NEXA Music, the Nationwide Talent Hunt and Incubator, Unveils a Diverse Set of Musicians, Mentors and Headliner Artists for its Second Season
With Oscar and Grammy Award-winning composer A.R. Rahman as the mentor and jury at the helm, the talent hunt has gotten bigger and better with the announcement of its Top 24 artists from across the country
NEXA Music Season One winners (from left) Simetri, Nisa Shetty and Heat Sink.
When the NEXA Music talent hunt debuted in 2019, 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. An initiative of automobile giant Maruti Suzuki and digital media conglomerate Qyuki, NEXA Music witnessed unique Indian talent and crowned three acts as the winners aka the top 4 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 that 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.
For season two, NEXA Music went on to onboard a set of seasoned names as the headliner artists including Monica Dogra, Shor Police and Uday Benegal, as well as Mikey McCleary as a composer. Rahman continues his association with NEXA Music as a mentor and jury. The music maestro has been immersed and invested in the process of recognising and selecting each act at NEXA Music. Unsurprisingly, season two of NEXA Music received even more entries with 2500 acts auditioning. This time around, Rahman, team Qyuki and team Rolling Stone India were faced with the colossal and loabourious task of whittling down the entries from 2500 to 100 and then from 100 to 50 and then from 50 to 24. Season two posed the ‘problem’ of plenty.
Evidently, the English language music market in India is not a tiny niche given the number of musicians that put their hat in the ring for NEXA Music season two. The team spent hours selecting, curating and handpicking each act to be reflective of Inda’s best musicians as well as the country’s diversity. Rahman says, “India is known for film music, classical music and folk music. But independent English language music is probably the orphaned area, the ignored space.” After witnessing the length and breadth of the acts auditioning for season two, a quote of Rahman from season one comes to mind. “It’s so nice to see these kids taking the courage [to pursue music] even though there aren’t enough outlets for them—they’re making efforts to put their music on YouTube, they’re playing indie gigs, all underground. It’s time for them come to the ground and the time for us to witness the magic,” he said.
Representing artists from the length and breadth of India and backed by Rahman’s support, season two of NEXA Music takes things to the next level by facilitating incubation, development, collaboration, marketing, branding and more for its artists. Additionally, the Top 24 musicians will be part of a mentorship program called the NEXA Music Lab to further elevate their skills and artistic potential. In addition to this, the Top 24 will also be mentored by renowned music publishers such as Fairwood Music and Konic Records as well as Turnkey Music and Publishing Pvt. Ltd.
With the announcement of NEXA Music season two’s Top 24 artists, we can expect a storm of musical creativity to be brewing. About the IP, Maruti Suzuki India’s Executive Director Shashank Srivastava says, “The basic values with which we first started NEXA was creativity and exploration. That’s why our motto is ‘Create. Inspire.’ If you want to create a better world, you’ll have to do something new everyday. How does new happen? It happens through innovation. It happens through experimentation. It happens through creativity. That’s what we hope to be doing with NEXA Music season two.” With its second act, Maruti Suzuki seems poised to continue its commitment to India’s English-language music scene.
In its second season, NEXA Music also appears to be building on a legacy of spotlighting and empowering artists. The talent hunt recently announced the top 24 artists from the thousands of entries that the IP received this year. The lineup includes Chennai-based singer-songwriter Trisha, Mumbai singer-songwriters Gaia Meera, Niyati Mehta and Pruthvi, Bengaluru artists Huyana, INGA, Brian Christopher Bangera and Aishwarya Sridharan, Dimapur singer-songwriters Temsu Kala and KL Pamei, New Delhi musicians Shivash Chagti, Poorva Gairola, Shruti Dhasmana, Klanjan and John Oinam, Mokokchung-bred singer-songwriter Sunep A Jamir, Chicago-based singer-songwriter Subhi, Guwahati artist Bony, Pune-based vocalist Tango Charlie, Mumbai musician Hanu Dixit, Kochi artist George Paul, Goa-based musician Medha Sahi, Ahmedabad artist Akshita, Mumbai vocalist Brecilla and Bengaluru-based hip-hop artist Rapper Big Deal.
About how NEXA Music season two takes things a notch higher, Qyuki’s COO Juhi Mehta says, “We were just testing waters with season one. We had the ambition, desire and opportunity of creating something new with an English music property. We wanted to invest our belief and our expertise at Qyuki into working with emerging talent in a constructive manner.” Mehta underlines the word “better” to summarise what people can expect in NEXA Music season two. “We have the best production, audio, video, business, marketing, publishing and distribution partners. We are making valuable content alongside music that is richer.”
On how this association between Qyuki and Maruti Suzuki merges the worlds of creativity and automobiles, QYUKI’s Managing Director Abhimanyu Radhakrishnan says, “I think that’s what we’ve done with NEXA Music is that… It’s a tribute to creativity.” He adds, “We’re centralizing the entire creative world as we’re excited to bring you the second season.”
Rolling Stone India has been spearheading this partnership by identifying and empowering musicians through both coverage and curation for over 14 years. The iconic magazine’s historic December 2019 cover featured Rahman surrounded by the Top 24 contestants of NEXA Music season one, solidifying the publication’s commitment to spotlighting the best of pop culture, particularly music.
About continuing the partnership with Maruti Suzuki India and Qyuki for NEXA Music season two, Rolling Stone India’s Executive Editor and Digital Director Nirmika Singh says, “Creativity thrives in collaborations, whether among artists or enablers. Rolling Stone India is delighted to be partnering with NEXA Music to enable and empower a most deserving league of budding and enterprising musicians. This is their time!”
