Naezy Comes Back Just A Little Stronger on Smitten New Song ‘Mallika’

Naezy gets his mojo on as smitten poet on his latest song “Mallika,” which is released through an unlikely partner – the major label Saregama, who are best known for their catalog of yesteryear movie songs and Indian traditional music.

In fact, Saregama’s catalog was one of the reasons that the Mumbai rapper worked with the label. Naezy terms it kismet that he and Hyderabad-based producer Afzal Minhaaj were working with a sample vocal line for the beat to “Mallika,” whose origins lay in a song owned by Saregama. “The song was ready and I was wondering how to release it. Luckily, perhaps it was this track’s destiny, that my producer Afzal Minhaaj had taken this sample when he found it in a library. He pitched this song to them and their whole office really liked it. They wanted to do something in hip-hop and they felt we should collaborate on this song,” Naezy says.

While Naezy’s recent output has often divided desi hip-hop fans for a while now, “Mallika” – which follows his April 2023 EP Apocalypse with other underground producers – sees him come back stronger with his flow, especially on the second verse. It helps that he’s also picked a more universal theme – trying to convey his feelings to a girl he’s smitten by, but he doesn’t want to approach her in a way that would put her off. The lyrics stem from Naezy’s real-life feelings for a girl when he felt “there were a lot of barriers” to speaking his mind and heart out. “I used to think less of myself. I developed my confidence slowly and began writing about how if we’re both clean of heart, it should work out,” he says.

Often always known for his pen game, Naezy avoids the usual romantic cliches, even confessing that he’s not one for falling for someone based on appearances. He says, “She’s a real one and that’s what I love about her. That’s not often written about these days. I wrote it this way to challenge and show the new kids [in hip-hop] what’s one way to write about love. They’ll know that this is also one way to approach women in perhaps a new way, or maybe in a way that’s respectful and actually what we used to do before but have forgotten.”

The music video directed by Neerat Kaur sees Naezy in an acting role like perhaps never before – playing an office-going regular who, one day, finds himself head over heels in love. He’s unsure and lacks confidence, but somehow lets his intentions be known to the girl (played by Deprupa Ghosh) who then makes her move. Naezy says about the experience, “I like being in front of a camera and acting. I forget there’s a camera around sometimes, because I just want to have fun on set, just following the vibes of the director.”

Naezy says that “Mallika” was a song that took a bit longer to put out compared to when it was written and ready, due to the sample clearance and working with a label. “If you look at it from a professional point of view, it does take time. Independently, as an artist, I feel I should release things immediately. I’ll take this approach coming up, releasing song fatafat,” he says. The reasoning behind that for Naezy is he feels when he sits on a release for long, he’s always thinking of how to improve it. He adds, “As time passes, I become better as an artist and then think about my past work as something that can be improved upon. Mein har cheeze mein better ho raha hoon [I’m getting better at all things].”

Watch the video for “Mallika” below.