UCLA psychology-major Jahanvi Srinivasan releases award-winning song on Spotify

Jahanvi Srinivasan, a 4th-year psychology major at the University of California, LA, has released her award-winning song, “Little Help” on leading music app, Spotify.

Titled, “Little Help,” Srinivasan, who wrote the song, said it was about asking for help during times of struggle – a message she hoped other students related to. By utilizing unadorned instrumentals and a straightforward message, she believed the audiences could connect with her.

“My music draws inspiration from the things I see around me and the things that I feel and experience,” she says. “I have been writing for a little while now, but this was the first song I decided to record and release, and it's about mental health and asking for help when you need it. I hope the message is poignant enough to reach everybody.”

Srinivasan recently performed her single and won an award at the prestigious Spring Sing, UCLA’s largest annual alumni event that attracts over 10,000 people and several celebrity judges.

“It’s not a super fancy song. It’s a simple melody, it’s a simple message,” Srinivasan says of the song. “But I think it’s something that people don’t talk about that much and it’s something that is important to me.”

Learning music from when she was nine, Srinivasan comes from a pop music background, having been exposed to the genre on English radio stations in India. 

Srinivasan said her song was inspired by personal experiences. She felt sad and anxious during her second year of college, and was exasperated by home being so far away. She set out to convey her feelings through music. She said mental health is important to her, and that she felt other college students could relate to what the song is about – feeling downcast and not knowing how to feel better.

Asian Indians comprise 2nd highest population of Asians in the US, highest in levels of education & income: Pew Report

A new report released by leading fact-tank Pew Research says that Asian Indians are the second-highest population of Asians in the US. They also have the highest levels of education and income among Asian Americans.

Asian Americans overall are the fastest-growing minority population in the US, with some Asian American minorities almost doubling their numbers over the past 15 years. The Asian Indian population rose from two million to almost four million in the years between 2000 and 2015, according to Pew Research.

There are now 20 million Asian Americans in the US, about six percent of the overall population of 327 million. Chinese Americans represent 23 percent of the Asian American population — the highest percentage — while Asian Indians make up 19 percent. Pakistani Americans make up about two percent of Asian Americans living in the US, while Sri Lankan Americans, Nepali Americans, and Bangladeshi Americans each makeup less than one percent.

Asian Indians have the highest level of education among Asian Americans: 72 percent hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. Collectively, about half of Asian Americans possess a bachelor’s degree, according to the report, which also stated that a large number of Asian Indian immigrants already had a bachelor’s degree when they arrived in the US

Asian Indians also had the highest level of income amongst Asian Americans. Average household income for Asian Americans overall was $73,000 in 2015, according to the Pew report.

Asian Indian households had average income levels of $100,000. Filipino American households have the second-highest income levels at $80,000. Sri Lankan and Japanese American households vied for third place with average household incomes of $74,000.

But South Asian Americans also represented some of the lowest levels of household incomes among Asian Americans: Nepali American households live on an average of $44,000 per year, while Burmese Americans live on $36,000 per year. Data was not shown for Pakistani and Bangladeshi American households.

More than seven percent of Asian Indians live in poverty, said the report.

Interestingly, Indian immigrants fare better in income levels than second-generation Asian Indians, according to the Pew report. First generation Asian Indians have household incomes of $100,001, with personal incomes averaging $72,000 for full-time workers.

Second generation Asian Indians have a median annual household income of $85,000 and personal incomes of $62,000 for full-time workers.

More than two-thirds of Asian Indians are foreign-born; they also have lower naturalization rates, compared with other Asian American minorities, the Pew report revealed.