Punjabi Hip-Hop
Six months ago, Ryan Tedder experienced a fortuitous full-circle moment.
His longtime friend, Grammy-nominated songwriter and producer Savan Kotecha, texted him about an artist he thought Tedder should be aware of: pioneering Punjabi artist Karan Aujla. “He sends me a link and I was like, ‘Yeah, I already know who this guy is,’” recalls Tedder today, sitting in his West Hollywood home studio.
While performing with OneRepublic at the second edition of Lollapalooza India in January 2024, Tedder was asking locals and the band’s promoter “who’s popping” in India. They all mentioned Karan. “I went and listened to the music and I was like, ‘Oh, this is super tight. This is different,’” he says, explaining Punjabi as an Indian language that is emerging as its own subgenre and growing rapidly both locally and globally. At the time, Tedder mentally bookmarked Karan and carried on – until Kotecha came along and filled the gap.
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Kotecha introduced Tedder to Karan’s friend and producer, Ikky, “and that’s where the whole thing connected,” says Tedder. The two met in L.A. and Ikky played Tedder in-progress tracks, including one that was called “Dassde” at the time. “I was like, ‘Oh, this is crazy.’ I asked him what the phrase meant, and he said it means ‘tell me.’ I wish all sessions went that quick.”
“Before this collaboration, Ikky and I always used to talk about how we wanted to do something out here with our music,” says Karan, 28, who is seated next to Tedder while on a quick trip to Los Angeles to shoot the song’s music video. “And then he had mentioned you guys were talking and I thought he was just kidding. Like, it’s not gonna happen. And then I remember being on tour Ikky sends me a rough draft and the first thing I hear is [Ryan] singing. And then it’s me jumping in with my Punjabi verse. And I was like, ‘Oh shit, it’s a Punjabi-English track.’ I was so excited at that point.”
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And now, on Wednesday (Feb. 19), their historic collaboration finally arrives, marking both OneRepublic and Karan’s first English-Punjabi collaboration. The song’s music video, starring Indian actress Disha Patani, is out the same day.
“Sometimes,” Karan continues, “we feel like we manifested doing this with you, Ryan.”
You two just met in person for the first time – what brought you together?
Ryan: We were supposed to shoot the video, [when we] had enough of a finished version [of the song]. We just got back from Asia – we were in China and Vietnam and Japan and Korea, and we started in Bangkok for a few days. [Karan] wrapped his tour in India doing this massive sold out tour. And we were originally going to shoot the video in Little India, in Bangkok, and he got sick. It was the end of the tour. We punted and so we just now shot it this week.
Karan, you moved to Canada in your late teens. When did you become aware of OneRepublic as a music fan?
Karan: When I heard [hums “I Ain’t Worried”]. Ikky told me, because obviously I’m born in Punjab and I wasn’t aware of how the music worked out here. So, I came to Canada, met Ikky back in the days but before this collaboration me and Ikky always used to talk about how we wanted to do something out here with our music. But just being in Canada, that’s how I heard there’s this band called OneRepublic.
It only took six months for this song to arrive from the time Savan connected you, Ryan, with Ikky. Tell me about that timeline.
Ryan: Initially, we were racing: “Can we get it out in November, December?” I was like, what are we thinking? It’s Christmas. It’s a death trap, you’re gonna get smashed by Mariah [Carey], you’re gonna get smashed by Ariana [Grande], and just all the other stuff. So then we punted to February, which I’m really happy about because we’re going to be back in Asia a couple of times this year and India is going to be part of that. So the time is perfect and this is one of those where it’s like, I didn’t expect to love a bilingual record as much as this. I’ve probably listened to this demo more than anything, honestly, because it just feels good. And I think we’re even talking about doing an English language version as well. Most of our fans don’t speak Punjab.
Karan, why do you think Punjabi music is up next and, thanks to OneRepublic, catching on in the States?
Karan: I feel like people are more open now, even artists, to new languages, working with people, creating new ideas and it just helps artists like me to bring what they have [to] the table. This is the time for artists like me to actually experiment. My main thing is I just want to make the first Punjabi record that goes everywhere. My Spotify wasn’t like this always. It’s just happening over the last three-four years [of gradual growth]. We can see it happening in front of our eyes; if people want it, why don’t we just serve them what they want? Like, people in India want English on Indian records. They love these collaborations. They love when I’m singing in Hindi or Punjabi and then a verse in English comes. Even some rappers from India are rapping in English and Hindi. People are already into it. And we just need to do it more in a proper way.
Ryan: And one of the main reasons Punjabi music has exploded, including in cities and regions of India – because Punjabi is from the north – like Bombay, where five years ago, nobody knew what Punjabi music was…
Karan: They didn’t want to hear it, honestly.
Ryan: He’s the reason. Honestly, he’s one of the main reasons that Punjabi music has exploded. He was the right person at the right time. Anyone who’s not paying attention to India or Southeast Asia right now, on a cultural tip, is asleep at the wheel.
Karan: Our first thing was to actually take Punjabi all over India. And now, a few songs have blown up in India. And now this song is for the States or any place where they don’t care what language it’s in, it’s just a good song. And that’s all we’re trying to do here, man, and hopefully it’s going to work.
Ryan: Teach people some Punjabi too.
Karan: If Ryan understands it… it’s not that hard. Yesterday we made some content for social media and he’s speaking Punjabi fluently. Hopefully, in our next song, I’ll be singing a verse in English and you’ll be singing a verse in Punjabi.
What are the key production elements of a Punjabi song?
Ryan: In this record there was a learning curve for me. I’ve obviously heard Punjabi music and Hindi music, and musically there’s a lot of similarities in Punjabi and Hindi. The language is different, obviously. But you’re using a tabla. There’s hand drums that are being used, some of which exist in the States, some of which don’t. One of my favorite sections of the whole record Ikky did, which is a drum break in the bridge that’s just a jam, it’s just a dance moment. It’s so festive and full of life and it’s layers of tabla and Indian hand drums and Punjabi instruments. The only time I’ve ever used any of that was if I’m doing Timbaland style hip-hop stuff because he leaned heavy into East Indian and Punjabi instruments. It’s not a mandolin. It sounds like a mandolin to us, but it’s basically an Indian version of a mandolin that’s a key element throughout the whole song. We’re not using a sitar or anything like that, it’s a little too shtick. And then the cadence, it’s all swung. If you think about it, all their music is played by hand. So I used all live kicks when I did the drums. It’s weird to reference, but I was thinking of stuff from like, 10-12 years ago. I didn’t want it to feel too modern. I love Sabrina Carpenter, but we’re not making “Espresso.” It’s a different style. So I had to lean into the cadence of what his verses were and Ikky helped a ton because I was like, “I’m not going to be the white idiot that steps foot into a culture and misappropriates it.” It has to be exact.
Karan: And the way you did it, it doesn’t sound forced. It’s one of my favorite tracks that I’ve ever worked on.
Tell me about filming the music video together with the band.
Karan: It’s like a story of our concert that’s [hopefully] happening in the future, in India…
Ryan: That’s really what it is.
Karan: It was two days [of filming] in a row. Kind of tiring, but we made a lot of memories there. I’ll remember that for the rest of my life.
Ryan: We were in a Hollywood backlot, which was pretty cool. I mean, from my perspective, I was like, this is a Bollywood video. There’s big time elements of Bollywood happening on camera.
Karan: It’s a mix.
What are your hopes for the song and video once they arrive?
Karan: Honestly, this is just the beginning and I’m just happy that we have this relationship now. I feel this big brother vibe from Ryan and I know if I need some guidance in the future…
Ryan: Just text.
Next summer, the goal is I want to go [to India] and be in a taxi cab or a Tuk Tuk and I want to hear this playing somewhere in the streets.
I’ve had things like this happen once in a blue moon. Everything happened so effortlessly and so seamlessly, including even now, the video getting cancelled and coming together and [getting] Disha who’s massive and just crushed it. All of those things threaded the needle for a multicultural record like this, it’s so exciting. I know people are going to love it.
MUMBAI — In a post-pandemic year when Hindi films finally returned to the cinemas in full force, their soundtracks were expected to claim back some of the audience they lost to “non-film” releases on Indian music streaming services. That didn’t happen.
In 2022, Bollywood lost some of its clout to movies from south India at the box-office — such as the Oscar-tipped Telugu blockbuster RRR. And on the audio-streaming charts, regional language and independent music proved that the growth of the non-film segment over the last two years wasn’t just a passing fad.
The past 12 months have shown India’s music industry that a hit can come from just about anywhere, such as a TV series in Pakistan or a Punjabi rapper in Canada. Or even from a pathologist and part-time Hindi singer in Chandigarh like Aditya A., whose two-year-old song “Chaand Baaliyaan” went viral on Instagram Reels, reached No. 5 on Spotify for the year and landed him a deal with Sony Music India.
Billboard’s look at the most-played (and viewed) tracks of 2022 on Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube in India highlights the ways in which the country’s consumption patterns are evolving and how the nation, with its continent-like range of states and languages, is among the most dynamic music markets in the world.
International music’s share is shrinking
A sole English-language track, short format video sensation “Heat Waves” by Glass Animals, is on Spotify’s year-end top 10. None appear on Apple Music, on which “Heat Waves” was also the most-heard international song of 2022 (it’s in the top 15 on the platform). A year ago hits in non-Indian languages represented 40% of 2021’s top 10 tunes on both services. However, this doesn’t mean that listenership of international music is falling. As Spotify and Apple Music — global platforms whose early adopters were English-speaking users in large cities — expand their customer bases in India, consumption is increasing in absolute terms, even though the overall share of foreign tracks on the services is decreasing. Significantly, international hits account for nearly 30% of Spotify’s top 100 of 2022. Short format video fueled the streaming success of a majority of these songs, such as Ruth B.’s “Dandelions” from 2017 and Elley Duhé’s “Middle Of The Night” from 2020.
Bollywood isn’t as big as it used to be
Bollywood or Hindi film music’s share of overall listenership has been steadily falling over the last three years and this is reflected once again in 2022’s biggest hits. The percentage of Bollywood songs in Spotify’s year-end top 10 fell from 80% in 2020 to 30% this year, a proportion that includes two older tracks, “Raataan Lambiyan” and “Ranjha” from Shershaah, which were No. 1 and No. 2 for all of 2021. This time, the highest-ranked Hindi film hit is another ballad, “Kesariya” from Brahmastra, at No. 3. On Apple Music’s year-end top 10, the decline has been more gradual, from 50% in 2020 to 40% in 2021 and 30% in 2022, a share made up of the aforementioned “Ranjha” and “Kesariya” and “Doobey” from Gehraiyaan. Surprisingly, there’s not a single Bollywood smash in YouTube’s list of top 10 music videos, which only lists 2022 releases. There were two in 2020 and in 2021 when the No. 1 video of the year was “Lut Gaye” from the movie Mumbai Saga.
Regional language music rules YouTube
The consumption of music in Indian regional languages — songs in languages apart from Hindi, Urdu and English — has been increasing exponentially as internet penetration rises and streaming services gain users across the country’s smaller cities, towns and rural areas. Regional language music streamers’ first port of call is YouTube on which the 2022 top 10 includes tracks in Tamil (the official music and lyric videos of “Arabic Kuthu” from the film Beast), Haryanvi (“Kacha Badam”, a remake of a viral Bengali hit), Bhojpuri (“Le Le Aayi Coca Cola” and “Nathuyina”), Telugu (“Oo Antava Mawa Oo Oo Antava” from the movie Pushpa: The Rise) and Punjabi (“Pasoori” from the Pakistani version of music TV series Coke Studio). Notably, the three Hindi tracks that make up the rest of the chart — “Srivalli,” “Saami Saami” and “Oo Bolega Ya Oo Oo Bolega” — are dubbed versions of Telugu tunes from the soundtrack of Pushpa, an action drama that was also released in Kannada, Malayalam and Tamil.
Punjabi music has crossed over into the mainstream
Out of all of India’s regional languages, Punjabi music has the largest listenership, thanks partly to its similarity to Hindi. Over the last two decades, it’s become increasingly common for Hindi film songs to have Punjabi lyrics. Punjabi’s music popularity has even spread to parts of the country where it isn’t widely spoken. Evidence of this is seen on Apple Music’s top 10 for 2022 on which Punjabi hits comprise the top eight. Five of them feature Canadian hip-hop artist A. P. Dhillon whose breakthrough smash “Brown Munde” was No. 1 for 2021 and whose “Excuses” was No. 1 all this year. “Excuses” tops Spotify’s list too. But the Punjabi music party is not limited to one act. “No Love” by Canadian rapper and singer Shubh is No. 4 on Spotify and “Bijlee Bijlee” by pop singer and actor Harrdy Sandhu is No. 7 on Apple Music.
“Pasoori” proves a cross-border sensation
Strained relations between India and Pakistan have led to a ban on Indian films in Pakistan and a similar restriction on the hiring of Pakistani actors and singers in India. But when it comes to the charts, both nations love thy neighbor. The only hit to feature across the year-end top 10s of Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube is “Pasoori” by singer-composer Ali Sethi, vocalist Shae Gill and producer Zulfiqar ‘Xulfi’ Jabbar Khan. The song, created for the fourteenth season of Coke Studio Pakistan. “Pasoori,” was the third highest streamed track on Indian streaming platform Wynk Music after “Kesariya” and “Arabic Kuthu.” It was also the most-played tune on Amazon Music in India, which is currently available only to subscribers of its Prime service. Conversely, Indian hip-hop stars A. P. Dhillon, Shubh and King feature in the top 10 of 2022 on Spotify in Pakistan.
Top 10 Songs of 2022 on Spotify in India
1. “Excuses”, A. P. Dhillon, Gurinder Gill and Intense, Run-Up Records
2. “Pasoori” (from Coke Studio Pakistan 14), Shae Gill and Ali Sethi, Giraffe Pakistan
3. “Kesariya” (from Brahmastra), Pritam, Arijit Singh and Amitabh Bhattacharya, Sony Music
4. “No Love,” Shubh
5. “Chaand Baaliyan,” Aditya A., Sony Music
6. “Raataan Lambiyan” (from Shershaah), Tanishk Bagchi, Jubin Nautiyal and Asees Kaur, Sony Music
7. “Heat Waves,” Glass Animals, Polydor
8. “Tu Aake Dekhle,” King, Kingsclan Records
9. “Arabic Kuthu – Halamithi Habibo” (from Beast), Anirudh Ravichander, Jonita Gandhi and Sivakarthikeyan, Sun Pictures
10. “Ranjha” (from Shershaah), Jasleen Royal and B. Praak, Sony Music
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Top 10 Songs of 2022 on Apple Music in India
1. “Excuses,” A. P. Dhillon, Gurinder Gill and Intense, Run-Up Records
2. “Desires,” A. P. Dhillon and Gurinder Gill, Run-Up Records
3. “Pasoori” (from Coke Studio Pakistan 14), Shae Gill and Ali Sethi, Giraffe Pakistan
4. “Insane,” A. P. Dhillon, Shinda Kahlon, Gurinder Gill and Gminxr, Run-Up Records
5. “Ranjha” (from Shershaah), Jasleen Royal and B. Praak, Sony Music
6. “Spaceship,” A. P. Dhillon, Shinda Kahlon and Gminxr, Run-Up Records
7. “Bijlee Bijlee,” Harrdy Sandhu, B. Praak and Jaani, Desi Melodies/Universal Music
8. “Tere Te,” A. P. Dhillon and Gurinder Gill, Run-Up Records
9. “Kesariya” (from Brahmastra), Pritam, Arijit Singh and Amitabh Bhattacharya, Sony Music
10. “Doobey” (from Gehraiyaan), OAFF, Savera, Lothika and Kausar Munir, Sony Music
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Top 10 Music Videos of 2022 on YouTube in India
1. “Srivalli” (from Pushpa: The Rise), Devi Sri Prasad, Javed Ali and Raqueeb Alam, T-Series
2. “Arabic Kuthu – Halamithi Habibo – Lyric Video” (from Beast), Anirudh Ravichander, Jonita Gandhi and Sivakarthikeyan, Sun Pictures
3. “Saami Saami” (from Pushpa: The Rise), Devi Sri Prasad, Sunidhi Chauhan and Raqueeb Alam, T-Series
4. “Kacha Badam,” Bhuban Badyakar and Amit Dhull, Bajewala Records
5. “Le Le Aayi Coca Cola,” Khesari Lal Yadav, Shilpi Raj, Prakash Barud and Sarvind Malhar, Gannayak Films
6. “Oo Bolega Ya Oo Oo Bolega” (from Pushpa: The Rise), Devi Sri Prasad, Kanika Kapoor and Raqueeb Alam, T-Series
7. “Oo Antava Mawa Oo Oo Antava” (from Pushpa: The Rise), Devi Sri Prasad, Indravathi Chauhan and Chandrabose, Aditya Music
8. “Pasoori” (from Coke Studio Pakistan 14), Shae Gill and Ali Sethi, Giraffe Pakistan
9. “Arabic Kuthu – Halamithi Habibo” (from Beast), Anirudh Ravichander, Jonita Gandhi and Sivakarthikeyan, Sun Pictures
10. “Nathuyina,” Khesari Lal Yadav, Priyanka Singh, Krishna Bedardi, Laxmikant-Pyarelal and Majrooh Sultanpuri, Saregama
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