Raghav Talks About Working with Tesher on ‘Desperado’: ‘I Feel Like I’ve Made a Little Brother’ 

Mohammed Rafi, Latin music and Raghav’s inimitable sense of pop rhythms find common ground on “Desperado,” the Indo-Canadian’s new song featuring fellow desi-origin artist Tesher.  

Produced by Mushtaq, the song samples R.D. Burman’s “Chura Liya Hai Tumne Jo Dil Ko” (from the 1973 film Yaadon Ki Baaraat) and while it was too done-before for Raghav, the artist says his producer convinced him because they were using the oft-lesser heard Rafi vocal portion for “Desperado.” Raghav says over a video call, “It’s always Lata Mangeshkar or Asha Bhosle that’s what you hear in these old samples. Mushtaq was like, ‘We’re taking Rafi saab’s voice. And it will sound like danger when I put it when it’s over the rhythm.’” It made for the romantic yet dangerous kind of sound that “Desperado” wanted to exude, complete with references to Bollywood movies like Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge.  

Raghav, who had come across Tesher’s 2020 song “Young Shahrukh” before the latter blew up with “Jalebi Baby” in 2021, says they share a lot of similarities. For starters, both artists grew up in Indian households but way over in Western Canada, Raghav in Calgary and Tesher in Regina, Saskatchewan. “You would not think that him and I would have these multicultural global world pop careers. It’s not the environment that breeds that sort of career, necessarily,” Raghav adds.  

There was an unavoidable sense of nostalgia on “Desperado,” but Raghav says it was very much about making a song for today, which is where Tesher came in. The artist says of Tesher, “I just find him to be such a kind, knowledgeable funny guy. The best part about this collaboration is, honestly I feel like I’ve made a little brother. I just love the kid.”  

“Desperado” has made its mark as a hit of sorts, but Raghav says he doesn’t “intellectualize” how songs can connect with people and become a smash. It’s not something he appreciates seeing other artists proudly bellow about either. “When you see videos of people writing in the studio, and they’re like, ‘Oh, my goodness’ and then they tweet out 10 minutes later, ‘I just wrote a smash’. Nine times out of 10, it’s not a smash,” he says. Over the two decades that Raghav has delivered hits like “Angel Eyes,” he feels like he has a “good radar” about “when something is genuinely exciting, or when I’m like, ‘Okay, that’s exciting, but it needs some work.’”  

Beyond that, the idea of Indians making globally-known hits is also something Raghav speaks from experience about. He says the “Western music industry” didn’t value the fanbase and audience that he was drawing right from the early 2000s. “After my first album, they asked me to change my name, because they thought it was too Indian. That was after I sold a million records. It wasn’t like I tried and failed, and then I had to change my name. They thought it was a novelty,” he says. His next album after 2004’s Storyteller was titled Identity, in a bid to double down on where he stood.  

Even as songs from his earlier albums continue to garner streams and “Desperado” makes its mark, Raghav says there will be at least four more singles out this year. Releasing music after three years, he says the goal is to come back and “throw everything at it.” He adds, “My goal every morning is to make this one of the most significant comebacks in the history of the Indian music industry. I don’t know if I’m going to succeed at that, I’m funding it on my own. But I’m going to either do it or I’m going to die trying.”  

Watch the video for “Desperado” below. Stream the song here.