," and "Vacation".

In addition to her unique sound, Priya has received recognition in the form of nominations for awards such as the UK Music Video Awards and the Swiss Music Awards. Her music videos often showcase her cultural roots, further blending her Western influences with traditional Tamil elements.