ASHWARYA and adidas Originals Are a Match Made in Creative Heaven

With their shared ethos of self-expression and bold choices, the creative energy between ASHWARYA and adidas Originals came as no surprise. The two advocate for a world where true artistic selves can be presented with no judgment — building a community where authenticity is honored and empowered.

ASHWARYA honed her creativity during the COVID-19 lockdowns in Melbourne, resulting in the 2020 release of her debut single “Psycho Hole.” Now tasked with the challenge of spreading her music to the world without setting foot outside of her house, the Indian-Australian artist turned this predicament into a career-building exercise and established her fanbase on TikTok. This fuelled the release of her debut EP, Nocturnal Hours, in 2021, which received comparisons to dark pop stars but with a unique twist. She combines her Indian heritage with her music, citing Bollywood as a big inspiration that can be evidently heard in her Hindi lyricism.

“The world of ASHWARYA is all the different alter egos of mine and the different characters that I want to put out, but they’re all essentially a part of me. There’s an element of a cinematic world in my music and I like to present my visuals in a cinematic way,” she says. ”I like to differentiate how people perceive me as ASHWARYA the artist versus me as an everyday human, or whatever people think I am on an everyday basis. I definitely step into character when I’m in artist mode.”

With her newest EP Why Has It Got To Hurt So Much, ASHWARYA grabs her listeners by the hand and takes them on a full journey of heartbreak and optimism as picks apart the sadness and despair with newfound messages of hope. “Letting go of the people that you love the most might be the best thing for you and you come out of it with a sense of peace,” she explains of the five-track project. “I like to storytell and contrast things, I don’t necessarily feel like it needs to be one specific thing.”

She believes that collaboration is key in pushing boundaries and she’s greatly inspired by her community, where she says there’s no such thing as too wild or outlandish. “It’s pretty magical when you find moments in the studio where you’re bouncing off one another,” she notes. “There’s an unspoken energy when you’re working with the right person, or you’re in the right setting, then catching those moments on the mic or in the studio, that’s the best way for me to write.” Just like at the start of her career, ASHWARYA doesn’t pay attention to any limits or parameters that are traditionally placed for pop stars like her. Her ideal creative environment is one that can be explored endlessly.

She states, “I’m really big on who I work with and when I have people around me that are allowed to be as wild and crazy with their ideas, we can say or do whatever, nothing is too outrageous and nothing is too crazy, that’s a really good environment to be in. You end up with a product where you know there were no short measures and everyone was allowed to be free with whatever they do.”