Few high school students can say they recorded and produced a track with a pair of Los Angeles-based music producers. Even fewer can boast the blue “Verified Artist” check on Spotify and an audience of over three thousand monthly listeners. But Gunn High School senior Rhea Josyula can.

With the support of her choir teacher, her vocal coach, her Indian classical singing teacher and her close family and friends, Josyula turned what began as an obligatory hobby, guided by her parents, into a successful singing career.

As of now, Josyula has two tracks released and is working with two producers in Los Angeles to produce music. And her journey is just beginning: Josyula is currently working on two new tracks, predicted to be out by April.

Josyula’s passion for music isn’t anything new, as she’s been singing since she was four, when Josyula took up Indian classical singing: a genre with a heavy emphasis on rhythm and harmony, she said.

“My parents put me with a teacher, and while I didn’t really have a say over this [Indian classical signing], I continued because it really connected me with my culture,” Josyula said.

When Josyula entered middle school, her genre of choice had shifted to pop R&B. Josyula then made the decision to join her middle school choir, where she covered current, trending pop songs, expanding her skillset to encompass the newer techniques. Her current choir teacher, Angelina Fitzhugh, began teaching Josyula in seventh grade.

For years, Josyula continued to routinely — and happily — sing her own takes on other artists’ music, releasing the covers on YouTube from time to time. However, during her senior year of high school, Josyula says she received a large and enticing recommendation from her vocal coach: create her own music.

“I’m always asking her [Josyula’s vocal coach] what can make me a better singer and how to take my music to the next level,” Josyula said. “She’s always been saying that writing [my] own songs and recording [my] own songs just makes [me] a better artist.”

With her vocal coach’s blessing, Josyula has been writing her own music since last August — and she said the practice has paid off. Through the complete control she has over her songs’ lyrics, rhythms and tones, she intends to connect American pop music and traditional Indian classical music.

Even before Josyula was planning to release her own music, she began working with producers that she met through her vocal coach: Daniel Capellaro and Dave Wood, the creators of XIXI Music Pro.

Since February 2024, Josyula has been singing and producing cover songs with the pair to get used to their way of working and putting together music. It was just after Josyula received encouragement to write her own songs that she began to produce original, unique music with Capellaro and Wood.

The process of making the first track was long-winded but exciting, she says. Josyula had to take a flight down to Los Angeles to record in Capellaro and Wood’s studio, where she sang, created harmonies, recorded ad libs and the like. The studio finalized the track, and just like that, in September, Josyula’s first song was available for the public to stream: “I’ll Be Fine.”

Still among the company of Capallero and Wood, Josyula’s second and latest single, “Half of Me,” was released on Feb. 7. Although she underwent a similar process to releasing her first song, Josyula says the excitement she felt mimicked that of her first track exactly.

Throughout her entire music journey — from Indian classical singing to middle school choir to releasing music in high school — the support coming from Josyula’s friends has been a key fixture in her life. Gunn High senior and Josyula’s close friend Aarya Bhushan says Josyula’s music is simply incredible.

“I love her music,” Bhushan said. “It’s really inspiring how she turned her passion that she’s had for so long into a project that she’s able to share with the rest of the world.”

Bhushan’s friendship with Josyula gives her a backstage look into music production: the complicated process of drafting, singing and editing a song. While Bhushan says she has had input on instrumentals here and there, Josyula’s drafts are in near-perfect condition.

Fitzhugh says Josyula’s success is relatively unsurprising — with Josyula’s wealth of talent, a recording career was bound to happen.

“She [Josyula] has always had just a huge, gorgeous voice, but she’s really come into letting it be known and letting other people hear it without being pushed to do so,” Fitzhugh said. “She’s willing to put her voice out there without someone else being like, ‘Do it.’”

Today, Josyula is working on two more tracks that she plans to release in the near future. As for the rest of her music career, she says she hopes to use her college education to help create more appealing music for audiences.

To do so, Josyula plans to major in neuroscience. Within the degree, she is keen on studying how music can have an impact on the brain, including its impacts on Alzeimher’s disease and general mental health.

“Music just really impacts the brain, well-being and so many diseases,” Josyula said. “I’m really interested in music’s crossover with neuroscience and how I can use my neuroscience knowledge to make better music.”

You can find Josyula’s music here.