Kayan

If you weren’t yet familiar with the term ‘Kayan Supremacy’ you’ll find it emblazoned on a phone screen that’s raised up in the air during any of the Mumbai’s artist’s rager DJ sets. Crafting a set for the dancefloor has been one of Kayan aka Ambika Nayak’s more recent pursuits. She started out in indie band Kimochi Youkai while also studying at True School of Music, all between 2016 and 2018.  

Since then, there’s been modeling, voiceover work, and acting that has helped Kayan thrive in different artistic formats – on stage, on screen and from the studio. Inspired by pop and R&B artists like Jorja Smith, Kali Uchis and more, Kayan stepped out into a more collab-heavy 2023 with rappers like Yashraj and Yung Raja, producer Karan Kanchan and pop artist AB!. She closed out the year with the openhearted “Plenty,” one of her most vulnerable songs to date.  

For all the wandering done last year – collaboration-wise, plus performing with her band at the Asia Song Festival in South Korea – Kayan is spending 2024 with a different kind of focus. Excerpts:  

Rolling Stone India: What has the past year been like with releases and gigs for you? What do you feel has sharpened for you as a skill? 

Kayan: I still feel like when it comes to the skill set of DJing or singing, it’s just a never-ending practice. So I want to focus a lot more on both this year. I wasn’t able to do that last year, because I was playing so much that when you’re touring almost every weekend, it’s hard to be in a headspace to just sit and write, even though I did try and I challenged myself. I did put out three songs and the songs are a lot more me than I think I have ever felt or sounded like before.  

I’m doing focused gigs that I really, really want to play. I want to be on support for artists that I love when they come down here. I want to play gigs that I know that it’s to going to be a room that’s going to give me that energy that I live for, you know? That’s why I started playing.  

Speaking of room full of energy, how did that whole thing start with people holding up their phones with the words ‘KAYAN SUPREMACY’?  

[Laughs] I think it was that one show in Bangalore, where someone just held that sign up, and I posted it. It just caught on and it’s the sweetest thing ever. Sometimes there are those off days, because every gig is not always that exciting and then someone will hold that sign up because I’m usually worried, ‘Is everyone having a good time? Are they enjoying what I’m playing? Should I switch it up?’  

I’ll see someone who’s holding that sign up and they’ll be smiling and it makes my day and I’m like ‘Okay, let’s go. I got this. I got you.’  

People write different things too.  

It’s easy to read because it’s right there in my face. Sometimes they [fans] almost end up trying to have a conversation with me. I get asked out a lot by that thing on the phone. I’ve seen some really strange ones that are NSFW. It’s funny, it’s entertaining [laughs].  

What has it been like testing the waters in terms of different collaborations and what have you sought out of it? 

I feel like every song that I did as a collaboration, I tried to match the vibe of the artists that I was working with, and towards the end, like maybe with Karan Kanchan or Yashraj, I kind of had them make something that was not just trying to match the other person’s vibe, but was a middle ground where I knew a kind of sound that I wanted to push, as well as take what makes space for what their vibe is.  

I also realize that I can deliver so many different genres and but it felt a little bit all over the place to me, to be completely honest. And as a catalog, I do want it to be a little more streamlined now. 

Now I feel like it’s all kind of going into a soundscape that’s a lot more me, that’s a lot more detailed. I have a lot more control and say in everything that we’re making. Initially, I started writing songs to beats because it was easier for me to find a beat and write to that and then maybe play around with the production a little bit. Now I’m working with really good producers and certain people. There’s a solid team and we sit together and right from scratch. 

You performed in South Korea recently, at the Asia Song Festival. What was that experience like? 

I was interacting with an audience that was a completely Korean audience. I also tried speaking a little Korean in my set and I’m glad I did that, because it had a little bit of an impact. I don’t think a lot of those people heard my music before.  

I think overall as an experience, it was insane. It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever experienced. The show was phenomenal. The artists I watched perform phenomenal. I wasn’t I haven’t really been I haven’t been on the K-pop hype trend. It wasn’t that for me, so I didn’t know a lot about it. But my manager, who was traveling with me at that time, she is a huge K-pop fan. She also loves Korean culture, so she knew so much about the place and the people and everything. 

It was really helpful to have someone who knew and that got me excited about everything. And I got to watch all these artists backstage who are ridiculously tight, like they know what they’re doing. They practice like crazy and they can sing and they can dance and it was very exciting to just be in that space. 

Every Kayan Live set is heavy on curation, when it comes to your looks on stage to the songs and the band. What is it like taking it to different stages across the country and getting what you want out of it? 

I plan backwards and say, ‘This is what I want to deliver.’ I don’t know how but I want to get this done. I have been lucky to have worked with amazing stylists over the last few years. A lot of them have helped me shape my style with Kayan Live. I wanted costumes to be tight. I wanted dancers, I wanted a performance that was an experience. We’re still building on that. It was exciting because we worked with really cool indie brands and fashion houses. 

Now when I think of Kayan Live, I see it a little differently. Definitely costumes will always be… my fits need to be… that’s just my vibe. I’ve started enjoying styling myself a lot more. I’ve started doing my own hair and makeup, just because I enjoy it and I feel like I know what I want. 

A lot of artists present a persona on stage and through their music. Is there a difference between the persona Kayan and the person?  

That’s such an interesting question, because I don’t think there’s a difference. I’m just me, I get on stage and I’m just me. I talk like me, maybe I sound a little bit more coherent [laughs]. I’m just me when I talk to an audience. I’m just me when I’m playing music. I feel like I get to be more me when I’m doing that, somehow. I’ve played a few shows where I’ve not justified what feels like me and I find it hard to make peace with it. But it’s all part of the journey, I suppose.  

What’s the one thing that excites you about the future of music and the one thing that worries you about the future of music? 

I think one thing that excites me about the future of music is how diverse everything is slowly getting, in the sense that people are a little less scared to experiment and do stuff that’s not completely mainstream. I feel like there’s a lot more pushing the boundaries now, there are more exciting sounds that are happening.  

At the same time, my worry or a little concern could be the opposite of the above happening. There are forces who are much stronger and have more power to just keep something very mainstream, because at the end of the day, someone somewhere wants to make money off of the masses. If we don’t introduce the masses to fresher things, how are they going to know that this exists? There’s so much more than any one particular kind of music for everyone.