Chennai Singer-Songwriter Nitika Rajkumar Looks Back at ‘Young Love’ on Ballad-Heavy Debut EP

Channeling pop greats like Adele as well as the measured pace of Taylor Swift’s songwriting, Chennai artist Nitika Rajkumar is all soul and heart on her debut EP Young Love. She began with her debut single “Silhouettes On The Terrace” in 2021, a starry guitar-aided euphoric tune and with five songs in all, Young Love EP showcases Rajkumar as a passionate balladeer exploring heartbreak and love.

Rajkumar says, however, that the songs weren’t written with the intent of compiling them into an EP. When the artist saw a common theme tying them all together – her experiences in and out of love – she felt that the song “Young Love” (released in 2021 as a single) summed up the narrative. “The song talks about the first experience I had with love and is also a song that I hold very close to my heart. It also represents the kind of music I want to make moving forward and so I decided to go with it,” she says.

Produced by Ashwin Iyer as well as Nikhil Hariprasad and Gaman Mamidi (the latter two worked on “Silhouettes On The Terrace”), Rajkumar released “Oh My Dear” as the third single this year, inspired by K-Drama Crash Landing On You. With the EP, she offers two previously unreleased songs – another ballad with “Strangers” and “Just Us,” a roomy pop-rock song that has ambitions for arena singalongs. Making songs like “Strangers” led the singer-songwriter to realize she’s a lot more confident as a musician in the studio than she was in the beginning. While piano-pop style ballads and gentle guitars abound on the EP, Rajkumar says she didn’t necessarily plan the sonic palette that runs throughout the EP. “Initially, I did try to make ‘Oh My Dear’ a power ballad with belty vocals, because I enjoy singing a song with that kind of range but as a result, the song lost its authenticity. We eventually went back to the intent and made it the vulnerable and intimate song and story that it is,” the artist adds.

Before she became a confident studio artist, Rajkumar established herself as a performer and gig organizer in Chennai. “Currently, I’m looking forward to performing this EP as much as I possibly can,” she says. There is more material being readied for release, but the artist is keen on studying songwriting before heading back into the studio.

Listen to ‘Young Love’ EP below. Stream on more platforms here.