Joshua Singh Brings Together Nikitaa, Illa Straight and Rajeev Prasanna For New Project ‘Voices/People’

We’ve heard plenty of Mumbai multi-instrumentalist/producer Joshua Singh this year. He put out two singles, “Breakfast in Bed” and “All I Ever Want” and is now out with a brand-new two-track project called Voices/People. He says, “This is a different direction from my usual sound.” While the last couple of releases has filled his musical sensibilities with different preferences, owing to the various artists he’s worked with, the drummer for alt-rockers Spud in the Box says, “It’s an amalgamation of experience and talent.”

For Voices/People, Singh called upon L.A./Mumbai vocalist Nikitaa, rapper Illa Straight and flautist Rajeev Prasanna. The collaborations happened after the producer sent out the first draft of the project to the other artists to see how they responded to it. “That’s what I think really brought this song its finesse.” While the song is split into two sides, Singh released the first half, “Voices,” recently and “People” will be coming out in a few weeks.

The music includes a dancey groove, a catchy vocal melody, strong rap bars as well as quirky flute solos over the indulgent production. Singh says, “’Voices’ was to help me understand and learn how people might respond and ‘People,’ is actually a turn around to how I as a producer would respond to these elements thrown at me.” The project has been mixed and mastered by Mumbai sound engineer Ayan De and given a visual representation through the artwork from Aditiya Singh.

Talking about being part of Voices/People, Nikitaa says, “There’s a raw abandon and melancholy to the hook, and it was interesting to draw that out and into the verse I wrote. It felt right to be a part of this – a project about the voices of the city – as I was returning and re-experiencing the city [Mumbai] myself after being away for so long.” While Illa Straight terms the overall process “very organic and fluid,” Prasanna adds, “It was an experiment, high energy and full of organic outbursts!”

At the moment, Singh is working on diversifying his skill set as an artist. He’s also working on music with his sister Rachel Singh which is due to be out this month. “I enjoy creating music and soundscapes for my own thoughts and for others too,” he says.

Stream “Voices” below and watch out for the release of “People” in the coming weeks. Click here to listen on other platforms.