“No one in my family ever dabbled seriously in music or became part of the entertainment industry. I’m the only black sheep,” she says. A famous black sheep. Kawale disagrees. “Your photographer didn't know I was model or a deejay,” she says. Not too different from nine years ago, when she started out at the 1900s at the Taj Mahal, Colaba. “Other kids watched movies and hung out with friends when they were 19 and 20 years old. I would get to the club at 6 pm, before anyone else to practise. And leave at 6 am,” she says.

Three weeks ago, a bevy of beauties—model and celebrity friends like Nina Manuel, Fleur Xavier, Dippanita Sharma, Gauhar Khan—got together at Cinnamon to launch Radioactive-Green and Blue, her debut album. That’s some pull for someone who claims not to be famous. “It’s the first time my modeling and deejaying careers have crossed paths,” says Kawale.

Radioactive holds true to the deejay-and-models musical roots—club music. “Before you walked in, I was chatting with the (PR) girls about how I never liked the Doors or the Beatles. I didn't even know who Pink Floyd was,” she says. Instead, club tunes like What is Love? and artists like Howie G dominated her playlists. I heard that tune in school! She narrates a story.

“I had moved to Pune for my 10th board exams and I would collect tapes then. It was an expensive hobby. Rs 125 for a recording, plus pay for the tape as well. I played What is Love? continuously for a month and I would dance and jump around to it. One day I returned to the hostel room to find that someone had thrown the tape out. They were fed up,” she says. Kawale’s collection of tapes was enviable and she confesses that she still isn’t the type who shares her music. “The R&D I did was tremendous. I would sit down with paper and pen, write down names of tracks and make playlists,” she says.