How NEXA Music is Changing The Game

In a bid to promote indigenous talent, Maruti Suzuki’s NEXA Experiences launched NEXA Music in 2019, a nationwide hunt for emerging artists. The platform, created in collaboration with digital media company Qyuki, aimed to support creators of English-language original music across India.   

Although it set out on a mission to find talent across the country that practiced music in the English language, what wasn’t expected was that the IP would become a platform of discovery. NEXA Music witnessed unique Indian talent and crowned the top 4 winners in 2020 — New Delhi musician Nisa Shetty, Mumbai-based pop sister duo Simetri, Ahmedabad jazz/prog outfit Heat Sink and singer-songwriter pair Jonathan–Pelenuo. Along with being powerhouse performers, these names also heralded a property that was representative of and celebrated India’s musical diversity. 

Since then, the winners, who were previously emerging talent, have been discovered and mentored by NEXA Music. The IP has become something more than just a talent hunt, particularly investing in artist masterclasses and development. NEXA Music disrupted the scene by preparing their talent to be industry-ready with the winners going on to collaborate with legendary and veteran musical names such as A.R. Rahman, Shor Police and more. These aligning creative synergies resulted in memorable tracks like “You Got Me,” “Different Kind of Love,” “Let You Go” and others. 

Spearheaded by A.R. Rahman and apart from having the opportunity to work with Shor Police, artists were also given the chance to be mentored by and work alongside topline musicians such as Monica Dogra, Indus Creed’s Uday Benegal and Mikey McCleary.

Rolling Stone India’s Executive Editor Nirmika Singh also hosted a podcast series highlighting everything that makes NEXA Music what it is. Singh interviewed Benegal, Dogra and Shor Police as well as Rahman. The podcast even includes an episode with those behind the scenes, such as Shashank Srivastava (Executive Director, Maruti Suzuki) and Qyuki’s Abhimanyu Radhakrishnan and Juhi Mehta. Through the podcast, Singh covers various topics such as the origins of NEXA Music, the future of Indian music, how every voice matters, what inspires a true performer and more.   

Srivastava says, “NEXA is Maruti Suzuki’s premium retail channel which was envisioned to go beyond just selling cars and to provide unique and innovative experiences to its customers. It is strategically built around the consumers’ passion points of music, lifestyle and travel. Music, being the most important pillar, needed something special, innovative and unique, and that’s why we partnered with the maestro, A.R. Rahman to create NEXA Music, India’s first original English music IP.” 

Benegal adds, “NEXA Music is one more thing that can help it [English music in India] and I hope that it can give it enough momentum to grow into something even bigger.” 

NEXA Music’s Season 2 Top 4 — that includes Hanu Dixit, Gaia Meera, INGA and Sunep A Jamir — were given the opportunity of a lifetime to create their songs with McCleary and also have music videos produced for their tracks.  

In December 2022, on a massive stage at India’s biggest music festival, we witnessed the dreams of six young musicians come true right in front of our eyes. NEXA Music artists, singer-songwriters and composers Nisa Shetty, Simran and Riya Duggal (from pop duo Simetri), John Oinam, Medha Sahi and Shruti Dhasmana shone bright over the three days of Sunburn Goa, playing their brand of unapologetic independent music. Musicians and industry folk will tell you that an opportunity like this has to be earned over years and years of relentless passion and promotion. And these six young guns earned every bit of that glory.  In January 2023, this brilliant cohort of musicians, now joined by Dixit, rocked out at the inaugural Indian edition of the cult festival Lollapalooza, which received a record-breaking turnout of over 60,000 attendees.   

The seven young musicians, who come from across India, represent not only various cultural backgrounds but also different phases of an emerging career in music. While some have been flitting between studios and stages for years, a few are grasping the full potential of a music career ahead. Each of them, undeniably talented and driven, would perhaps have had a slightly different, even arduous path to take for these elusive opportunities, if not for the one thing that connected their collective dreams: NEXA Music, an audacious nationwide hunt promoting indigenous talent among emerging artists. Each of these seven artists have been the mentees across two seasons of NEXA Music. 

Just like with the Season 1 winners, Rahman will release a new song with the Season 2 winners to cap off yet another successful season of NEXA Music. The track will be released exclusively via the NEXA Music social media pages.