Dhruv Talks About His India Shows, Meeting Prateek Kuhad and New Material

Singer-songwriters like Dhruv Sharma (who goes by his first name, in lowercase as ‘dhruv’) rightfully marvel at the fact that the intimate music they made – bedroom pop, if you will – have a worldwide connect. His songs like “Double Take,” “Moonlight” and “Airplane Thoughts” have garnered millions of streams, all part of his debut 2022 album Rapunzel.

Supporting the likes of shapeshifting pop artist Joji in the U.S. last year, Dhruv got to perform in amphitheaters and now, the Indian-origin, Singaporean is traveling across South Asia for perhaps more familiar territory to promote Rapunzel and his 2022 maximal single “Blur.” Earlier this month, Dhruv made his India debut with shows in Gurugram and Mumbai. He says over a call how he has family – including grandparents – in New Delhi and they showed up to Imperfecto Patio in Gurugram to add to the full house. Dhruv adds about the India shows, “I’ve always wanted to do it, and it definitely lived up to my expectations. It was honestly amazing, really fun and it really shows you how far music travels.”

The millions of listeners might be readily visible on a screen, and Dhruv might consider it a big deal, but it doesn’t necessarily come as a reassurance before playing in territories for the first time, like he’s doing right now. “Everything is very hard to process and compute, which is the case when you see numbers on a screen. I really felt that during the pandemic as well, because that’s when people kind of started listening to it. It was very hard to process that there are actual people who use it to soundtrack their lives or, or even just listen to the one song that went viral at the time [‘Double Take’] but it’s really nice seeing that in person and being able to connect in that way,” he says.

In an interview with Rolling Stone India, Dhruv talks about how his time in India, tour life and what’s next. Excerpts:

Rolling Stone India: How and when did the conversation for India shows start?

Dhruv: I wanted to tour India last year after I finished the project [Rapunzel]. I think it was just a matter of figuring out how to do it because not all that many artists, like Western artists or artists who are based in the West, I should say, have done it. I think I was really persistent, with my team and my agents that I wanted to do it and I wanted to figure out how to do it. So we went we did it through [ticketing platform and events company] Skillbox and Sony Music India, and they were wonderful in getting everything organized.

What did you want to do differently at the India shows in Mumbai and Delhi NCR?

I felt like these shows are for a specific project I recorded, the Rapunzel project that I released a year and a half ago. I wanted to bring that show in its completion to India and have people experience that show as well. We definitely had new arrangements for this tour and we’ve shuffled around the setlist. It’s definitely our best show yet in terms of how it flows.

You supported Joji on tour in the U.S. and then had your headline tour as well. If you had to compare, how do you have to adapt differently in terms of touring this part of the world?

I think with the Joji tour specifically, I was opening on that tour, so opening is always a tough gig, right? You have to win the audience over and do your best. It really felt like going right in the deep end because it was my first real experience of touring. And I didn’t necessarily, from the jump, have the support of the crowd behind me. It was a really formative experience because I just learned so much in that environment.

It kind of gave me more confidence for future shows. Being able to do it in that environment, in front of that many people is just a confidence boost overall. In terms of just differences in touring in the U.S. and India and Asia, I think it’s still too early for me to really tell. I have been surprised that the audiences have been engaged in both places. I also did a headline tour last year in the U.S. and it was really amazing, because I think there’s been engagement and people have been singing in the shows there and the shows here, but I think it’s still pretty early for me to tell what the other differences might be.           

You had “Blur” come out in 2022 as well, which was a different sound. What is the current material you’re working on like? Is it in a similar space or has it moved on from “Blur”?

It’s very different from ‘Blur.’ That was a one-off, fun song that I had made during a couple of months in the U.S. and I really liked that song, but I think I just never really fit in any world or any project and it kind of felt like just a transition between two different parts of me making music. I would say ‘Blur’ definitely has the Hi-Fi-ness of some of the music that I’m making right now, with the instrumentation of the music that I’ve been making for the last few months and I mean for the better part of the year, honestly. It’s been it’s very different.       

So you’d say it’s not so much intimate, bedroom pop either?

I think you totally could, still. I really wanted to keep my process of keeping the writing personal and based on my personal experience, so I hope people will connect to it because it’s all based on the things that have happened in my life. It’s more just the sonics of it that feel expanded, and in a way that I don’t think takes away from the intimacy of the writing. It actually complements it. I’d say it’s like a bigger sound that I really wanted to play with. It’s more maximal than the first project. I really enjoy that sound too, but I still had always had hopes of getting more live instrumentation, more players in the room. I love lots of jazz music, as well, so I think it definitely carries influences from a bunch of different things that I like. 

Outside of the shows, did you get to meet any other artists out here in India, have any plans of collaborations? Had you heard anything about singer-songwriters from India?

I actually met with Prateek Kuhad in Delhi. He’s incredible and his music is beautiful so obviously that was very fun. There’s a lot of relatability [between us] in terms of being Indian artists who have spent quite a bit of time in the U.S. and other places as well. Some of the artists came to the shows and I got to meet them as well. It was nice to connect that way and I hope to connect more as I come back.

What else is coming up in 2023?

I have a lot more music coming out. I’ve been working on it for some time. I’m really proud of it. I hope people like it. I have a song coming up off the project coming up very soon. I just shot a music video for it in New York, right before I flew here [to India]. It’s just like a completely different era of music that I’m proud which is quite different and I hope people like it.