Premiere: Singer-Songwriter Rinky Sharma Evokes Warmth and Nostalgia on New Song ‘Khel’

Although her previous songs of love, hate and despair have never been inspired by direct personal experiences, Hyderabad singer-songwriter Rinky Sharma’s new release “Khel” came from her friendships and how she met her husband.

The suitably playful and nostalgia leaning song was born in October 2019, when Sharma was on vacation in the city of Bosporus in Turkey. “I was seeing this group of people who were hanging out and it reminded me of this group we had. That was where I started the song. Over the next four or five days, the song unfolded when I got back to my ukulele,” she says.

Her first release since the 2019 EP Tangled, the Hindi song “Khel” drew from the time she and her (now) husband Ajay Luke were set up by friends about a decade ago. She adds, “We weren’t interested in dating, so we were just hanging because we had friends in common. These friends started creating scenarios for us to get together. My husband is a shy guy and I was fully sure I didn’t want to get into anything – but we liked each other. Subconsciously, I think the song draws from that. This whole thing came back to me because I was in Turkey when I wrote this song.”

The adorably animated music video for “Khel” – made by animator and visual artist Arjun Singh – also details a game of glances between two people on a trip in the wilderness amongst a friends circle. Sharma admits the visuals are not entirely similar to the way she and her husband met, but they kept it to the idea of a camping trip considering it’s among the relatable (and safer) ideas during the pandemic. “We just wanted it to be super simple and super relatable and really warm and familiar, to give you that fuzzy, cozy feeling,” the singer-songwriter says.

In the last two years, Sharma has become a yoga trainer, co-founded a marketing agency and earned a few film music projects. “Khel” will also feature in a film soundtrack, according to the artist. “There’s another movie as well for which I’ve written two songs, coming out on OTT,” she adds. Also announcing that she’s giving up cover gigs and focusing on independent music for performances, Sharma says her sound is undergoing a “big pivot” and two more singles are slated for release this year. She adds, “It’s a very refreshing change – they sound more contemporary. A lot of the production is done.”

Watch the video for “Khel” below.