See Singer-Songwriter Niteesh’s Stop-Motion Video For ‘31’

Having been brought up in a household of artists, Hyderabad-bred singer-songwriter Niteesh Kondiparthi—who goes by his first name—recalls that his earliest tryst with the arts was through theater and classical music. He picked up the guitar at 15 and says about the journey, “A couple of months into learning music, I realized that this was something that I wanted to pursue seriously.”

After gigging a bit and writing his own songs, Niteesh went on to release his four-track debut EP Not Worth It in 2018, followed by his nine-track full-length debut album entitled Lekha in 2019. With a few singles also under his belt, the singer-songwriter is now out with his latest offering, the striking “31.”

Niteesh penned “31” at the end of 2018 while staying in Mumbai. He says, “I was living in a tiny studio apartment, and I wanted to write myself a memoir.” He adds, “I realized that there was a certain sense of vulnerability in my story and that it could potentially work well as a song. So I started off with this memoir blueprint and ended up writing the song in a day. A friend of mine suggested that I name the song ‘31’ because chronologically, it starts on New Year’s Eve 2017.”

“31” opens with deft acoustic guitar parts as Niteesh’s glossy vocals combined with a bouncy groove from drummer Akshay Athreya and bassist Rohit Eragula bring the song to life. There’s also slinky keyboard work from musician Kalmi while Advait Mahesh delivers a tasty horn section for the track. Niteesh says, “The idea was to make a quirky singer-songwriter piece with big band and ballad elements.” He recorded the song at Hyderabad’s Rhythmonline and The Detour Studios. Sound engineer Sanjay Das mixed and mastered it.

The song’s music video sees Niteesh dressed to the nines, accompanied by his guitar as stop-motion footage of him on a chair runs across the screen. The clip has been photographed by Meghana Veerapaneni, and edited and graded by Vihari Cherukumalli and Aditya Ravikanti, respectively. The singer-songwriter says, “The idea for a music video came quite spontaneously. I wanted to make a stop-motion style video where it felt like the album artwork was coming to life, kind of like a GIF.”

Next in the pipeline, Niteesh plans on releasing his sophomore EP Lemon Tea later this year, which has been in the making for five years. He says, “I can’t wait to share it with everybody.”

Watch the video for “31” below: