Kiara Chettri cried when she learnt about her song making it to Grammy ballots

Her song, Why has led her straight to her very first Grammy Submission under the ‘Best Pop Solo Performance’ category. And Kiara Chettri, currently prepping for her class 12 board exams too, is overwhelmed.

“Why will always be a very special song to me and even before I got the news, it was and still is my favourite song I have written till now. When I got the news, my first reaction was “Did I just hear this correctly?” I remember all of a sudden I froze and a tear streamed down my cheek. After that one tear there were multiple tears. I sobbed. I was in shock for the first ten minutes and honestly I think part of that shock is still left inside me,” says the 18-year-old.

More than thinking “I hope I get nominated now”, the young singer thought “This is more than enough for me”. She has been learning music for the past 14 years and releasing music for the past two years. “I never thought I would be blessed with such an incredible honour. I am so grateful for everyone in my life that supports my music career and hope for the best for me. Recently, ‘Why’ reached Number 1 on the World Independent Music Charts and Number 2 on the European Independent Music Charts. This was such an incredible moment for me and I am so proud of this single,” she adds.

But with accolades and recognition comes the pressure to deliver an equally good subsequent project. And Chettri realises this. “The thing with music is that you always have this pressure to release music better than your previous releases. I always think that “Okay my next song has to be better than my previous one”. I have started looking at it with a positive approach. I think this pressure motivates me to be a better musician and work harder. I have made mistakes along the way and will continue to do so which I think is so important,” she ends.