While most of Bollywood is heading off to exotic vacation spots to ring in Christmas and the New Year, Sonakshi Sinha recently let her hair down in sun-kissed Goa where she was filming “Aaj Mood Ishqoholic Hai“, her debut single, produced by Bhushan Kumar and composed by Meet Bros. “It's all about being high on love. Love makes the world go round; it gives you a rare kind of heady feeling and this song reiterates that,“ she says about her “passion project“.

Sonakshi's loved music since she was a knee-high moppet and believes that's why she enjoys dancing so much and has an innate sense of rhythm. “I would download the lyrics of new songs, memorise them and then record them in my voice and make CDs for anyone who cared to listen,“ reveals the 28-year-old actress, joking that it was easier for her to remember songs than the chapters in her textbooks. “I wanted to learn music but the teacher we hired showed up for just a day, I have no idea why. But as a teenager, I did learn to strum the guitar and last year I took up drums.“

Why Goa when she could have picked any exotic location? “I wanted a bohemian look and Goa has the hippie vibe,“ she points out, adding that the firangi tourists at the beach shack started grooving to her song. “That was an encouraging sign for me as a singer!“

Of late, many Bollywood actresses, including Priyanka Chopra, Alia Bhatt and Shraddha Kapoor have dabbled in singing. Any favourites? “They are all good, but I particularly like the husky quality of Priyanka's voice. She sounds super sexy,“ says Sona, adding that she has no intentions of becoming a playback singer. “I enjoy specific genres like hip hop, dance and pop. I want to make songs I can sing. This is who I am, what I like and what I'll do. I want to only sing for myself. It would be weird to hear my voice on another actress.“