India Gants wants to be like Rita Ora.

Rita Ora

Rita Ora

The 'America's Next Top Model' winner was thrilled to triumph on the talent show and is now keen to explore lots of different avenues including music like the 'Hot Right Now' singer.

Asked if she would want to pursue a career in music, she said: "I would! What I really want to do post-America's Next Top Model is to develop a brand around the name 'India'. Where, sort of like Rita, I'm doing some music, but am doing other things.

"Right now, I have my shoe designs that I'm now pursuing and then modeling at the base of it all. I'm trying to home in on a way to combine them. But I will be doing something in music. I worked pretty hard at [becoming a DJ] for a while, trying to make the right connections, but I don't yet have the knowledge.

"I feel like I need to keep practicing and get a better mixer to practice on. I totally would want to be a DJ and even further I'd love to produce. I messed around a little bit with Ableton and FL Studios, but life gets in the way sometimes. DJ/producer is the ultimate goal."

And the 20-year-old model says it was "amazing" to be mentored by Rita Ora on the show.

She added to Billboard magazine: "It was good. When I heard that Rita was going to be the host, I was thrilled. I am a music person, and America's Next Top Model was going to be on VH1, and Rita's hosting. I knew this was good for me because I'm trying to find a way to combine music with modeling. Having Rita as our mentor was amazing because she's doing it all: acting, modeling, singing ...

"Her and [judge, Paper Magazine's Chief Creative Officer] Drew Elliott were Team India for sure. I didn't even notice Rita liked me so much during filming. Then watching it back, I was like, 'Oh my god, she said some very sweet things about me.'"


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