If you haven’t heard Lady Pista’s fusion cover of “Haira Haira” and “Watch Out For This”, stop what you’re doing right now and hit play. Seriously. Your day is about to get much better.

Lady Pista has been working hard to pursue her passion of music and has been getting a lot of traction with her most recent songs. Find out more about the awesome artist behind the vocals in our interview below:

TC: Tell us about yourself.

Lady Pista: I was born in Sri Lanka and grew up in Scarborough in Canada. I started pursuing music around the age of 16 as a DJ, which later led to producing music for artists in Toronto and then singing my own music.

TC: What drew you to music and performing?

LP: Music was an outlet of expression and emotion. I’m an introvert and I connected to music on an intrinsic level. It was very natural to me and performing was the art form to portray my music to the masses. “Lady Pista” is the face/product of my emotions and what my perspective is on life.

TC: Were there any obstacles or challenges you had to overcome to start pursuing your passion?

LP: LOADS!!! Coming from a reserved Tamil family, I struggled a lot with my identity and culture. Music made me happy, however, my parents didn’t accept it. There were many days when I just hid and made music. It took me a long time to come out of my shell and I realized that not everyone gets this gift. This may be not the path that my parents had envisioned for me but when something feels so right, who am I to question it?

TC: What are the best things about being an artist?

LP: Freedom. If your soul can get lost in this, the whirlwind of life, that right there is the best thing anyone can experience. We block and condemn ourselves from feeling and being human in this crazy world too often. Sometimes it’s nice to let go and just be.

TC:Being an artist is a challenging but rewarding career path. What advice can you share with those who are pursuing a career in their own craft?

LP: Work hard and own your craft. Know the ins and outs of everything – not  just your craft. Whether it’s the marketing side or the creative side, know everything! Don’t depend on anyone for your own success.

TC: Who have you collaborated with to date, and who do you hope to work with?

LP: I’ve done some work with artists from across the world and they include: Yaman and Dancehall Superstar from Boston; Shastri from Guyana; Mc Sai from London; Pravin Mani who did the score for Slum Dog Millionaire with AR Rahman.

TC:What can our readers look forward to from you?

LP: My album drops in April 2015! I recently went to England to shoot the music video for my single Tribal Lover and I got so much inspiration while I was there. You will definitely hear some dubstep, and house influences on this new album!