Call Rhea Raj “Miss Temptation.” The rising Indian American pop star channels the sexy undertone of her debut album Hunter in the flirtatious video for “Hush,” which premieres with Rolling Stone Thursday.
“The music video takes [the song’s] flirtatious energy into a moodier sci-fi setting,” Raj tells Rolling Stone. “As soon as I wrote the song, I envisioned this story of a suitor attempting to try and capture Miss Temptation’s heart through a dance sequence that is literally life-or-death.”
“It’s hot and it’s urgent,” she adds. “I hope it makes anyone listening feel desired, confident, and unapologetic.”
Across her debut album, which dropped earlier this month, Raj channels early 2000s pop music (think Nelly Furtado and Danity Kane) and marries it with modern electro-pop and stunning visuals, plus references to her Indian roots across her sound and choreography.
“The main theme of the project is transformation — going from ‘the hunted’ to ‘the hunter’ and stepping into a new era where you finally feel like you can express your identity,” she says. “I wanted the project to be liberating both lyrically and melodically.”
Raj — who cites Britney Spears, Rosalía, and Janet Jackson as inspirations — holds her Indian American identity close to her heart and says she hopes to “shatter barriers” for other Asian American pop singers like herself.
Her love for dance came from her mother, who ran Bollywood dance and Bharatanatyam classes from her home growing up. Her younger sister Lara Raj is a member of Hybe/Geffen-created girl group Katseye. “I want to show how limitless and powerful we are,” says Rhea of representing South Asians in pop music.
Trending
Raj kicked off the Hunter era in January, when she dropped the football field-filmed, choreography-filled video for “Messy,” in which she channeled Gwen Stefani and the Pussycat Dolls. Among Hunter‘s standouts are “Digital Babe,” “Pray On It,” and “Sucker,” all of which Raj co-wrote and co-produced.
“Conceptualizing and delivering an album takes a village and there were endless nights where I would go on creative tangents at like 4 a.m. about an idea for a music video or live show and that’s the greatest thrill of being an artist,” she says. “I can’t wait to continue building out the Hunterverse.”
