A sound unique to him

At the age of five, when his parents introduced him to songs from the film ‘Dil Se’, Yatharth knew that music was his one true love. And at the age of 13, he went on to become the runner-up of the show ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L’il Champs’. Now, the 19-year-old has bagged another honour by winning the music reality show ‘The Stage’.

He says, “I owe a lot to my parents who have been a great support in everything that I wanted to do when it comes to singing. Winning ‘The Stage’ was a lot of fun but I had a tough competition. Every time I was about to go on stage, I would tell myself that this is what I wanted to do and that gave me the courage to do what I did.”

The youngest artiste in the competition says, “The other competitors were very talented and knew exactly what they wanted. But I also knew what I wanted. They would often look at me as the youngest and didn’t think I could be of a threat. But I guess that was my advantage — to use my innocence to always be on top of my game,” he says.

He says that the hardest part about being in the competition was to narrate a story in a three-minute slot. He explains how the simplest songs are the toughest. It’s not just about the artificial background voice that needs to come through but to be able to dig deep and present the true meaning of the song, he adds.

Before he entered ‘The Stage’, the youngster was travelling around the world training his voice.

He shares, “I was doing my correspondence course in between and also went to LA to learn music. I was training under a vocal coach and also did a bit of theatre to improve my skills. Over the years, I’ve personally changed, especially my voice. I needed to find that balance and all of these trainings helped me do just that.”

Now that Yatharth is in the “deeper end of the pool”, he wants to create a sound that’s unique to him. Though he’s working with genres like Pop and R&B, he wants to create a trademark for himself. “I want to be able to make something that shows the true me and bring out my connection with both Indian and Western music. I want to find something that’s internationally understood and everyone in the world will be able to relate to it. I think I’m close to finding that balance and I’m very excited to see how it all turns out,” he adds.

He has also starred in a movie called ‘Blue Mountain’ which is yet to release. When asked if he prefers being the voice or performing in front of the screen, he says that music will always be his priority but acting gives him the chance to tell a story by becoming someone else.

And what has the success of ‘The Stage’ brought to him? He says, “Random people start recognising you. Having a contract with Universal is such an honour and I’m very excited about that. I’m yet to understand how the whole process works but I’m sure it’s going to be one heck of a ride.”