Hear Nivé’s Moving New Single ‘Hath Ki Safai’

For as long as she can remember, New Delhi singer-songwriter Nivedita Lakra aka Nivé tells us she’s been grooving to music and singing from a very young age. The artist credits her father for being her musical influence. She says, “From jazz to metal, he has it covered.” It was when Lakra moved to Chennai at 17 to complete her bachelor’s degree that she began performing with musicians from the city as well as on her own.

Since then, she’s gone on to collaborate with Chennai-based artist Kevin Fernando on the seductive “Foxy.” Lakra says, “Working on ‘Foxy’ was an amazing experience because it was the first song I ever actually went to a studio for.” The vocalist has even lent her voice to songs by artists Michael Timothy, Amogh Balaji and hip-hopper Yungsta.

Now, Lakra is out with her debut solo release in the shape of the emotive “Hath Ki Safai.” The track builds quite brilliantly with lush acoustic guitar strumming, indulgent production, a slick beat as well as Lakra’s mellifluous voice.  While the singer-songwriter admits that it’s a breakup song, she says, “It talks about the lesser talked emotions that revolve around heartbreak.” The song originally stemmed from a poem and Lakra says, “I never imagined the song to take the turn it did after production.” She adds, “I wrote this song when I was at a weak point in my life so I feel the lyrics have a lot of honesty in them.”

The musician recorded her vocals and guitar parts for “Hath Ki Safai” at Chennai’s Voice and Vision Studio before Jaipur-based producer Archit Tak filled out the sound. The track was then mixed and mastered by Mumbai-based Jash Mistry.

On the horizon are three more singles due to be out in the coming months. Next up is a lo-fi English track titled “Nuts 4 U” in collaboration with Chennai producer 4 AM Music. Lakra says, “The plan is to release as much music as possible in 2021 and set my vibe.”

Stream “Hath Ki Safai” on Spotify below and on other platforms.