Premiere: Rishi Kumar Calls on Vocalists Keshuv Huria and Akanksha Sethi for Heartwarming Song ‘Kyun’

As someone who began putting out music in 2021 for streaming when he was an adolescent, Chennai-based artist Rishi Kumar says there’s been a complete change in his processes in the years that have passed.

With his first Hindi song “Jee Le Zindagi,” he was just humming melodies and trying to transfer that essence into production mode. He calls the arrangement and production of that song “fairly monotonous” compared to what he’s been putting out in 2023, most recently with the Hindi song “Suno” and now, “Kyun” with singer-songwriters Keshuv Huria and Akanksha Sethi. The latter is an unhurried, gentle duet between Sethi and Huria, featuring lyrics written by Kumar and songwriter Anshul Mathur (who also worked on “Suno” with singer-songwriter Nakul Chugh).

Huria and Sethi have a warmth that Kumar reflects in his piano and string arrangements, making “Kyun” a cinematic offering. The release comes on the back of “Suno” for Kumar, while Sethi released “Tu Kahaan Hai?” and Huria put out “Kaheen Dur” in July. The song comes with an AI-generated vertical music video that narrates a story of love and longing.

Watch the lyric video for “Kyun” below.

In a prior interview with Rolling Stone India, Kumar spoke about how he’s begun composing music in his dreams. Some of his upcoming songs are born out of that subconscious thinking. “It may be just me playing piano in the dream, or just background music going on in the dream. The best part about this is that along with melody I also picture the scene and situation, making it extremely helpful for writing lyrics. A side note if you’re wondering how I remember these melodies are that I just coincidentally wake up immediately and then record a voice note on my phone as soon as possible,” he adds.

It’s no surprise then that Kumar’s music has a cinematic edge to it, one that could see it readily fit into a film soundtrack. Does he see his music as an alternative to film songs? The teenaged artist doesn’t really think about it. “I feel that it is very important to make and explore different styles of music at some point of an artist’s career, but now, I’m very happy to continue with the style I have developed, especially since it seems to resonate with the audiences,” Kumar says.

The artist also spent 2023 putting out his first ever pair of Tamil songs, with “Uyire” (featuring Gowri T.P. and Wesley Crispus) and “Naan Naan Dhaan” (with comedian-singer Alexander Babu and Fousiya Unais). He knows that his Tamil music can be equally popular as his Hindi music once the output reaches the same levels. “However, it just seems as though the Tamil Indie music scene is substantially smaller than the Hindi Indie music scene,” he says. That’s why he’s created separate artist profiles on streaming platforms for the music, catering to different expectations. “Separating those [Hindi and Tamil] audiences would just help me focus and release songs which cater to that particular audience, which would keep them (hopefully) engaged,” he says.

Up next, there are more singles and collaborations coming up in Hindi and Tamil, with one song per month until the end of the year. “I have also tried out various different genres, including synthwave, downtempo EDM, rock, and fusion of multiple genres as well,” Kumar adds.

Listen to “Suno” below.